Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The nonprofit organization looked at seven years of pesticide residue testing results for 59 types of produce from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and concluded pesticides pose “significant ...
According to new data released by Consumer Reports, most of the fruits and vegetables we eat have low levels of pesticides.Still, analysts said "pesticides posed significant risks in 20% of the ...
Consumer Reports added that the biggest risks are caused by just a few pesticides, and those are "concentrated in a handful of foods, grown on a small fraction of U.S. farmland," which "makes it ...
Organic agriculture can be defined as "an integrated farming system that strives for sustainability, the enhancement of soil fertility and biological diversity while, with rare exceptions, prohibiting synthetic pesticides, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, and growth hormones".
Some organic farms may use less pesticides and thus biodiversity fitness and population density may benefit. [4] Larger farms however tend to use pesticides more liberally and in some cases to larger extent than conventional farms. [5] Many weed species attract beneficial insects that improve soil qualities and forage on weed pests. [6]
The extensive use of pesticides in agricultural production can degrade and damage the community of microorganisms living in the soil, particularly when these chemicals are overused or misused as chemical compounds build up in the soil. [68] The full impact of pesticides on soil microorganisms is still not entirely understood; many studies have ...
Only 20% of the produce tested by the USDA contained “significant risks” from specific pesticides that Consumer Reports viewed as the most concerning, Rogers said.
Common attributes of soil degradation can be salting, waterlogging, compaction, pesticide contamination, a decline in soil structure quality, loss of fertility, changes in soil acidity, alkalinity, salinity, and erosion. Soil erosion is the wearing away of topsoil by water, wind, or farming activities. [54]