Editing Agriculture (section)

=== Pesticides ===
{{Main|Environmental impact of pesticides}}
[[File:Crop spraying near St Mary Bourne - geograph.org.uk - 392462.jpg|thumb|Spraying a crop with a [[pesticide]]]]

Pesticide use has increased since 1950 to 2.5&nbsp;million short tons annually worldwide, yet crop loss from pests has remained relatively constant.<ref name="Pimentel pesticide">{{cite web |author1=Pimentel, D. |author2=Culliney, T. W. |author3=Bashore, T. |year=1996 |url=http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/pimentel.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990218073023/http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/pimentel.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 February 1999 |title=Public health risks associated with pesticides and natural toxins in foods |website=Radcliffe's IPM World Textbook |access-date=7 May 2013}}</ref> The World Health Organization estimated in 1992 that three million pesticide poisonings occur annually, causing 220,000 deaths.<ref name="WHO">''Our planet, our health: Report of the WHO commission on health and environment''. Geneva: [[World Health Organization]] (1992).</ref> Pesticides select for [[pesticide resistance]] in the pest population, leading to a condition termed the "pesticide treadmill" in which pest resistance warrants the development of a new pesticide.<ref name="CS Pest">"Strategies for Pest Control", pp. 355–383 in [[#Chrispeels|Chrispeels]]</ref>

An alternative argument is that the way to "save the environment" and prevent famine is by using pesticides and intensive high yield farming, a view exemplified by a quote heading the Center for Global Food Issues website: 'Growing more per acre leaves more land for nature'.<ref name="DAvery">{{cite book |last=Avery |first=D.T. |year=2000 |title=Saving the Planet with Pesticides and Plastic: The Environmental Triumph of High-Yield Farming |url=https://archive.org/details/savingplanetwith00aver |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Hudson Institute]] |location=Indianapolis |isbn=978-1558130692}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |publisher=cgfi.org |url=http://www.cgfi.org |title=Center for Global Food Issues |access-date=14 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716190009/http://www.cgfi.org/ |archive-date=16 July 2016}}</ref> However, critics argue that a trade-off between the environment and a need for food is not inevitable,<ref name="WH">{{cite book |last1=Lappe |first1=F. M. |last2=Collins |first2=J. |last3=Rosset |first3=P. |date=1998 |chapter-url=http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/bi430-fs430/Documents-2004/10B-DEVEL%20WORLD/World%20Hunger--Twelve%20Myths.pdf |chapter=Myth 4: Food vs. Our Environment |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304102909/http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/bi430-fs430/Documents-2004/10B-DEVEL%20WORLD/World%20Hunger--Twelve%20Myths.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2021 |pages=42–57 |title=World Hunger, Twelve Myths |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0802135919 |via=Oregon State University}}</ref> and that pesticides can replace [[good agricultural practices|good agronomic practices]] such as crop rotation.<ref name="CS Pest" /> The [[Push–pull agricultural pest management]] technique involves intercropping, using plant aromas to repel pests from crops (push) and to lure them to a place from which they can then be removed (pull).<ref name=PushPull>{{Cite journal |author1=Cook, Samantha M. |author2=Khan, Zeyaur R. |author3=Pickett, John A. |year=2007 |title=The use of push-pull strategies in integrated pest management |journal=Annual Review of Entomology |volume=52 |pages=375–400 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ento.52.110405.091407 |pmid=16968206}}</ref>