PESTICIDE USE REDUCTION DOI 10.1039/b203204j REDUCING PESTICIDE USE IN ONTARIO CANADA Cher Brethour from the George Morris Centre in Guelph Canada reports on the achievements of the Ontario Food Systems 2002 program in bringing about a reduction in pesticide use iexcl;ntilde; less than half of these applied research projects were adopted at the farm level. iexcl;ntilde; while there were few successful projects in terms of adoption the net returns to producers from the successful projects was greater than the research costs of all funded projects. The net farm-level returns were $6.16 for each dollar spent on research. These returns to research for pesticide reduction are in the range of estimated returns for other general research projects within agriculture. iexcl;ntilde; the adoption rate of the successful projects tended to be immediate followed by a linear decline rather than the typically assumed pattern of slow then rapid then slow adoption.Introduction The use of chemical pesticides by Ontario farmers increased dramatically during the 1950s to mid 1980s. The increased usage during crop production - pesticide use increased 24 between 1973 and 1983 (measured in kg of active ingredient) ¨C allowed producers to introduce new production technologies enhance their productivity improve product quality and reduce the use of more expensive inputs. However the concerns over the effects of pesticide use in agriculture led to several policy initiatives in Ontario including the initiation of a program Food Systems 2002 to fund research into reducing pesticide use by 50 in Ontario agriculture by the year 2002.Food Systems 2002 Since its inception the Food Systems 2002 program has allocated approximately C$2 million annually to research efforts to reduce risks from pesticides (funding went to over 200 projects). The initiatives of Food Systems 2002 attempted to enhance pest control options through research into integrated pest management techniques designed to reduce pesticide use. According to the 1998 Survey of Pesticide Use in Ontario total pesticide active ingredient applied has been reduced by 41.0 since 1983 (next pesticide use survey is in 2003) (Hunter and McGee 1999). It is difficult to determine if the changes in pesticide use are a result of Food Systems 2002 or a result of agronomic shifts determined by market forces new varieties prices or other influential factors.However what has been shown is that there are many factors that can influence pesticide use one of which is research. On-farm benefits Our research investigated the on-farm net benefits of 10 projects funded under the Food Systems 2002 research efforts to reduce risks from pesticides. The net present values of farm-level net returns were calculated for each of the selected projects. Three major findings were obtained VISIT OUR WEBSITE Have a look at the Pesticide Outlook website on http://www.rsc.org/po This journal is The Royal Society of Chemistry 2002 Pesticide Outlook ¨C April 2002 Outlook Research funding agencies should be aware that not all projects will generate high producer-level returns but that the few winners often pay for the whole program.There do need to be criteria to assess the probability of success for pesticide reduction; one factor positively associated with success is an emphasis on cost reduction technology such as scouting devices. While the motivation behind pesticide reduction research is the desire to reduce associated environmental risk this objective cannot be achieved without adoption of the technology at the farm level. References Brethour C. 1999. An Economic Evaluations of the Farm and Off- Farm Effects of Pesticide Reduction Research. Master of Science Thesis University of Guelph. Brethour C. and A. Weersink. 2001. iexcl;deg;Rolling the dice On-farm benefits of research into reducing pesticide use.iexcl;plusmn; Agricultural Systems. Hunter C. and B. McGee. 1999. Survey of pesticide use in Ontario 1998. Policy Analysis Branch Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs Toronto Ontario Canada. For further information on the Ontario Food Systems 2002 program see http://www.gov.on.ca/OMAFRA/english/research/ archives/researchfund/fs2toc.html or email Cher Brethour on cher@georgemorris.org
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