Crop Protection Benefit Article of the Week:

January 4th 2009

Happy New Year! Been a little while since our last post but with the upcoming year the Foundation is going to be hitting our stride in social media and really improving the efforts. Look for more posts, videos, twitter activity, etc. as we move forward in the new year! We are anticipating lots original content including interviews and discussions with various experts in agriculture to help spread the word of sustainable agriculture. So keep an eye on our twitter feed for updates. Now on to the article:

An often overlooked topic in the pesticide debate use is usage on ornamental products. Ornamental products are commercial products not intended for consumption which includes grass seed, flowers, shrubs, trees, etc. These are products consumers would purchase for atheistic purposes and is an industry worth tens of billions of dollars.

These may not seem like the most critical elements of our agriculture industry but despite being a multi billion dollar industry their role is often understated. So they become important to acknowledge in the debate because without crop protection products the ornamental industry could rapidly disappear in this country taking its tens of billions of dollars of vital income, jobs, and tax revenue with it.

Therefore this week we take a look at an article entitled “Pesticide Use in Ornamental Production: What are the Benefits?” which paints a comprehensive picture of why pesticides are currently widely used in this industry and are there any alternatives?

For most conventional and common crops (such as corn, soybeans, etc) control strategies utilize an integrated pest management strategy. This approach uses non-chemical controls (pest scouting, economic thresholds, etc) prior to chemical usage and pesticides as they become necessary. This creates a strategy that uses knowledge about pest behaviors and environmental factors to better utilize pesticides effectively. Thus creating not just an incredibly effective form of protection for a farmer’s crops but saving a farmer money by reducing expenditures on chemical products. However for ornamentals this strategy is flipped. Pesticides are always seen as the absolute first line of defense with alternative strategies being used as a secondary control. As our authors note:

“The use of biological control or natural enemies may be a viable pest management option…but cannot be relied upon to provide sufficient control of most arthropod pests, particularly if multiple arthropod pests are involved.”

This is because the ornamental industry has an issue that the normal farming industry does not have to deal with. With food crops there is a tolerance for the level of damage allowed. You walk into your local grocery store and you can see in the produce section products that have blemishes on them. It is a natural occurrence and a farmer cannot expect 100% control of every single pest.

However in the ornamental industry this is completely unacceptable. Since these products are sold for their aesthetics…

"Damage thresholds for ornamental are essentially zero"

This puts the famer in a difficult position. Consumers are concerned with pesticide use on these types of products however their tolerance levels for pests on ornamentals remains the same – zero. Therefore a farmer must use crop protection products in order to maintain their presence in the industry or risk being pushed out by a grower with a more pristine looking product. The rise of ornamental imports from Latin America, Asia, and Africa has made the industry increasingly cutthroat in its pricing and the U.S. farmer cannot afford to lose any advantage they have.

Thus once again we must note how critical it is to give our agriculture producers all the tools available to them. In this industry without these products as a first line of defense they would be devastated because in farming where perhaps some of the crop could be salvaged even the slightest damage to ornamentals can ruin the entire crop. This is why in this industry it is widely recognized that pesticides are the only feasible strategy; it is just unfortunate that no one out there is explaining to the public why that is so.

Pesticide Use in Ornamental Production: What are the Benefits?