Are pesticides needed?
To reach a foodservice establishment, crops need to compete against weeks, insects, rodents, disease, and other pests. There are an estimated 10,000 types of insects; 1,800 types of weeds; and 250 species of viruses and 8,000 species of fungi that destroy crops. Even with the use of pesticides, about one-third of the world’s crops are destroyed by these pests each year — at a cost of $20 billion in the United States alone.
