Advocates of organic farming have long argued that organic farming is better for people and the planet. But a new study in California counties found a surprising effect as acreage increased. Nearby conventional farms are using more pesticides and will likely continue to deal with increased pest threats to their crops, the researchers said.
Ashley Larsen, lead author of the study published this week in Science, says organic and conventional farmers need to understand what’s going on so they don’t negatively impact each other’s operations. He said it could be important to do so.
“We expect organic matter to increase in the future. How can we make sure this doesn’t cause unintended harm?” asked Larsen, an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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In contrast, researchers found that pesticide use decreased when organic farms were surrounded by other organic fields. The research team believes this may be due to a common dependence on insects, which are the natural enemies of agricultural pests. Although organic farms are allowed to use certain approved pesticides, they often turn to the “good bugs” that prey on pests first. “It appears that spatially clustering or concentrating organic fields may provide benefits and solutions,” Larsen said.
Researchers analyzed 14,000 fields in Kern County, California, over a seven-year period.
According to the USDA, the acreage of organic farms has been increasing since 2000, but they still account for less than 1% of all agricultural land. As such changes occur, Larsen and her team say keeping organic and conventional farms well separated can benefit both.
But many farmers, both conventional and organic, balk at the idea of policies that could limit where different methods can be used. Some outside researchers also said more research was needed before policy recommendations could be considered. The researchers noted that the study did not measure the types or numbers of insects on different farms, meaning the increased pesticide use may have been just a precautionary measure. did.
Still, Christian Krupke, who studies insects as a professor of entomology at Purdue University but was not involved in the study, said the “impressive data set” makes the study valuable for agricultural and pesticide research. He said it helps generate questions. Although the total number of insects is decreasing, a phenomenon some scientists are calling the “insect apocalypse,” pesticide use is not decreasing, he said.
Krupke said the study shows how conventional farmers treat neighboring organic farming operations as “focal points for potential outbreaks.”
David Haviland, an entomologist at the University of California who was not involved in the study, agreed. He talked about the fight in Kern County to get rid of glassy-winged snipers that infest citrus orchards and can cause devastating plant diseases to grapes, almonds and some other crops. explained. Haviland said maps of the region clearly show organic farms as “incredibly large hotspots with large numbers of this pest.” As a result, neighboring conventional growers have had to increase their use of pesticides, he said.
Yichao Rui, an agroecologist at Purdue University, said this type of response by farmers isn’t necessarily due to an actual increase in pests. Sometimes it’s just for “peace of mind.” And Katie Rogers, who runs an organic farm outside of Indianapolis, said it’s often a misconception that organic farmers have large pest infestations.
“We don’t grow harmful insect populations on most organic farms, well-managed farms,” she said. “We just use other tools to fight them first because the bad bugs are ruining my crops.”
Katie Rogers, farm manager at Teter Organic Farm and Retreat Center in Noblesville, Indiana, smiles as she looks down at some plants inside the facility’s greenhouse on March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Daron Cummings)
Louis said investigating the environmental impact of organic farming is a worthy goal, and that there is room for improvement in both organic and conventional farms. However, he believes that looking only at pesticide use does not take into account factors such as human health, air and water quality, and ecosystem diversity that can be affected by different farming methods. .
“We need to comprehensively evaluate the benefits and trade-offs of all these agricultural practices,” he said.
Brad Wetli, a conventional grain farmer in Indiana, said he hasn’t noticed any changes in pest control since his neighbor switched to organic farming four years ago. He believes farmers would be quicker to spray more pesticides on California’s high-value crops such as fruits, vegetables and nuts, while the raw crops he grows, such as corn and beans, are less edible. I think it will take a year because the value of the winnings is not that high. Before further spraying, there was a big change in the number of insects he saw on the farm.
Wetri was more concerned with soil management. He carefully plants cover crops and tries to reduce tillage, which can cause soil erosion and pollute waterways, and said organic farming still requires tillage in some cases.
Organic farmers, on the other hand, expressed concern that the study addressed the impact of organic farms on conventional farms, but not the reverse. For example, if a prohibited material is used in a field, even by accident, a farm can lose its certification for up to three years, according to the USDA.
Walter Goldstein, a corn breeder in Wisconsin who produces both organic and non-organic seeds, grew up working on an organic farm surrounded by conventional farms and still remembers the drift of pesticides.
“It smells really weird,” he said. “It smells like chemicals. It smells like something from a factory.”
Jay Shipman, who owns an organic farm near another large organic farm in Kern County, said he likes farming next to people who do things the same way. But it’s not just for economic reasons; this is how I eat. This is how I want my family to eat.” But having grown up in conventional farming, he believes farmers should do something different. He added that he understands that convincing people that that is the case is “hard to change and hard to swallow.”
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Rogers, an organic farmer in Indianapolis, said he spent much of his life in conventional farming and was taught that organic farmers were “the enemy.” She is currently working diligently on a small organic regenerative farm run by her church with vegetables, beehives, and hay.
Rogers believes there are benefits to clustering organic farms, but separating organic and conventional farms, as the researchers suggested, could be “further polarizing”. He said he thinks there is.
“At the deepest level, we all steward the land, and we all want to make a real contribution,” she said.
