Farmers have been using pesticides less but the emergence of newly resistant insects now threaten to reverse the trend. Farmers spray the herbicide glyphosate, onto plats that are genetically engineered to tolerate the chemical. This gene was supposed to reduce the need to till fields and apply harsher chemicals, so weed control would be simple and cheap. Overall pesticide use last year on plants with a genetically engineered crop was about 20 percent higher than on plants without genetically engineered crops. “Farmers basically said, ‘I’m not going to apply it a fourth time — it’s just not worth it,’”. The pesticide cycle is starting to cause a resistance. To counteract the resistance they are saying that farmers should rotate herbicides or mix glyphosate with other chemicals. If farmers continue to use the same chemical/pesticide more and more, then the more chemicals we will need to counteract the plants that will be grown genetically to resist that chemical. Regardless of how many people want farmers to stop the use of pesticides, they won’t. Without the pesticides then insects will kill the crops and then we won’t have anything. The only way to help this is to use less pesticides and different kinds more often. Personally I think these solutions are good because without pesticides the insects would eat all of the crops. But if farmers use less of it and different kinds then the plants won’t become resistant to it and there won’t be so much as to kill the people who then eat the crops.
I think we just need to make sure that the pesticides and chemicals they use do not overflow and pollute the surrounding water supplies. As well as making sure that the crops still are plentiful and safe for human consumption.
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