U.S. farmers can reduce agricultural pollution with drainage ditches

The modern agriculture is heavily connected with the use of different herbicides and insecticides. The heavy use of pesticides has led to agricultural pollution and scientists have started looking for ways to reduce the levels of agricultural pollutants in order to protect the health of nearby ecosystems and maintain their useful services.

Judging by the latest study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture there is one very simple and also cost-effective solution to reduce the levels of agricultural pollution – by just using drainage ditches.

The drainage ditches are currently mostly used to provide passage for channeling excess water from crop fields, and farmers often trim or dredge ditches to eliminate plant barriers that could impede the flow of runoff.

Drainage ditches are cost-effective solution against agricultural pollution.

In their study, the U.S. scientists U.S. Department of Agriculture have showed that ditches could be also used to transport and capture pesticides (in this study scientists made experiments with herbicide atrazine and insecticide lambda-cyhalothrin).

The researchers started a simulation event, and discovered that at the end of the ditch, runoff pesticide concentrations have declined to levels that were generally non-toxic to downstream aquatic fauna.

What this means is that these drainage ditches, which are commonly found across the entire United States, give farmers a cost-effective alternative for reducing the level of agricultural pollutants and thus protecting natural resources (healthy ecosystems).

The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) state office in California has even included vegetated agricultural drainage in their Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) under which farmers who installed drainage ditches would get 50% of their costs covered.

Pollution from insecticides causes huge loss of bees

The pollution from insecticides (the form of pesticides used against insects) continues to grow. There have been several studies confirming the negative effect that pesticides have on honeybees and the latest one comes from the researchers at the University of Padua, Italy.

The most damaging to honey bee population are neonicotinoid insecticides, which are frequently used since 1990s to coat corn and soybean seeds before planting.

These insecticides are highly toxic to bees and have been found in almost each sample of dead and dying bees in EU and United States.

The loss of bees that pollinate plants is not only causing a major environmental but also a major economic damage. From the economic point of view, the value of honeybees to commercial agriculture is between $15 billion to $20 billion annually (The official U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate).

Bees are nature’s top pollinators, and it has been estimated that over 70 percent of the world’s food supply relies on them to grow. If the pollution from insecticides continues the decline of bees will continue and this will in the end result in even more hunger in the world.

The global agriculture is heavily reliant on the use of toxic insecticides which has lead to widespread bee deaths. The benefits of using insecticides are therefore being heavily overshadowed by this major drawback in form of dying bees.

World must do lot better to protect bees from increased insecticide pollution because bees are key to global agriculture since most fruit, nut and vegetable crop plants depend upon honeybees for pollination.

Many farmers are still not fully aware of the risks associated with using insecticides because they do not look at the big picture, especially since corn and soybean production does not require pollination from bees.

We all have to realize that the loss of bees will mean a global reduction in crop yields. The last thing we need right now is even more hunger in the world.

Agriculture is increasing pollution of Europe's streams

According to the latest study by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research European streams are becoming increasingly polluted with the excessive use of insecticides in agriculture. An insecticide is a type pesticide used against insects.

The researchers believe that there will be around 40% of Europe's surface area in which streams will no longer have a good ecological status due to agricultural pesticides with most affected areas being Scandinavia, the Baltic countries and the Central Europe.

The climate change will play major role in the increased use of pesticides. The expected warmer temperatures will result in an increase in the rate of development of insects and their rate of survival in winter which means that agriculture will have to use even more insecticides to protect crops from many pest insect species.

Under the current scientific scenario the use of insecticides will more than double in Europe by 2090 compared to 1990 levels causing huge pollution of Europe's streams.

The possible solutions to tackle this issue do not only include using fewer insecticides but also the creation of so called buffer zones along the streams which would reduce the exposure of insecticides to streams.

The large quantity of pesticides is being washed by rain from the fields and into rivers and buffer zones could stop these pollutants entering streams. They could also serve as some sort of refuge camp for threatened species, from where they can recolonize.

The modern agriculture is unthinkable without the use of insecticides and insecticides are no doubt one of the major factors behind the increased agricultural productivity in the last 100 years.

However, there is also a major downside of using insecticides as they can irreversibly alter ecosystems, and especially because many of them are toxic to both human and animals.

There are some scientists who also believe that the increased use of insecticides and pesticides in general is the main reason behind the recent huge loss of bees. The loss of bees that pollinate plants will cause a significant reduction in crop yields.

Pollution from pesticides - Quick facts

The official definition of pesticide is "any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying or controlling any pest". Though farmers have no doubt certain benefits from using pesticides there are also some major drawbacks because pesticides are not only capable to create significant damage to environment but also to human health.

Since many pesticides are toxic they can become major source of pollution, and even the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants states that 10 of the 12 most dangerous and persistent organic chemicals are pesticides. In fact, there are some pesticides which are considered too dangerous for sale to the general public and are designated restricted use pesticides.

It has been estimated that around 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, which means that they can easily become a major source of environmental pollution, and can not only harm other creatures beside pests but can also become a major cause of air and water pollution, as well as deteriorate the soil quality.

Pesticides are also believed to be one of the main causes responsible for recent decline of bee population across the globe, so they can also do significant damage to biodiversity, and destroy habitats of many animal and plant species.

Pesticides can also cause significant damage to human health, so people should limit their exposure to them as much as possible, and wherever possible use some safer alternative.

According to the official data from World Health Organization each year around 3 million workers in agriculture in the developing world experience severe poisoning from pesticides, and about 18,000 people die each year as a result of this.

The Bhopal disaster is the most infamous disaster connected with pesticides, this occurred in 1984 when a pesticide plant released 40 tons of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, a chemical intermediate in the synthesis of some carbamate pesticides. The disaster immediately killed nearly 2,259 people and ultimately caused at least 15,000 deaths.

So why are pesticides still so widely used? Some studies have found out that if people were to stop using pesticides this would likely reduce crop yields by around 10% which would likely lead to rise of food prices, and on global level an increase of hunger in the world.

Pollution and pesticides - Quick facts

Pesticides are also a significant cause of pollution that is happening on our planet. Pesticides create the pollution of not only land but also water, and the main reason for worry is the fact that pollution cause with pesticides is on the rise, since the number of pesticides farmers use has increased heavily in the last few decades.

Many recent studies have confirmed that traces of different pesticides have been found in almost every lake, river, and stream in the United States.

Pesticides have significant effect on soil quality. Most pesticides are not only harmful to intended pest but they also harm and kill other small organisms which deteriorates the soil quality, and this in the end results in the problems with the retention of water, creating big problems in time of the drought.

Pesticides must be approved for sale and use by a government agency, in United States this is done by the Environmental Protection Agency. Despite the complex tests that should determine whether the material is safe to use and effective against the intended pest mistakes still happen, and some very hazardous pesticides get green light to be used by farmers.

Recent studies have confirmed that over 98% of sprayed insecticides and 95% of herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including non-target species, air, water and soil.

Extensive use of pesticides is not only bad from environmental point of view but can also lead to serious health issues. According to the World Health Organization data around 3 million workers in agriculture in the developing world experience severe poisoning from pesticides, about 18,000 of whom die. One of the recent studies reported that there is 70% increase in the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease for people exposed to even low levels of pesticides.

Pesticides are also believed to be one of the main contributing factors to recent honeybee population decline. We must not forget that third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee pollination.

Increases use of pesticides can sometimes isn't 100 percent sure method to get rid of the certain pest because through the process of natural selection some pests may develop and eventually become highly resistant to pesticides.

Though many farmers see pesticides as the most effective option to destroy the pests some other (less polluting) methods have also showed the same (and even better) level of efficiency. For instance, there was this rather interesting study of Maize yields in northern Florida that found that the application of composted yard waste with high carbon to nitrogen ratio to agricultural fields was highly effective at reducing the population of plant-parasitic nematodes and increasing crop yield, with yield increases ranging from 10% to 212%.