Image by Amanda McConnell from Pixabay
by Sarah Lovas
I was browsing the internet looking at clothing for my son. I came across a company with really cute little boy clothes and it was a company I had never heard of before. My curiosity got the best of me, so I started reading the company’s story. I found an interesting sentence, “We believe increasing the use of organic cotton - free from pesticides and insecticides - can help protect farmers, their communities and the earth.”
I believe farmers are the most qualified individuals to make pesticide decisions for their farming operations because they are educated professionals. I also believe that farmers are extremely motivated to make sure those pesticide application decisions are safe for them, their families, and communities since they literally live at the point source of these applications. On our farm, I personally weigh the risks and benefits for every application. But this article really isn’t about these points.
It’s the “organic cotton-free from pesticides and insecticides” statement that caught my eye. Both conventional and organic producers can choose not to use pesticides. However, both organic and conventional producers are allowed to use pesticides. Organic pesticides are sometimes called biopesticides or biologicals, but they are pesticides non-the-less.
According to the EPA, pesticide law defines a pesticide as, “Any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating any pest, any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant, and any nitrogen stabilizer.” Pesticides used in organic production must be approved for use in organic production and those substances do not necessarily need to be naturally occurring substances. This is the list of approved and non-approved substances for organic production: https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=9874504b6f1025eb0e6b67cadf9d3b40&rgn=div6&view=text&node=7:3.1.1.9.32.7&idno=7#se7.3.205_1601. I find this official government information cumbersome to read, but AgDaily did a nice job of compiling an unbiased version of approved substances for organic production that can be found here: https://www.agdaily.com/technology/the-list-of-pesticides-approved-for-organic-production/
Ironically, there are some things that organic and conventional agriculture have in common. For instance, Bacilus thuringiensis (BT) is a bacteria that certain insect species can’t digest. In organic production, this bacteria can be sprayed as a pesticide to help manage harmful insects. In conventional agriculture, we often find BT as a GMO trait in some crops like corn and cotton. Both organic and conventional production use BT, but the delivery method in the field is a little different.
Every farmer has the right to choose which production system they will use for their farm. Every consumer has the right to choose agricultural goods produced in a production system of their choosing. But one is not better than the other. And I do hope consumers understand farmers in all production systems care about the products produced. No matter what system is used, farmers strive to produce safe (for the end user as well as the environment) and affordable agriculture products. However, I do hope that agricultural products from all production systems are represented with integrity to consumers so they have the opportunity to make decisions based on fact and integrity. Consumers deserve to have the facts so they don’t fear what farmers do.