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Pests in sentence

54 examples of Pests in a sentence

So biodiversity can act as a natural “insurance policy” against sudden environmental changes and a buffer against losses caused by them (as well as by pests and diseases).
Rather than merely altering the crops that farmers bring to harvest, biotechnology corporations will now try to control the genetic makeup of every component in the agricultural ecosystem, from the pollinators to the weeds and pests.
Innovations in biotechnology and farming methods are needed to deal with disease, pests, and drought.
Most of these new crop varieties are designed to resist herbicides, so that farmers can adopt more environmentally friendly, no-till cultivation practices, and many have also been engineered to resist pests and diseases that ravage crops.
Because much of the loss to diseases and pests occurs after the plants are fully grown – that is, after most of the water required for their growth has already been supplied – resistance to them means more agricultural output per unit of water invested.
Meanwhile, rising temperatures are increasing the likelihood of pests and crop diseases, jeopardizing agricultural productivity and subjecting the population to increasingly frequent heatwaves.
And eliminating pests’ attraction to our crops, without diminishing their capacity to fulfill their other ecological roles, would remove the need for toxic pesticides.
Wild species of bats, birds, and amphibians add several billion dollars each year to the world’s agricultural economy by controlling pests and pollinating major crops – a free service that they get little credit for providing.
The largest hunts, however, take place in Japan, where commercial fishers regard dolphins as pests, because they eat commercially valuable fish.
GM crops that resist certain pests and tolerate herbicides have gained rapid acceptance in many countries.
The species that are so rapidly disappearing provide human beings with indispensable ecosystem services: regulating the climate, maintaining soil fertility, pollinating crops and defending them from pests, filtering fresh water, and supplying food.
As the modified corn fends off insect pests, it also reduces the levels of the mold Fusarium, thereby reducing the levels of fumonisin.
Such disasters not only cause death by drowning or starvation, but also damage crops and make them vulnerable to infection and infestations by pests and choking weeds, thereby contributing to food shortages and malnutrition.
Most of these new varieties are designed to resist crop-ravaging pests and diseases, so that farmers can adopt environmentally friendlier no-till practices and use more benign herbicides.
Pests will thrive in the warmer climate and destroy crops.
Modern science should focus on sustainable increases in land and water productivity, management of production risks caused by droughts, floods, pests, and on mitigation and adaption to climate change.
More than three-quarters of the waste occurs well before the kitchen, in inefficient agriculture, because birds and rats eat crops during harvest, for example, or pests spoil grain stores.
They must also work to reduce the use of toxic chemicals to control pests and increase yields, especially by promoting organic alternatives that do not pose widespread health and environmental risks.
Would these crops be safe to eat?Might they not cross-pollinate with wild plants, passing on the special qualities they were given, such as resistance to pests, and so create new “superweeds”?
Soil depletion, along with aging trees and the increased risk of pests and disease, is threatening the livelihoods of the already-poor small farmers who produce the vast majority of the world’s cocoa and coffee.
Innovations in digital agriculture also can help farmers increase their yields and incomes by adopting locally suited seeds and fertilizer, protecting crops from diseases and pests (such as fall armyworm or locusts), adapting to climate change, selling at the best possible price, and accessing financial services.
This is a dangerous trend and it could unravel the biodiversity and ecosystem services – including the production of food and water, the cycling of nutrients, and the natural regulation of crop pests and pollinators – on which all life depends.
Likewise, in order to ensure long-term global food security, more resources must be directed toward the development of more nutritious, higher-yielding, and more resilient crops that can withstand temperature fluctuations, extreme weather, and pests.
These practices damage the environment, reduce soil quality, make crops more vulnerable to natural hazards and pests, pose greater risks to farmers’ livelihoods, and produce increasingly unsafe food.
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