Over one billion pounds of conventional pesticides are used in the United States each year. In the most recent year of data, Americans spent $9 billion on pesticides for use in agriculture. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s biomonitoring has found pesticide residues in the bodies of 90% of Americans studied.
Farming has not always required the intensive use of chemicals that constrains our farmers today. Humans have been growing food for over 10,000 years; it is only over the past 60 years that we have become dependent on a complicated and costly system of pesticide use. Following World War II, industrialization of agriculture and the introduction of pesticides (derived from chemicals invented as weapons), contributed to major growth in productivity and farm efficiency. But this shortcut has come with tremendous consequences. Science is now beginning to catch up with the myriad ways in which pesticides are harming humans, animals, and the environment. As new information exposes these growing risks, companies that rely on conventional agricultural supply chains are increasingly tied to these risks.
Learn which companies are in the forefront and those that lag behind their peers. Fill out the form to view the report and view webinar.
