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From:
Peter Loring Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 24 Apr 2015 13:22:48 -0400
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> Neonicotinoid use increased rapidly between 2003 and 2011, as seed-applied products were introduced in field crops, marking an unprecedented shift toward large-scale, preemptive insecticide use: 34−44% of soybeans and 79−100% of maize hectares were treated in 2011. 

> Extension entomologists have noted that seed for some field crop species, such as maize (Zea mays), in the U.S. is now routinely treated before sale with neonicotinoids, suggesting that neonicotinoid seed treatments (NSTs) are being used over a very large area. Because seed-treatment use has not been captured in the national pesticide survey, recent analyses that relied on this survey to understand pest management trends in the U.S., appear to have missed an important aspect of insecticide use. 

> If current trends continue, neonicotinoid use could increase considerably further through use of seed treatments on additional crop area (e.g., on soybeans or wheat), or through higher per-seed application rates. In 2013, mid- or high-rate products were apparently widely used and this year at least one seed company has announced that its "standard" treatment for maize seed will now include the highest labeled rate of NST (1.25 mg ai/seed, five times the low rate).

> In conclusion, NSTs are a recently developed insect-pest- management tactic that has become very widespread in U.S. agriculture since the mid-2000s. This development remained anecdotal because it was partially obscured by the lack of information on pesticide seed treatments in the nation’s major pesticide-use survey. 

> Our synthesis of publicly available information indicates that NSTs are being used over a very large area (>40 million hectares), and that in major crops (maize and soybeans) these products are often used as part of an insurance-based approach to pest management that may be reinforced in the seed market by limited availability of neonicotinoid-free seed.

> Nonetheless, recent history suggests that IPM will not be widely adopted in U.S. field crops given current incentives and disincentives (as detailed above) for farmers and seed suppliers, which appear to strongly favor an insurance-based approach.

Douglas, M., & Tooker, J. F. (2015). Large-scale deployment of seed treatments has driven rapid increase in use of neonicotinoid insecticides and preemptive pest management in US field crops. Environmental science & technology.

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