Reducing Insecticide Use in Broad-Acre Grains Production: An Australian Study

Abstract

Prophylactic use of broad-spectrum insecticides is a common feature of broad-acre grains production systems around the world. Efforts to reduce pesticide use in these systems have the potential to deliver environmental benefits to large areas of agricultural land. However, research and extension initiatives aimed at decoupling pest management decisions from the simple act of applying a cheap insecticide have languished. This places farmers in a vulnerable position of high reliance on a few products that may lose their efficacy due to pests developing resistance, or be lost from use due to regulatory changes. The first step towards developing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies involves an increased efficiency of pesticide inputs. Especially challenging is an understanding of when and where an insecticide application can be withheld without risking yield loss. Here, we quantify the effect of different pest management strategies on the abundance of pest and beneficial arthropods, crop damage and yield, across five sites that span the diversity of contexts in which grains crops are grown in southern Australia. Our results show that while greater insecticide use did reduce the abundance of many pests, this was not coupled with higher yields. Feeding damage by arthropod pests was seen in plots with lower insecticide use but this did not translate into yield losses. For canola, we found that plots that used insecticide seed treatments were most likely to deliver a yield benefit; however other insecticides appear to be unnecessary and economically costly. When considering wheat, none of the insecticide inputs provided an economically justifiable yield gain. These results indicate that there are opportunities for Australian grain growers to reduce insecticide inputs without risking yield loss in some seasons. We see this as the critical first step towards developing IPM practices that will be widely adopted across intensive production systems.

Gendered differences in the perceived risks and benefits of oral PrEP among HIV-serodiscordant couples in Kenya

“…For example, women who gained access to novel, female-initiated prevention methods, such as microbicide gel, during other research trials reported the need to seek consent from their sexual partners in order to use them (C. M. Montgomery et al, 2008; van der Straten et al, 2014; Woodsong & Alleman, 2008). The findings presented here indicate that men’s desire for unprotected sexual encounters may directly conflict with the behavior change required for risk reduction even when the male partner is the one who would benefit most from that risk reduction strategy.…”

Connecting scales: Achieving in‐field pest control from areawide and landscape ecology studies

“…Using the ET approach as the measure of impact can address the request by several researchers that the gap needs to be filled between natural pest control, crop damage, and crop yield (Cullen et al ., ; Jonsson et al ., ; Bommarco et al ., ). The results from studies that have evaluated yield in relation to natural pest control are quite variable (Macfadyen et al ., ). In part this may be due to the nonlinear relationship between yield, insect density, and insect damage.…”

Contamination of the Aquatic Environment with Neonicotinoids and its Implication for Ecosystems

“…Naturally, insufficient feeding leads to reduced ability for reproduction (Böttger et al, 2013), so the long term prospects are poor for the detritivore populations affected. To many regulators of chemicals, whether mayflies or other macroinvertebrates are depleted is not important, or at least not as much as the increase in productivity that farmers may obtain from using products like neonicotinoids, although the latter benefits are questionable-see (Seagraves and Lundgren, 2012;Macfadyen et al, 2014). Just because macroinvertebrates are not seen, since they are small and live at the bottom of ponds and streams, this does not mean they can be dispensed with.…”