Agriculture
Barriers to the adoption of GM crops
The use of genetic engineering techniques in agriculture and food production is seen as an exciting and valuable development by many. They welcome the improvements in production efficiency that they bring to farmers and the enhanced nutritional value that can benefit consumers. Others however, have objected strongly, raising environmental, food safety, and ethical concerns. A […]
Refuge-in-the-Bag Strategy for Managing Insect Resistance to BT Maize
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a common soil-dwelling bacterium, which can produce insecticidal proteins. Most of these Bt proteins are specifically toxic to some insect pests. Sprayable Bt insecticide formulations have been used for control of agricultural and health pests for many years, especially in organic farming. Bt insecticides are considered safe to the environment, people, […]
Perspective: Consider Removing ‘Inherited’ from Definitions of Pesticide Resistance
When an organism that had previously been controlled by a treatment is no longer controlled by that treatment, the grower considers the organism to be resistant. If equally susceptible pests were controlled in the same field, with the same treatment, I would consider that grower is correct, but this may not be the case due […]
Dust Emission from Pesticide Treated Seeds During Seed Drilling
Dressing seeds with pesticides is a widespread and effective way to control pests using smaller doses with potentially less harmful side effects. The technology also makes it possible to combine different applications into only one sowing procedure, helping to reduce the use of fuel, the risks of soil erosion and compression, and thus assisting low […]
An Analysis of the Biopesticide Market Now and Where it is Going
Biopesticide use began in the late 1800s with fungal spores used to control insect pests. One of the first documented cases of biopesticide use was by Agostine Bassi, who in 1835 demonstrated that spores of the white-muscadine fungus (Beauveria bassiana) could protect silkworms from disease. Since then, biopesticide use has continued uninterrupted through modern agricultural […]
Aerial Applications in the USA
The application of pesticides by air, or aerial application, is an efficient and effective means of spraying in variety of situations. Agricultural aircraft are designed and set up specifically for the purpose of making both liquid and dry applications. This article will focus on liquid applications. There are two primary advantages to aerial application over […]
Biopesticides – new solutions for old problems
Swansea University, South Wales played host to a special Biopesticide conference in early September. Professor Tariq Butt welcomed 195 delegates from 40 organisations and 25 different countries with significant involvement from within the industry to present and share experiences from their work. There were in total 50 presentations given over 8 sessions covering a variety […]
Some Aspects of Designing and Developing Higher Performing Hydraulic nozzles for Ground Crop Sprayers in the UK
Personal involvement in application research prior to developing higher performing nozzles For over 20 years as Application Specialist for Ciba-Geigy UK Ltd, a significant part of my job included field trials with Ciba-Geigy products applied with novel application techniques supplied by equipment manufacturers. If the new technique showed some advantage and was at least as […]
