Climate change is already affecting pest pressure in agriculture. A warming climate means pests have more reproductive cycles in a year and better survival over winter, leading to even more pest pressure in the spring. It also increases the risk of invasive and migratory pests and the diseases they carry (1). All of this adds up to more crop loss and food insecurity. How do we deal with increased pest pressure?
More synthetic pesticides are not an option!
Ninety-nine percent of synthetic pesticides are derived from petroleum (2). In 2021, 3.53 million metric tons of pesticides were used globally (3).……keep reading