Oregon’s proposed neonicotinoid insecticide restrictions spark debate over necessity of pesticides

Two bills restricting certain pesticides [got hearings on March 26] in the Oregon legislature. Marie Bowers is a fifth generation farmer at Bashaw Land and Seed in Harrisburg. Things changed for her family farm in 2010 when field burning was banned in the Willamette Valley.

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Now pesticides are a tool she uses to keep the bugs at bay. “We would lose a good chunk of our yield, about 50 percent of our yield to bugs and weeds if we didn’t have a mechanism to control them,” said Bowers.

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[T]he bill restricts the use of neonicotinoids—a chemical that can currently be found in common garden and pest products. It would require certification to use the pesticide so the average person can’t go spray it in their garden.“They don’t understand how harmful this is to bees, pollinators and birds,” said [director of Beyond Toxics Lisa] Arkin.

Read full, original article: The Pesticide Argument: Two Oregon women to debate new bill to ban pesticides in Oregon