Pesticides are important for making sure we can all enjoy the food we love. Think about your home garden and how annoyances like weeds and insects disrupt what you’re growing. Farmers encounter the same problems, just on a much bigger scale. Around the world, farmers have to go up against 30,000 species of weeds, 10,000 species of plant-eating insects and 3,000 types of diseases to keep their crops healthy.[1] Using the right pesticides means having an advantage and being able to safely grow healthy crops more successfully.
What are pesticides?
Pesticides are tools designed to help farmers safely deter or manage pests. There are three main types of pesticides: [2]
- Herbicides, which control weeds so crops can flourish without unwanted plants competing for their vital nutrients, space, water and sunlight.
- Fungicides, which protect plants from disease-causing organisms that can spread quickly and destroy crops.
- Insecticides, which control insects that could damage crops by eating them or infecting them with diseases.
Why do pesticides matter to farmers – and you?
Farmers across Canada rely on pesticides to grow healthy, abundant crops that become the food Canadians eat. Thanks to pesticides, Canadian farmers can grow 72 per cent more fruit, 83 per cent more vegetables and 42 per cent more grain.[3]
The ability to grow more has a big impact at the grocery store. If pesticides weren’t available to help increase farmers’ crop yields, fresh fruit and vegetables in Canada would cost 50 per cent more. Overall, the average Canadian family would pay over $4,000 more on groceries every year if farmers didn’t use plant science like pesticides.[4] We’d also need 44% more to grow what we do today if it weren’t for pesticides and biotech crops. That’s almost the combined area of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.[5]
Did You Know?
On average, the plant science and agriculture industry spends more than 11 years and $350 million to research and develop a new pesticide and make sure it’s safe before it can be registered for sale.[12]
How do pesticides help to protect foods such as strawberries?
Think about the fresh fruits you love. For most of us, strawberries are high on the list. In fact, they’re in the top 10 fruits Canadians consume by kilogram.[6] It’s not a surprise, given that they’re delicious and have a number of health benefits.[7] Unfortunately, insects love them just as much as we do. This means farmers have to compete with tiny bugs in order to effectively grow strawberries. “The weather in the Annapolis Valley can change quickly,” explains Philip Keddy from Charles Keddy Farms in Nova Scotia, “and disease and other pest pressures can set in very rapidly, so we put a preventative fungicide on the leaves so that we don’t get any mildew that will slow them down.” For strawberry plant farmers such as the Keddys – who are featured in our documentary series Real Farm Lives – the need to protect their crop from diseases is even more critical. This is because other farmers are relying on getting a safe, clean and healthy plant in order to grow strawberries on their farms.
Are pesticides safe?
Pesticides sometimes spark concerns about food safety, but there’s no reason for concern. Organic and conventional farmers both use pesticides to battle pests. All growers therefore need pesticides to grow crops sustainably, protect their crops from damage and ensure they get the best quality and highest yields possible. You can also rest easy knowing that pesticides are highly regulated and go through years of testing and research before farmers can use them. In Canada, we have a strict regulatory system that ensures our food is safe and our environment is protected. Expert scientists at Health Canada regulate pesticides in Canada, regardless of where they’re used (on a farm, in a forest or in your own backyard).[8]
What about pesticide residues on food?
The government sets Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for all pesticides to ensure they are being used properly by growers.[9] That’s good news for strawberry lovers. The summer favourite often makes the “Dirty Dozen” list of foods with pesticide residues, but unfairly so. The scientific community has discredited the list itself, because it doesn’t consider the potential for harm based on the amount of pesticide residue present. Scientific detection technology is now so sophisticated that it can detect trace amounts of residue in the parts per billion – think a drop of water in an Olympic size swimming pool, or one second in 32 years.[10] Therefore just because a tiny amount of residue can be detected doesn’t mean there is any potential for harm to humans. Think about it this way: you’d have to eat 28,000 strawberries every day for a lifetime to have any adverse effects from pesticides.[11] So, next time you’re picking up a pack or two of strawberries, you can be confident that they are safe to enjoy.
[1] https://croplife.ca/facts-figures/pesticides-in-canada/
[2] https://croplife.ca/facts-figures/pesticides-in-canada/
[3] https://croplife.ca/facts-figures/pesticides-in-canada/
[4] https://croplife.ca/facts-figures/pesticides-in-canada/
[5] https://croplife.ca/facts-figures/pesticides-in-canada/
[6] https://agriculture.canada.ca/en/canadas-agriculture-sectors/horticulture/horticulture-sector-reports/statistical-overview-canadian-fruit-industry-2019/
[7] https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/strawberries
[8] https://croplife.ca/protecting-people-planet/pesticide-regulations/
[9] https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/about-pesticides/pesticides-food-safety.html
[10] https://croplife.ca/wp-content/uploads/7209_Croplife_Cookbook_Web2.pdf
[11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i15cTqelxM
[12] https://croplife.ca/facts-figures/pesticides-in-canada/