2021 journal article

Balancing Bees and Pest Management: Projected Costs of Proposed Bee-Protective Neonicotinoid Regulation in California

JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY, 115(1), 10–25.

By: K. Mace*, J. Rudder*, R. Goodhue*, T. Tolhurst*, D. Tregeagle n, H. Wei*, B. Grafton-Cardwell*, I. Grettenberger* ...

author keywords: neonicotinoid; pest management; regulation; specialty crop; agri-environmental policy
MeSH headings : Animals; Bees; Crops, Agricultural; Insecta; Insecticides / analysis; Neonicotinoids; Nitro Compounds; Thiamethoxam
TL;DR: Overall, it is estimated that pest management costs for these crops would have increased an estimated $13.6 million in 2015, $12.8 million in 2016, and $11.1 million in 2017 if the 2020 draft proposed regulation had been in effect, representing a 61% to 72% increase in the cost of managing the target pests. (via Semantic Scholar)
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
15. Life on Land (Web of Science)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: March 7, 2022

AbstractNeonicotinoid insecticides are widely used in agriculture, including in many California specialty crops. With mounting evidence that these insecticides are harmful to bees, state and national governments have increasingly regulated their use. The European Union, Canada, and United States have imposed use restrictions on several neonicotinoids, such as on the timing of applications. In 2020, California proposed a draft regulation to mitigate harm to managed pollinators from four nitroguanidine-substituted neonicotinoids (NGNs): clothianidin, dinotefuran, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam. We use data on California pesticide use from 2015 to 2017 to analyze the economic and pest management implications of the 2020 draft proposed regulation for seven crops: almond, cherry, citrus, cotton, grape, strawberry, and tomato. From 2015 to 2017, these crops accounted for approximately 85% of total hectares treated with NGNs and 87% of NGN use by kilograms of active ingredient applied in treatments that would have been affected by the proposed regulation. These insecticides often primarily target Hemipteran insect pests. In most cases there are alternatives; however, these are often more expensive per hectare and do not have the same residual effectiveness as the NGNs, which are systemic insecticides. Overall, we estimate that pest management costs for these crops would have increased an estimated $13.6 million in 2015, $12.8 million in 2016, and $11.1 million in 2017 if the 2020 draft proposed regulation had been in effect, representing a 61% to 72% increase in the cost of managing the target pests.