Love Madison, Magarey Roger D, Holderman Brian L, Carley Danesha Seth, Maggi Federico, Singer Naomi
Department of Horticultural Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States.
Center for Integrated Pest Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States.
Front Insect Sci. 2025 May 20;5:1582496. doi: 10.3389/finsc.2025.1582496. eCollection 2025.
While agricultural pesticides are considered essential for global food security, their use poses significant environmental and human health risks. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) offers a science-based framework to minimize these risks by integrating multiple pest management strategies. However, IPM adoption and funding in the United States have been limited, partly due to a 2001 government report highlighting the lack of measurable reductions in pesticide use. To address this challenge, we propose an index based on eco-efficiency, the ratio of agricultural productivity to environmental impacts, to quantify, track, and incentivize IPM adoption. Using crop production and pesticide use data, including both the mass and toxicity of active ingredients, eco-efficiency scores were calculated for ten major U.S. crop groups from 1992 to 2018. The results demonstrate the potential of this index to monitor progress over time and identify shifts in pesticide use relative to crop production. This approach offers a practical, data-driven tool to evaluate pesticide risk reduction, prioritize IPM research and Extension efforts, and support future policy and funding decisions aimed at promoting more sustainable agricultural practices.
虽然农业杀虫剂被认为对全球粮食安全至关重要，但其使用带来了重大的环境和人类健康风险。综合虫害管理（IPM）提供了一个基于科学的框架，通过整合多种虫害管理策略来将这些风险降至最低。然而，美国对IPM的采用和资金投入一直有限，部分原因是2001年一份政府报告强调在农药使用方面缺乏可衡量的减少。为应对这一挑战，我们提出了一个基于生态效率的指数，即农业生产力与环境影响的比率，以量化、跟踪并激励对IPM的采用。利用作物产量和农药使用数据，包括活性成分的质量和毒性，计算了1992年至2018年美国十个主要作物组的生态效率得分。结果表明该指数有潜力监测随时间推移的进展情况，并确定农药使用相对于作物产量的变化。这种方法提供了一个实用的、数据驱动的工具，用于评估农药风险降低情况、确定IPM研究和推广工作的优先次序，并支持旨在促进更可持续农业实践的未来政策和资金决策。
