Below: pests must be managed or crops can be ruined.

Introduction to Pesticides

What is the goal of agriculture? Mainly, it is to produce healthy food, affordable for consumers to purchase, while ensuring that farmers are able to earn a decent income. Recently, with greater environmental awareness in society in general, it is also now very important to protect the agricultural environment. This is a big challenge for farmers as they must still obtain reasonable yields and produce quality produce in order to meet the demands of the market. Both these can be severely affected by harmful organisms, commonly referred to as pests (weeds, disease, etc.) that compete against, infect or damage the cultivated crop in a detrimental manner. The most economic and effective way to handle these has been to employ pesticides, many of which are now composed of synthetic chemicals, and it is these substances - very beneficial from the economic and production aspects of farming - which can pose risks to human health and the environment if not properly used.

Pest problems are not new; in fact, they have been around as long as agriculture itself. But the pest pressure faced by farmers is now as great as it ever was: the world's fast-growing human population needs to be fed from an always shrinking base of agricultural land, and the substantial damage that can be inflicted by pests (e.g. insects, diseases, weeds, rodents, birds) on crops is the margin between a good harvest and a bad one. Pests can reduce the quality of a harvest as well as its quantity. Since the quality of food is increasingly important to consumers, a pest could reduce the value of a crop or make it unsaleable. But it is important to keep in mind that pests are not the only cause of yield reduction and of lower quality produce: factors such as soil fertility and availability of water may have a greater influence in a particular situation.

Hence, crop protection has always been an important component of agriculture, leading to the development and employment of measures that can limit damage, such as synthetic chemicals. Easily stored for long periods in a compact form, easily applied at very short notice (provided the machinery is available and the weather conditions are suitable), they are fast-acting and efficient. They can also be toxic, and the farmer must use pesticides wisely to make sure that they will not harm the applicator, the farm family and the surrounding environment.