Press Releases

New Field to Market Report Identifies Opportunities for the U.S. Food and Ag Value Chain to Advance Responsible Pest Management

February 18, 2020

Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable released a report today on Trends in Pest Management in U.S. Agriculture, analyzing barriers to progress and presenting available solutions for the food and agriculture value chain to take collective action to advance responsible pest management. The peer-reviewed report considers both the scientific literature and feedback from the grower community to describe how pest management has changed over the past several decades and craft recommendations for how all sectors of the value chain can support farming practices that protect resilient ecosystems and enhance farmer livelihoods.

Modeled after Field to Market’s signature science-based National Indicators Report, the report focuses on chemical use and pest management practices from USDA surveys from 1990-2018 on nine commodity crops covered by Field to Market’s programs. The report is in response to increased public interest in pesticide use within food supply chains and its potential impacts on biodiversity, water quality and human health, as well as agronomic challenges related to insecticide and herbicide resistance.

“There are opportunities for the commodity crop value chain to support farmers in adopting responsible pest management practices that can reduce impacts of pesticide use on biodiversity, water quality and human health,” said Rod Snyder, president, Field to Market. “We are pleased to release this analysis to the food and agriculture value chain, strengthening our diverse membership’s ability to engage in multi-sector collaboration to advance responsible pest management.”

The tailored recommendations enable organizations in each of Field to Market’s five membership sectors to leverage learnings from the report to take credible action, whether by investing in new technologies, addressing research gaps, establishing community efforts to prioritize resistance management, or supporting supply chain projects to improve biodiversity and water quality.

“This report draws upon extensive scientific literature in reviewing chemicals and management practices, as well as evaluating management changes over time,” explained Tom Green, president, IPM Institute of North America and a contributor to the report. “Field to Market’s analysis provides a valuable resource for each step in the value chain to better understand the science and identify how their collective efforts can improve outcomes for the environment while addressing key concerns for farmers.”

Field to Market continues to serve as a leader in convening diverse stakeholders across the value chain to create collaborative solutions on responsible pest management. Additional activities are underway in 2020, including an initial exploration of a pest management-focused sustainability metric and the establishment of pilot projects to promote improved environmental outcomes.

ABOUT FIELD TO MARKET

Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture® brings together a diverse group of grower organizations; agribusinesses; food, feed, beverage, restaurant, and retail companies; conservation groups; universities and public sector partners to focus on defining, measuring, and advancing the sustainability of food, feed, fiber, and fuel production. Field to Market comprises around 200 members representing all facets of the U.S. agricultural supply chain, with members employing more than 5 million people and representing combined revenues totaling over $1.5 trillion. 

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“There are opportunities for the commodity crop value chain to support farmers in adopting responsible pest management practices that can reduce impacts of pesticide use on biodiversity, water quality and human health. We are pleased to release this analysis to the food and agriculture value chain, strengthening our diverse membership’s ability to engage in multi-sector collaboration to advance responsible pest management.”

Rod Snyder, president, Field to Market

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