117,500 tons of herbicides and insecticides are used across America’s farmlands annually, posing a potentially fatal risk to thousands of endangered and threatened species.
Meat and dairy production is driving the use of these pesticides. One-third of agricultural lands in the US is dedicated to corn and soy, primarily to provide calorie-dense diets for fattening up farmed animals.
Corn and soybean production globally accounts for about half of all sales of pesticides. Around three-quarters of the soy produced around the world feeds livestock, along with up to 45 per cent of corn grown in the US.
The most commonly-used substances in the US are glyphosate and atrazine.
Glyphosate can harm or kill 93 per cent of plants and animals protected under the Endangered Species Act. The research also points to adverse effects that glyphosate exposure has on human health, noting that the World Health Organization says it is “probably carcinogenic to humans”.
“More than 13,000 lawsuits have been filed in the US alleging that the pesticide causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma”, the researchers state.
Atrazine is banned in 35 countries. It is likely to harm or kill more than 1,000 protected species in the USA.
Converting more and more land for mono-crops like soy and corn is wiping out biologically-diverse habitats. From 2018 to 2019, about 2.6 million acres of US grasslands were converted to row crop agriculture, with 70 per cent used for soy, corn and wheat.
Stripping out native grasses and vegetation decimates the habitats and food sources of a wide-range of species. Grasslands are also a little-recognised but crucial natural ally when it comes to battling the climate crisis. Grasses can store large amounts of carbon in the soil, sometimes as much as forest soils.
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