Did you know?
☠️ 41% of Britain’s wildlife species have declined since 1970 and more than one in ten are currently facing extinction. (‘State of Nature 2019’ The State of Nature partnership, available online from: https://nbn.org.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2019/09/State-of-Nature-2019-UK-full-report.pdf)
☠️ We are loosing insects eight times faster than mammals, birds and reptiles. (Sanchez-Bayo and Wyckhuys (2019) Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers. Biological Conservation, 232, 8-27)
🐝 Organic farms are home to 30% more species of wildlife on average. (Tuck, S. L., et al (2014) ‘Land-use intensity and the effects of organic farming on biodiversity: a hierarchical meta- analysis’, The Journal of Applied Ecology, 51(3), 746–755. http://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12219)
🐝 There are around 75% more wild bees on organic farms. (Kennedy et al. (2013) A global quantitative synthesis of local and landscape effects on wild bee pollinators in agroecosystems. Ecology Letters. Vol: 16 pp. 584–599.)
What is thiamethoxam insecticide and why it has been banned before?
Neonicotinoid insecticides are used in some pesticides to kill crop-harming insects. The use of most neonicotinoids was severely restricted in 2013 in the EU and UK due to their potential negative impact on bees and other pollinators. By 2020, all but one neonicotinoid was no longer approved for use.
Thiamethoxam is an insecticide that belongs to the neonicotinoid family of chemicals. While it is effective at killing many insect pests, it has been found to be harmful to bees and other pollinators.
Neonics are systemic pesticides. Systemic pesticides are a type of pesticide that is absorbed by the plant and distributed throughout its tissues, including the leaves, stems, and roots. This means that when insects feed on the plant, they ingest the pesticide and can be killed. Systemic pesticides can be applied to the soil, seed, or foliage of the plant, and can be taken up by the roots or absorbed through the leaves.
How choosing organic can indirectly help the situation?
Organic farming does not allow the use of deadly to pollinators and banned pesticides. Organic farmers are encouraged to use natural methods to control pests and diseases. You can read more about use of pesticides in organic in our article: "Pesticide use in organic farming".
By voting with your wallet and choose organic, we can try to increase demand for organic products to encourage organic farmers to produce more, and to discourage conventional farmers to used deadly chemicals.
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