Environmental and economic effects of reducing pesticide use in agriculture

Pesticides cause serious damage to agricultural and natural ecosystems. Thus, there is a need to curtail pesticide use and reduce the environmental impacts of pesticides. This study confirms that it should be possible to reduce pesticide use in the US by 50% without any decrease in crop yields or change in ‘cosmetic standards’. The estimated increase in food costs would be only 0.6%. This increased cost, however, does not take into account the environmental and public benefits of reducing pesticide use by 50%.