Biodiversity is Key, Says Entomologist and Agroecologist Jonathan Lundgren
by Tom Parker
Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, noted entomologist, agro-ecologist and former USDA whistleblower on neonicotinoids—the family of pesticides suspected of harming pollinators and other wildlife—minced no words when he presented his keynote presentation at the opening of the Kansas Rural Center’s Annual Farm and Food Conference, held in Manhattan, Kansas, on November 18 and 19.
“Biodiversity is in decline,” he said. “We are currently experiencing one of the biggest mass extinctions the planet has experienced. We are losing not just species, but entire habitats. We’re losing entire insect communities. We’re losing butterflies, we’re losing bats, we’re losing birds, we’re losing bees, we’re losing terrestrial mammals. This is worse than the dinosaurs, folks.”
As if that weren’t enough, those selfsame extinctions were caused by our own efforts, and the potential outcome, if left unchecked, promises to be catastrophic. “No bees, no plants, no food, no people,” he said. “It’s that simple.”
Lundgren, who has published nearly 100 scientific papers on pollinators and insects, worked at the USDA for 11 years before leaving to start Blue Dasher Farm, a research and demonstration farm in South Dakota. The farm’s mission is to grow nutritious food profitably while conserving both the soil and biodiversity—a mission that only partially succeeded this year.
“We didn’t make our goal, but we learned more this year about beekeeping and farming than I have in my 20 years as a scientist,” he said. One of the lessons he learned was that there is a disconnect between scientists and farmers that needs to be adjusted.
“Scientists can tell you everything that you should be doing on your farm,” he said. “But at the end of the day, until we have walked a mile in your shoes, a level of credibility needs to be accompanying that scientific advice. We need to pair the science with actual practice. The data doesn’t change behavior. This is a sociological issue as much as a scientific issue.”
A critical lesson he learned was to ask questions, he said. Question the science, question the motive, question the procedure, and above all, question what will be left behind for future generations. “The planet is facing serious challenges right now,” Lundgren said. “The status quo is no longer good enough.”
Worldwide, pollinators and other beneficial insects are losing ground. Currently, 25 percent of North American bee species are at risk of extinction, and in Kansas four out of 11 bee species are at risk, said Jennifer Hopwood, Senior Pollinator Conservation Specialist with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, who also gave a presentation at the KRC conference. Another 17 percent of butterflies are at risk, including the Monarch, whose population has declined annually for the past 22 years.
In spite of this, everywhere Lundgren goes people tell him that the only good bug is a dead bug. “That kind of thinking,” he said, “is what happens when we put our blinders on.”
Insects are worth $63 billion to the economy, he said. They form the basis of complex food webs, support wildlife, regulate herbivores, and shape the dispersion and density of plant communities. Insects are nature’s pesticides and herbicides, he explained. For every insect pest, there are 1,700 beneficial insects, many of which prey on the pest. “We wouldn’t be here without insects,” he said.
Insects are also critical to soil health, he said. Not only do they interact with every type of biological community, they directly affect the physical and chemical properties of soil. In fact, that interaction with soil is so critical that efforts to stop the collapse of bee populations must focus first on soil health. “Anything less than that and you’re going to continue to have dead bees,” he said.
One of the driving forces behind pollinator losses is the prevalent use of pesticides and herbicides containing neonicotinoids. In 2013 virtually all corn planted in the U.S. was treated with neonictinoids. As of 2014, about one-third of soybean acres used treated seeds.
“All of these (acres) are being treated with neonicotinoid treatments unnecessarily,” he said. “As biodiversity declines, we see the simplification of our landscape as part of our food production system.”
The more chemicals are used, the more they’re needed, a process he compared to an addiction. That doesn’t mean that chemicals should be demonized, he added. A simplified system still needs input. Farmers need to know what they’re treating their crops with and what long-term effects they might have, and in order for that to happen, he said, scientists need to stand up to special interests and corporate interference.
History shows that scientific research has been spotty regarding the safety of agrochemicals, he said. When DDT was offered after World War II, it was considered safe. Other chemicals followed suit, each with its own undesirable effects. But in the mid-1990s genetically modified organisms (GMOs) came along, triggering a paradigm shift. “It took the decision-making process out of the harvester’s hands and put it into the hands of the seed dealer,” he said. “You no longer had to know what was in your fields. It was insurance. All you had to do is buy a bag of seed and your pests were taken care of. That’s where we are today.”
“Throughout history, whenever we tried replacing Mother Nature with technology, eventually Mother Nature kicks us,” he said. “We’re using more pesticides than we ever have before. If they worked, we’d have won.”
If farmers are just reacting to symptoms of a deeper problem without solving the problem itself, he said, then the only answer is more pesticides and a continuance of the addiction.
The problem isn’t pests, he said, but a lack of diversity and too much disturbance. “If you have a pest problem in your field, it’s because something in your field is out of whack,” he said.
In organic systems, studies have shown that as predator species increase, pest species decrease. Predator diversity also increases. Only by addressing the lack of biodiversity through integrated pest management systems will we get through this, Lundgren said.
Hopwood agreed. Strategies for improving biodiversity can be modest to extreme, but regardless of their scope, all are beneficial. Good sanitation, crop rotation, spraying at night when crops are dry, using agrochemicals that aren’t toxic to honeybees, reducing spray drift whenever possible and establishing buffers or setbacks that aren’t sprayed are all good management practices, she said.
Lundgren, who describes himself as neither anti-pesticide nor anti-fertilizer, said that the decline in pollinator species is not a bee problem. Studies have placed the blame on mites, pests, diseases and the outside possibility of pesticide use. “All of these issues are related to one thing, the lack of diversity in our environment,” he said. “If we can get that back, bees can resist a super virus or varroa mites. The bees are telling us something, and we should listen.”
Meanwhile, beekeepers are being told to relocate their hives to prevent chemical contamination, a solution that’s as impractical as it is scientifically unfeasible, and the population continues to decline. Research has shown that neonicotinoids aren’t staying put, that only 20 percent is taken up in the plant and the rest is being dispersed to waterways and untreated plants.
There’s also an evolution taking place in every farmer’s field with insects and neonicotinoids, he said. During a question and answer session following the presentation, an audience member asked him how that evolution could alter the insect community.
“I’m not sure,” Lundgren said. “I’m not sure anyone knows.”
Lundgren’s discussion, “The Importance of Pollinators and Diversified Farming Systems to Farm and Food System Health,” mirrored the conference’s theme of “Transforming Our Farms, Our Food and Our Future: Building the Road As We Go.” Other speakers and workshops expanded on his theme of pollinator and soil health with such topics as sustainable beekeeping, adding livestock to urban or small scale farms, and spray drift impacts and preventions, and more. See presentations on the KRC website at www.kansasruralcenter.org/krc-farm-food-conference-2016-presentations/.