scholarly journals Identifying and characterizing pesticide use on 9,000 fields of organic agriculture

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley E. Larsen ◽  
L. Claire Powers ◽  
Sofie McComb
Keyword(s):  
Organic Agriculture ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Pesticide Use ◽  
Kern County ◽  
Pesticide Application ◽  
Yield Gap ◽  
State Certification ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
The Us

AbstractNotwithstanding popular perception, the environmental impacts of organic agriculture, particularly with respect to pesticide use, are not well established. Fueling the impasse is the general lack of data on comparable organic and conventional agricultural fields. We identify the location of ~9,000 organic fields from 2013 to 2019 using field-level crop and pesticide use data, along with state certification data, for Kern County, CA, one of the US’ most valuable crop producing counties. We parse apart how being organic relative to conventional affects decisions to spray pesticides and, if spraying, how much to spray using both raw and yield gap-adjusted pesticide application rates, based on a global meta-analysis. We show the expected probability of spraying any pesticides is reduced by about 30 percentage points for organic relative to conventional fields, across different metrics of pesticide use including overall weight applied and coarse ecotoxicity metrics. We report little difference, on average, in pesticide use for organic and conventional fields that do spray, though observe substantial crop-specific heterogeneity.

scholarly journals Differential local genetic adaptation to pesticide use in organic and conventional agriculture in an aquatic non-target species

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1963) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafaela A. Almeida ◽  
Pieter Lemmens ◽  
Luc De Meester ◽  
Kristien I. Brans
Keyword(s):  
Organic Agriculture ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Agricultural Practices ◽  
Genetic Adaptation ◽  
Pesticide Use ◽  
Target Species ◽  
Pesticide Application ◽  
Conventional Agriculture ◽  
Specific Manner ◽  
Surrounding Landscape

Pesticide application is an important stressor to non-target species and can profoundly affect ecosystem functioning. Debates continue on the choice of agricultural practices regarding their environmental impact, and organic farming is considered less detrimental compared to conventional practices. Nevertheless, comparative studies on the impacts of both agricultural approaches on the genetic adaptation of non-target species are lacking. We assessed to what extent organic and conventional agriculture elicit local genetic adaptation of populations of a non-target aquatic species, Daphnia magna . We tested for genetic differences in sensitivity of different D. magna populations ( n = 7), originating from ponds surrounded by conventional and organic agriculture as well as nature reserves, to pesticides used either in conventional (chlorpyrifos) or organic agriculture (deltamethrin and copper sulfate). The results indicate that D. magna populations differentially adapt to local pesticide use. Populations show increased resistance to chlorpyrifos as the percentage of conventional agriculture in the surrounding landscape increases, whereas populations from organic agriculture sites are more resistant to deltamethrin. While organic agriculture is considered less harmful for non-target species than conventional, both types of agriculture shape the evolution of pesticide resistance in non-target species in a specific manner, reflecting the differences in selection pressure.

scholarly journals Estimating Pesticide Inputs and Yield Outputs of Conventional and Organic Agricultural Systems in Europe under Climate Change

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1300
Author(s):  
Livia Rasche
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Organic Agriculture ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Pesticide Application ◽  
Conventional Agriculture ◽  
Pests And Diseases ◽  
Crop Pest ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
Integrated Assessments

Simulating organic agriculture is a considerable challenge. One reason is that few models are capable of simulating crop-pest interactions and the yield losses they cause. Here, a recently developed process-based crop-pest model (Pest-EPIC) was used to simulate conventional and organic agriculture in the European Union for the years 1995–2100. Yields and pesticide application rates were calibrated against FAOSTAT and Eurostat data. Results indicate that current pesticide application rates may be sufficient to control pests and diseases even at the end of the century. The range of simulated yield differences under organic and conventional agriculture under current conditions (e.g., wheat 21–55% (mean 34%) lower yields; potatoes 20–99% (mean 56%) lower yields) closely matched recorded values. Under climate change, the gap between yields under conventional and organic management will remain constant for some crops (e.g., at 3 t/ha for potatoes), but others—susceptible to a larger number of pests and diseases—may experience a widening of the yield gap (e.g., increase of yield difference from 0.8 to 1.6 t/ha for wheat). The presented results-dataset may in future be a valuable resource for integrated assessments of agricultural land use and policy planning, but the inherent uncertainty is still very high.

Environmental Benefits of Precision Agriculture Adoption

2020 ◽  
pp. 637-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Medici ◽  
Søren Marcus Pedersen ◽  
Giacomo Carli ◽  
Maria Rita Tagliaventi
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Precision Agriculture ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Herbicide Application ◽  
Pesticide Application ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
Biodiversity Policy ◽  
Lime Application

The purpose of this study is to analyse the environmental benefits of precision agriculture technology adoption obtained from the mitigation of negative environmental impacts of agricultural inputs in modern farming. Our literature review of the environmental benefits related to the adoption of precision agriculture solutions is aimed at raising farmers' and other stakeholders' awareness of the actual environmental impacts from this set of new technologies. Existing studies were categorised according to the environmental impacts of different agricultural activities: nitrogen application, lime application, pesticide application, manure application and herbicide application. Our findings highlighted the effects of the reduction of input application rates and the consequent impacts on climate, soil, water and biodiversity. Policy makers can benefit from the outcomes of this study developing an understanding of the environmental impact of precision agriculture in order to promote and support initiatives aimed at fostering sustainable agriculture.

scholarly journals Police-involved Deaths and the Impact on Homicide Rates in the Post-Ferguson Era: A Study of 44 U.S. Cities

2021 ◽  
pp. 088626052110283
Author(s):  
Tyler J Lane
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Interrupted Time Series ◽  
Homicide Rates ◽  
Aggravated Assault ◽  
Series Design ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Black Populations ◽  
Fbi Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Interrupted Time Series Design

This study investigated whether homicides increased after protested police-involved deaths, focusing on the period after Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson in August 2014. It also tests for effects of legal cynicism by comparing effects in homicide and aggravated assault on the assumption that reporting of the latter is discretionary and police abuses may make communities reluctant to notify police. Using FBI data from 44 U.S. cities, homicide and assault rates from 2011 to 2019 were analyzed using an interrupted time series design and combined in a meta-analysis to calculate pooled effects. A meta-regression tested effect moderators including external investigations and city/county sociodemographic characteristics. With a conservative threshold of p ≤ .01, 21 of the 44 cities experienced a significant increase and one had a significant decrease. The pooled effect was a 26.1% increase in the homicide (99% CI: 15.3% to 36.8%). Aggravated assaults increased above baseline, though the effect was 15.2 percentage points smaller (99% CI: –26.7 to –3.6) than the effect in homicides. When outcomes were measured as percent change, there were no significant effect moderators, but when measured as absolute change, homicides increased to a greater extent when the death was subject to external investigation and in cities with higher Black populations, poverty rates, and baseline homicide rates. The findings suggest that protested police-involved deaths led to an increase in homicides and other violence due to the distrust fomented within the very communities whom police are meant to protect.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Regional-Scale Optimal K Rate Based on Sustainable Apple Yield and High-Efficiency K Use in Loess Plateau and Bohai Bay of China: A Meta-Analysis

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1368
Author(s):  
Wenzheng Tang ◽  
Wene Wang ◽  
Dianyu Chen ◽  
Ningbo Cui ◽  
Haosheng Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Loess Plateau ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Fertilizer Application ◽  
Application Rate ◽  
Bohai Bay ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
Relationship Model

In order to meet the growing food demand of the global population and maintain sustainable soil fertility, there is an urgent need to optimize fertilizer application amount in agricultural production practices. Most of the existing studies on the optimal K rates for apple orchards were based on case studies and lack information on optimizing K-fertilizer management on a regional scale. Here, we used the method of combining meta-analysis with the K application rate-yield relationship model to quantify and summarize the optimal K rates of the Loess Plateau and Bohai Bay regions in China. We built a dataset based on 159 observations obtained from 18 peer-reviewed literature studies distributed in 15 different research sites and evaluated the regional-scale optimal K rates for apple production. The results showed that the linear plus platform model was more suitable for estimating the regional-scale optimal K rates, which were 208.33 and 176.61 kg K ha−1 for the Loess Plateau and Bohai Bay regions of China, respectively. Compared with high K application rates, the optimal K rates increased K use efficiency by 45.88–68.57%, with almost no yield losses. The optimal K rates also enhanced the yield by 6.30% compared with the low K application rates.

Insulin Glargine and Risk of Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinli Du ◽  
Rihua Zhang ◽  
Yi Xue ◽  
Dong Li ◽  
Jinmei Cai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Insulin Glargine ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Open Label ◽  
Cancer Occurrence ◽  
Pubmed Database ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Us ◽  
Risk Of Cancer

Aims Recently, more and more attention has been drawn on the long-term effects of insulin glargine. Here we strived to estimate the association of cancer occurrence with the use of insulin glargine. Methods We searched all the publications regarding the association between cancer occurrence and the use of insulin glargine using the US National Library of Medicine's PubMed database. Data were independently extracted and analyzed using random or fixed effects meta-analysis depending upon the degree of heterogeneity. Results Seven cohort studies were included in the meta-analysis. Cancer occurrence had no significant difference in glargine-treated patients compared to patients treated with other insulins (RR=0.86, 95% CI=0.69–1.07, p=0.17, Pheterogeneity <0.00001). In our subgroup analysis, glargine, compared to other insulins, did not increase the risk of breast cancer (RR=1.14, 95% CI=0.65–2.02, p=0.65, Pheterogeneity=0.002), prostate cancer (RR=1.00, 95% CI=0.79–1.26, p=0.99, Pheterogeneity=0.78), pancreatic cancer (RR=0.57, 95% CI=0.14–2.35, p=0.44, Pheterogeneity=0.0002) and gastrointestinal cancer (RR=0.80, heterogeneity 95% CI=0.62–1.02, p=0.07, Pheterogeneity=0.86). Conclusions This meta-analysis of open-label studies does not support an increased cancer risk in patients treated with insulin glargine. The result provides confidence for the development of insulin glargine, but needs confirmation by further clinical studies.

The World Economy

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 9-16
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Euro Area ◽  
World Trade ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Private Sector Investment ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Dollar Depreciation

The outlook for world growth this year has deteriorated since April, due to a sharp contraction in world trade in the first quarter of the year and failure to sustain the revival in private sector investment seen in the fourth quarter of 2002. We have as a consequence revised our projections for world growth this year down by ¼ percentage point. This reflects sharp downward revisions of ½–¾ percentage points in the Euro Area and Canada, both of whose exchange rates have continued to appreciate in effective terms, while the outlook for the US and Japan is broadly unchanged. Growth in Japan and the Euro Area stagnated in the first half of 2003, with recessions in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria appearing likely. The US and Canada, on the other hand, continued to expand, albeit more slowly than in the second half of 2002. Following two years of exceptional weakness, Latin American growth has started to revive, although Venezuela is still suffering from the 2 month stoppage in the oil industry earlier this year and Argentina has lost competitiveness due to a strong appreciation against the dollar. Growth has slowed in several Asian economies, notably South Korea, but China continues to expand rapidly, spurred by the competitiveness impact of the dollar depreciation and infrastructure preparations for the 2008 Olympics. This has helped sustain export growth from the rest of Asia despite the more widespread slowdown in world trade.

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