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Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lampricide. The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all pesticide use globally. Most pesticides are intended to serve as plant protection products, which in general, protect plants from weeds, fungi, or insects. As an example, the fungus Alternaria solani is used to combat the aquatic weed Salvinia.
Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also involves an active human management role. It can be an important component of integrated pest management (IPM) programs.
Pesticide resistance describes the decreased susceptibility of a pest population to a pesticide that was previously effective at controlling the pest. Pest species evolve pesticide resistance via natural selection: the most resistant specimens survive and pass on their acquired heritable changes traits to their offspring. If a pest has resistance then that will reduce the pesticide's efficacy – efficacy and resistance are inversely related.
Weed control is a type of pest control, which attempts to stop or reduce growth of weeds, especially noxious weeds, with the aim of reducing their competition with desired flora and fauna including domesticated plants and livestock, and in natural settings preventing non native species competing with native species.
Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control (IPC) is a broad-based approach that integrates both chemical and non-chemical practices for economic control of pests. IPM aims to suppress pest populations below the economic injury level (EIL). The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization defines IPM as "the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest populations and keep pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and reduce or minimize risks to human health and the environment. IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms." Entomologists and ecologists have urged the adoption of IPM pest control since the 1970s. IPM allows for safer pest control.
Bioherbicides are herbicides consisting of phytotoxins, pathogens, and other microbes used as biological weed control. Bioherbicides may be compounds and secondary metabolites derived from microbes such as fungi, bacteria or protozoa; or phytotoxic plant residues, extracts or single compounds derived from other plant species.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for the federal regulation of agriculture, including policies governing the production, processing, and marketing of all farm, food, and agri-based products. Agriculture in Canada is a shared jurisdiction and the department works with the provinces and territories in the development and delivery of policies and programs.
A biopesticide is a biological substance or organism that damages, kills, or repels organisms seen as pests. Biological pest management intervention involves predatory, parasitic, or chemical relationships.
Dan James Pantone is an American ecologist and conservationist with a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis. A former professor at Texas A&M University, Dr. Pantone is a researcher who has published numerous refereed articles on agroecology and sustainable agriculture. In addition, he is a specialist in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) which he has used to help conserve endangered species. Dr. Pantone has established his broad experience in numerous scientific disciplines by publishing diverse articles ranging from the biological control of pests to the conservation biology of endangered species.
Myrothecium verrucaria is a species of fungus in the order Hypocreales. A plant pathogen, it is common throughout the world, often found on materials such as paper, textiles, canvas and cotton. It is a highly potent cellulose decomposer.
Ascochyta is a genus of ascomycete fungi, containing several species that are pathogenic to plants, particularly cereal crops. The taxonomy of this genus is still incomplete. The genus was first described in 1830 by Marie-Anne Libert, who regarded the spores as minute asci and the cell contents as spherical spores. Numerous revisions to the members of the genus and its description were made for the next several years. Species that are plant pathogenic on cereals include, A. hordei, A. graminea, A. sorghi, A. tritici. Symptoms are usually elliptical spots that are initially chlorotic and later become a necrotic brown. Management includes fungicide applications and sanitation of diseased plant tissue debris.
CABI or the Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International, is a nonprofit intergovernmental development and information organisation focusing primarily on agricultural and environmental issues in the developing world, and the creation, curation, and dissemination of scientific knowledge.
Pine and fir trees, grown purposely for use as Christmas trees, are vulnerable to a wide variety of pests, weeds and diseases. Many of the conifer species cultivated face infestations and death from such pests as the balsam woolly adelgid and other adelgids. Aphids are another common insect pest. Christmas trees are also vulnerable to fungal pathogens and their resultant illnesses such as root rot, and, in the U.S. state of California, sudden oak death. Douglas-fir trees in particular are vulnerable to infections from plant pathogens such as R. pseudotsugae.
A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals. Plants with characteristics that make them hazardous, aesthetically unappealing, difficult to control in managed environments, or otherwise unwanted in farm land, orchards, gardens, lawns, parks, recreational spaces, residential and industrial areas, may all be considered weeds. The concept of weeds is particularly significant in agriculture, where the presence of weeds in fields used to grow crops may cause major losses in yields. Invasive species, plants introduced to an environment where their presence negatively impacts the overall functioning and biodiversity of the ecosystem, may also sometimes be considered weeds.
Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The pollution may come from a variety of sources, ranging from point source water pollution to more diffuse, landscape-level causes, also known as non-point source pollution and air pollution. Once in the environment these pollutants can have both direct effects in surrounding ecosystems, i.e. killing local wildlife or contaminating drinking water, and downstream effects such as dead zones caused by agricultural runoff is concentrated in large water bodies.
Organic beans are produced and processed without the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. In 2008, over 2,600,000 acres (11,000 km2) of cropland were certified organic in the United States. Dry beans, snap beans, and soybeans were grown on 16,000 acres (65 km2), 5,200 acres (21 km2), and 98,000 acres (400 km2), respectively.
The Cereal Research Centre was a research institute established in 1925 based at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. It became part of a national network of research centres operated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. Its research led to the development of over two hundred varieties of plant species resistant to pests and blights and producing high yields suitable for cultivation in the Canadian Prairies.
Joyce Boye is a former federal food research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada with a specialty in value-added food processing, food safety and food quality. She has expertise on plant proteins and their importance in helping to improve human health and nutrition. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations appointed Boye to be a Special Ambassador for North America for the 2016 International Year of Pulses.
Deena Errampalli is a Canadian plant pathologist who is internationally known for her work on postharvest pathology of temperate tree fruits. She has conducted research in India, the USA and Canada and her work has resulted in new and innovative disease management strategies to improve plant health through Integrated Pest Management. Errampalli was a researcher at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Vineland, a satellite station of the London Research and Developmnent Centre (2000-2018) Errampalli was also the Test-Site-Manager for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Minor Use Pesticide Program at Vineland Station where she managed trials for insect pests, diseases and weed control on minor use crops. She is also an award-winning fine-art painter, printmaker, and photographer whose work has been displayed in Canada, Italy, Poland, South Africa, USA, and India.
Noura Ziadi is a Canadian research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), at the Quebec Research and development centre, whose research focuses on soil fertility and plant nutrition. She has developed technologies, methods, and knowledge for better management of mineral fertilizers that increase their efficiency while reducing environmental impact. More specifically, Ziadi developed and validated models to diagnose nitrogen and phosphorus status for different crops, developed new technologies to ensure effective management of industrial wastes and biochar, and developed methods for soil analysis. Ziadi conducts her research on national and international scales in multidisciplinary teams that include government, university, and industry partners. Her research increases agricultural productivity and enhances environmental performance earning her recognition as an influential woman in agriculture.
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