What percentage of food production costs is due to oil-based pesticides?

Answer 1

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Both oil and natural gas are invaluable resources for our industrial food system. Ten calories of fossil fuels are used in the production of each calorie of food today. Of that about one-third is in production, one-third is in processing and packaging, and one-third is in distribution and cooking.

Let’s start with oil. About one fifth of all petroleum used in the US is used in agriculture. This accounts for nearly 400 gallons of oil equivalent per person per year. First of all, oil is the basis of all commercial pesticides – whose use, as you know, is ubiquitous in industrial agriculture.

More than one billion pounds of pesticides are applied each year in the US alone. Less than one hundredth of a percent reaches the target pest and the remaining 99.9 percent pollutes the environment. More than 90 percent of US corn farmers rely on herbicides and many of you are no doubt also aware of the use of certain strains of crops that are bred to be used with pesticides. Environmental effects also include increased health risks to agricultural workers exposed to pesticides, including a possible correlation between high rates of lung cancer in farmers and pesticide use.

On the farm oil is also used to fuel tractors, combines, harvesters, and other large machinery. This allows larger plots to be farmed and encourages mono-cropping, mostly corn and soybeans in this part of the country. These crops are then likely fed to livestock or processed into the oils used in packaged food.

Now onto natural gas-derived nitrogen fertilizers. Natural gas is a critical feedstock for nitrogen fertilizer production through the Haber-Bosch process, and accounts for 70 – 80 percent of the cost of fertilizer. It has been said that 40 percent of the world’s population is alive today because of the Haber-Bosch process and the use of natural gas in fertilizers. The environmental effect is that fertilizer run-off accumulates in bodies of water, resulting in eutrophication and algal blooms.

Another use of oil in agriculture is in the transportation of food, and perhaps this is its most vital role in the industrial food system. For the large mono-cropping operations that use oil-fed machinery and massive amounts of petroleum-based pesticides and natural gas-derived fertilizers would not be viable if the crops couldn't be transported to processing facilities and national and international markets, then finally to wholesale and retail outlets, restaurants and consumers' homes.

Cheap, abundant oil gave us cheap, abundant transportation and cheap, abundant food. Today you can go into any grocery store and see products from thousands of miles away, from all over the globe. Apples from New Zealand sit next to locally-grown apples. Lettuce from Arizona is shipped in in the dead of winter. The average calorie of food travels 1500 miles from the farm to our plate.

Answer 2

Idk, but one percent is too high

Eat organic...if you can afford it

Answer 3

I would say at least 40%, as the oil-based pesticides cost more and are harder to remove.
We don't want that crap on our food!!

Answer 4

Bunch of whiners. There is no pesticide residual left over, it dissipates after a few days.

Answer 5

More than the % of bribes paid to the Commissioner?

Answer 6

varies. it seems to be very high in crops like cotton, where pest infestation can be heavy. oil companies have monopolized most of the popular pesticides, and governmental extension agencies are functioning virtually as their agents. the prices have been pushed very high, and extortionate.

farmers should try organic pesticides and biological control measures so that the costs may be reduced, and plant hygiene improved.

Answer 7

I don't really know,perhaps 20%

Answer 8

None. we get lower cost products because of agricultural chemistry. When we use a herbicide instead of a lot of tillage, we spend less on both fuel and machine cost. When minimum tillage allows us to avoid extra tillage passes we get less soil compaction, and the stover left on the soil prevents erosion both by wind and water. When that stover builds up a bit, we get better water absorption, and it acts as a mulch to prevent water loss.

Now, because we have a lot of wasps, spiders, and lady bugs, we do not need insecticides, but we do need some fertilizer to get maximum yields. That is not a pesticide, so outside of your question.

We do use an occasional mould control agent, which cuts the cost of delivering a usable product. But we are also cutting down the need for that, as it invariably shows up because the plant is suffering from shortage of sulfur.

Well, Is sulfur an oil based pesticide? probably not.

Farmers who use oil based pesticides are in general keenly interested in cutting the cost per kg of food. It seems we do a better job of controlling that cost than do organic farmers.

I find myself compelled to be organic in my main crop, walnuts, because so many health conscious customers, the very customers most likely to buy walnuts, will insist on organic walnuts. But I could double my walnut production for little extra by using a bit of fertilizer and irrigation. Very tempting!

Answer 9

Ok so all I really know about is corn, soybeans, and cattle, but there are a few things wrong with some of the other answers here. Food prices are all about supply and demand. Ethanol as well as livestock causes $6 corn, which indirectly does relate it to oil, but not oil-based pesticides. The pesticides used around here are mainly for aphids and only on bad years, this in NO WAY AT ALL affects the price, because the area in any given year that must spray for this is not wide spread. Farming is tough. The price of grain is ONLY influenced by demand. This means that if there is no need for corn, then it doesn't matter how much money the farmer is paying to raise a succuesful crop, he's only getting what the buyers are willing to pay.

Off topic but brought up also is organic farming. I have done this with my cattle to get a better price, but I would never pay extra for it. People are blindly following the media into thinking that they will get cancer from eating "regular" foods. There is NO residue left from any pesticide or fertilizer left in the corn that is fed to these non-implanted (smaller) cattle. The meat tastes worste actually because these non-implanted cattle do not marble as well. Beef gets it's flavor from the fat marbling. The implants have nothing at all in them that would ever be harmful to the animal or the consumer. The other medications used to treat the sick animals are actually extremely and sometimes the exact same as the medicines used to treat humans. If you take penicilin to get over an illness this does not give you cancer, nor does it to animals. People need to be more educated on this. There are so many misconceptions.

Source(s):

my farm

Answer 10

i don't know but a couple of years ago i worked at a chemical company. they sold fertilizer and pesticides to farmers. these farmers would pay ten's of thousands of dollars every month from march til september. the worst part is some of the chemicals they bought, chemicals that are sprayed on crops which will in turn be OUR FOOD , were so toxic they can cause seizures if it touches your skin. unless you eat out of your own garden and eat meats that you raised yourself every meal you eat is a ******* poison.