The more insecticide we can replace, the better
Replacing insecticides with pheromones is good for the health of farmers and the environment alike.
Replacing insecticides with pheromone-based mating disruption can reduce ecotoxicity significantly. This is the result of a life cycle assessment (LCA) study carried out by Fraunhofer IBP, a German life cycle expert, which SEDQ partners with under the EU-funded PHERA project.
The study compared conventional cultivation using conventional chemicals, irrigation and machinery with three Integrated Pest Management (IPM) scenarios, where the insecticide was replaced by pheromone in varying quantity and yield effects.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is by many seen as the answer to increases in pesticide use, insect resistance and environmental and human health concerns. The Food and Agriculture Organisation, which promotes IPM,[i] defines IPM as “the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques (…) to grow healthy crops and minimise the use of pesticides, reducing or minimising risks posed by pesticides to human health and the environment for sustainable pest management.”[ii]
Ideally, pesticides should be applied to keep pests, diseases and weeds below their economic damage threshold without harming humans and the environment. Pests must be controlled to a level that allows sustainable crop production, but there is no need to kill every single insect in a crop. This is what underpins IPM. By using a combination of biological, chemical, physical and crop-specific (cultural) management strategies and practices, IPM seeks to minimise the chemical component to need-based application of less hazardous pesticides.
The Fraunhofer study found that pheromone-based mating disruption “can eliminate or significantly reduce the ecotoxicity (30-50%) of conventional agriculture through replacement of conventional insecticides”. The degree of impact depends on the crop and, hence, the type of insecticide used (the study looked at five different crops in three different countries – corn in the US, soybean in Brazil and brassica cabbages, cotton and grapes in Greece).
The best improvement was observed in US corn sprayed with the commonly used pyrethroid insecticide, Lambda Cyhalothrin. Ecotoxicity was reduced to almost 0, while human toxicity (non-cancer effects) was reduced by 80%. In fact, the toxicity of Lambda Cyhalothrin is so predominant that the impacts caused by other pesticides in the study, including the herbicide Glyphosate and the fungicide Folpet, are negligible. In comparison, the study saw a reduction in ecotoxicity of more than 50% in soybeans in Brazil and almost 30% in grapes in Greece.
In this study it was assumed that the entire amount of insecticide would be replaced by pheromone. In real life, this may not be realistic, but the more insecticide we can replace with pheromones, the better for the environment.
Fraunhofer IBP is a German research institute rooted in building physics and urban planning with a designated Department of Life Cycle Engineering. Under the auspices of the EU-funded PHERA Project, Fraunhofer has used life cycle assessment (LCA) methods to assess the sustainability of the projects’ pheromone products and their application.
The first LCA study of its kind
This is the first LCA study comparing insecticides with mating disruption using fermented pheromones.
In the study, Fraunhofer compared the environmental impacts of production and use of conventional insecticide with those of pheromone. Parameters examined included climate change, energy use, acidification, terrestrial eutrophication, photochemical ozone formation and toxicity (freshwater ecotoxicity and human toxicity (cancer effects) and human toxicity (non-cancer effects)).
The research institute quickly ran into limitations of the existing LCA models. Life cycle assessments of pesticides are subject to many uncertainties as pesticides impact the entire environment, not just a target organism. Finding the balance between too simple and too complex is a challenge in life cycle assessments.
The current standard model “USEtox” is recommended by the European Commission for use in Product Environmental Footprint calculations, but with caution.
Results like these drive the PHERA Project. This EU-funded project seeks to broaden the scope for pheromones. The PHERA Project brings together the fermentation expertise of BioPhero with the production capacity of the Bioprocess Pilot Facility, the pheromone formulation and application skills of SEDQ, ISCA, Russell IPM and NovAgrica, and the life cycle knowledge of Fraunhofer.
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