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ALTERNATIVES FOR REDUCING INSECTICIDES ON COTTON AND CORN: ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Citation:
Pimentel, D., C. Shoemaker, E. LaDue, R. Rovinsky, AND N. Russell. ALTERNATIVES FOR REDUCING INSECTICIDES ON COTTON AND CORN: ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/5-79/007A.
Description:
Insecticide levels and application costs supplied by 31 entomological experts, plus estimates of the other costs involved with various insect control strategies, indicate that many insect control strategies that may significantly reduce insecticide use on cotton and corn may be more economical than strategies currently being used. An analysis of alternative insect control technologies in corn revealed that few opportunities exist to employ alternative strategies because only about 1 pound of insectide is applied per acre. The prime pest on corn is the rootworm complex and the practical alternative is crop rotation. Several alternate controls are available for cotton that would reduce the use of large quantities of insecticide, however. A detailed static analysis revealed that selecting the most economical control strategy for cotton in each growing region resulted in an annual reduction in insect control costs of $81 million and also reduced total insecticide use by about 40%. A significant finding was that if cotton production could be allowed to shift naturally in the Nation, insecticide use and cotton production costs would be greatly reduced.