Agriculture

Question

Do pesticides harm crops?

Answer

Hi Chris It's possible, but they usually don't. Pesticides kill 'pests.' Most people think of crop pests as insects, but others might include animals like rodents as pests and still others might include certain weeds as pests. Most farmers and farm advisors don't use the term pesticide. Instead, they use more specific terms like herbicide and insecticide. Herbicides kill plants and insecticides kill insects. Since herbicides kill plants, it's very possible for herbicides to harm crops if they are misused. For example, if the herbicide is applied to the wrong crop, or it's very windy when it's used and the herbicide spray 'drifts' to another field or even if the farmer doesn't properly clean out the tank between different kinds of herbicides. The instruction sheet that comes with the herbicides clearly spells out what crops the herbicide is cleared for, so almost all farmers use herbicides without any problem! In general, herbicides that kill grass-type weeds also kill grass-type crops, like corn. These herbicides typically don't kill legume-type crops, like soybeans, so they can be safely used on soybeans. A description of herbicide use on crops in Iowa can be found at the URL below: http://www.pme.iastate.edu/data/PIAP/1995/huse.html A description of some of the types of damage that can happen when a herbicide is misapplied can be found at the following URL: http://cecommerce.uwex.edu/pdfs/A3286.PDF Information about types of insecticides (called pesticides in this publication) can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/about/types.htm I hope this helps. Mark Varner U of Maryland - Go Terps