Canada’s National Observer
Quebec farmer Jocelyn Michon quit cold turkey.
Not tobacco. Not alcohol. He quit using insecticide-coated seeds in his fields of corn and soy, an unorthodox move among non-organic grain farmers. Story here.
Canada’s National Observer
Quebec farmer Jocelyn Michon quit cold turkey.
Not tobacco. Not alcohol. He quit using insecticide-coated seeds in his fields of corn and soy, an unorthodox move among non-organic grain farmers. Story here.
CANADA'S NATIONAL OBSERVER
A bee forages on a cosmos flower. A PinP photo. |
By Marc Fawcett-Atkinson | News | May 16th 2024
by Larry Powell
A wild bee on a sunflower. A PinP photo. |
What they found was striking.
![]() |
Flea beetles feast on turnip-tops in Manitoba, A PinP photo. |
In both years, pollination by the bees was “the only significant factor” in both fruit set and marketable yield - even when compared to the harm done by the pests. Not only that, the wild bees increased those yields anywhere from one-&-a-half to three times more than honeybees.
So the researchers conclude; If you want better yields, it’s more important to protect the bees that pollinate them than to kill the pests which eat them!
“These data," they state, "advocate for a reprioritization of management, to conserve and protect wild bee pollinations, which could be more critical than avoiding pest damage for ensuring high yields.”
But the lead author of the study, Ashley Leach, is hesitant to extrapolate those findings to other crops like grains and oilseeds, so dominant on the Canadian prairies, for example.
He tells me in an email; "Our findings are intricately linked" to crops reliant on pollination (like seedless watermelon).
"The pest we studied can have a variable effect of yield," Leach told me.
"However, multiple studies have found that insecticides may negatively impact pollinators so any reduction in insecticide spray could potentially impact yield and associated pollinator health outcomes.
"I wouldn’t recommend growers stop applying insecticides unless they don’t see a loss in yield, or they have another pest management practice in place."
The findings are published in the “Proceedings of the Royal Society.”
The Narwhal
The huckleberry. A Wikimedia photo. |
To the forestry industry these plants are pests, but for berry pickers they are important foods and medicine. Story here.
RELATED:
Contaminants found in traditional berries of First Nations people in Manitoba, but still declared to be safe to eat. (Video).
The National Observer
![]() |
A PinP photo. |
After years of review, Ottawa recently approved a common class of pesticides known to harm pollinators like bees and other insects. Story here.
RELATED:
The Western Producer
Members of the "neonic" family are known mass-killers, esp. of pollinators such as honeybees. "Karen" holds dead bees at Hayes Valley Farm.Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency has announced that neonicotinoid insecticides are not a threat to aquatic insects when used as a seed treatment on canola and in many other instances. Details here.
PHYS ORG
![]() |
A public domain photo. |
A third of the planet's agricultural land is at "high risk" of pesticide pollution from the lingering residue of chemical ingredients that can leach into water supplies and threaten biodiversity, according to research published Monday. Story here.
![]() |
Overall tree swallow populations declined by 49% between 1966 and 2014, according
to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. A PinP photo.
|
![]() |
The schistosoma parasite worm. Image credit - David Williams, Illinois State University. Even low concentrations of pesticides can increase transmission and weaken efforts to control the second most common parasitic disease. Details here. |
Sea lice, Lepeophtheirus salmonis, on farmed Atlantic salmon, New Brunswick, CA. Photo by 7Barrym0re To fight back, the fish-farmers dump pesticides into the waters (below). But, because they’re released directly into the environment, they not only kill the lice, but place beneficial, “non-target” organisms at risk, too. And several of these live in the open ocean, beyond the confines of the farms.
The latest (but not the only) cautionary tale about the wisdom of this practise, has just emerged from Norway. A team of researchers there exposed (in the lab), an important food source for the fish, to varying levels of hydrogen peroxide (H202). It's the active ingredient in several such products. |
![]() |
The food source was a zooplankten called Calanus spp. (above) |
Prevention Web (UN) The clear signs of human-induced climate change reached new heights in 2024, with some of the consequences being irrever...