Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Economic sustainability: Less pesticide rarely causes loss

Subjects

A large-scale study covering a wide range of arable farming systems reveals that, besides the obvious environmental benefits, low pesticide use rarely decreases productivity and profitability.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Pre-emergence herbicide in band application during maize sowing.

References

  1. Lamichhane, J. R., Dachbrodt-Saaydeh, S., Kudsk, P. & Messéan, A. Plant Dis. 100, 10–24 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Deytieux, V., Nemecek, T., Freiermuth Knuchel, R., Gaillard, G. & Munier-Jolain, N. M. Eur. J. Agron. 36, 55–65 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Lechenet, M., Dessaint, F., Py, G., Makowski, D. & Munier-Jolain, N. Nat. Plants 3, 17008 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Vasileiadis, V. P. et al. Eur. J. Agron. 48, 1–11 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Seufert, V., Ramankutty, N. & Foley, J. A. Nature 485, 229–232 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lechenet, M. et al. PLoS ONE 9, e97922 (2014).

  7. Jacquet, F., Butault, J. P. & Guichard, L. Ecol. Econ. 70, 1638–1648 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Jess, S. et al. Pest Manag. Sci. 70, 1646–1654 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vasileios P. Vasileiadis.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vasileiadis, V. Economic sustainability: Less pesticide rarely causes loss. Nature Plants 3, 17016 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2017.16

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nplants.2017.16

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing