Managing modes of action: key to success

By Fabio Kagi, agricultural engineer at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, UNESP, Botucatu campus, and deputy manager of Innovation and Sustainability at Andef

What would you think if I told you that there is an action that can be taken today in relation to pest management, with lasting effects and capable of avoiding production losses, reducing the number of applications over the years, reducing fuel costs and labor in the application of agricultural pesticides, in addition to contributing to the sustainability of management? What if, with the same action, I demonstrated that the management cost would be at least 48% lower?

I am referring to the incredible power of managing pest resistance to pesticides, in which the simple act of not using the same product repeatedly to manage the same pest plays a fundamental role. Throughout the history of humanity, man has fought a battle with agricultural pests for the same food. If he did not carry out any form of control, man would basically eat the rest of what the pests - which have been in the world for 1 billion years - did not eat. There are millions and millions of years of adaptation for survival in adverse conditions inserted in the genetic load and evolution of these species.

When we apply a pesticide, susceptible pests die and resistant ones survive and multiply. In the next generation, there will be more resistant people than there were before. Continuously, this process leads to the existence of only resistant individuals, which means, in practice, that that product will no longer control that disease.

To feed a world that will have 9,8 billion people in 2050, we will have to control pests adequately and agricultural pesticides are specifically designed for this. For each new molecule, the agricultural pesticide research and development industries invest around US$286 million over 10 years of testing to ensure the efficacy and safety of the products.

Embrapa researchers published an interesting technical circular in 2017 that demonstrates that, on average, costs for weed control jumped from R$62,57 per hectare in areas without resistance to R$285,98 per hectare in areas with resistance . On a 1.000-hectare farm, this difference in management costs represents more than R$220 per year in the income of a farming family.

Therefore, it is important to change the mentality to be adopted when managing resistance, moving from reactive management (using the tool until it breaks and finding a new one) to proactive management (avoiding breaking the tool, maintaining its effectiveness), highlighting that Farmers often cannot anticipate the potential for increased costs for control after resistance develops.

The final message is clear: agricultural pesticides are safe and effective in combating pests; have already evolved a lot over the years and the industry will continue to invest in search of new solutions. The golden rule is to value and preserve what already exists, as any product that is overexposed will quickly lose its effectiveness and the long development process prevents new modes of action from being easily launched.