Why use chemical pesticides?
13It is claimed that the use of chemical pesticides helps to keep the cost of food produced in North America at low levels (2). It is further claimed that the production of food (in North America) would decline by up to 40% and the costs of production would increase by up to 30% if we were to eliminate the use of chemical pesticides (2). If these figures are to be believed, it tends to imply that we would experience an increase in food prices and farm profits would decline if indeed chemical pesticides were to be eliminated. Along with these effects, we might see a decrease in the range of food products produced domestically. From a farmer’s perspective, any decline in profits would likely result in changes to production patterns and if extreme enough (which is implied by a 30% increase in costs of production) could lead to a speeding up of the decline in number of farms, and a continuing increase in the size of farms. Also, land might be idled due to it having passed what is known as
