In California’s Farm Country, Climate Change Is Likely to Trigger More Pesticide Use, Fouling Waterways
Warmer temperatures would boost pest populations, causing farmers to use more insecticides that, with more frequent and severe storms, turn into toxic runoff.
May 10, 2021
A helicopter sprays insecticide on a field outside of El Centro, California in the Imperial Valley on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015. Credit: Sandy Huffaker/Corbis via Getty Images
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Every spring, California farmers brace themselves for signs of wriggling organisms destined to launch multigenerational attacks on their crops.
Many insect species survive the winter as eggs or larvae and then emerge in early spring as the first generation to feed and breed on millions of acres of California vineyards, orchards and row crops. Climate change will complicate farmers’ efforts to control these pests in complex and unpredictable ways.