For decades we have made decisions in agriculture that seemed to be the best choices at the time but have had unintended consequences.  By the time we reached the 1940’s and 1950’s we were dealing with significantly degraded soil and needed something to help us with production.  So, we turned heavily to synthetic fertility and pesticides.  The results were dramatic.  Yields sharply increased and it seemed easier to manage weeds, pests, and fungal disease.   We came to depend on these inputs almost exclusively and forgot how to apply basic soil health principles.  Frankly, we started to ignore soil health principles.  They became “outdated”.  Many farmers started using the phrase, “Better living through chemistry”.  

What are the unintended consequences of this now decades long reliance on synthetic inputs?  Let’s start with the heavy use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers.  Between 1945 (end of WWII) and 1993, nitrogen fertilizer use in the U.S. increased 20 times.  Since the early 1990’s, N use in North America has increased more than 600%.  

Synthetic Fertilizers

This increase in N utilization has resulted in nitrogen now being the leading contaminant in public and private drinking water sources.  A U.S. Geological Survey found nitrates in more than 70% of all water samples.  Additionally, we are seeing significantly higher levels of Nitrates in our foods, especially our vegetables.   These elevated N levels in our water and food are now being linked to a variety of human health issues, ranging from an increase in cancers to ulcers to strokes and hypertension.  A European study found that higher concentrations of N in drinking water resulted in a 2x’s risk of stomach and prostate cancer in men and a 40% higher rate of bladder cancer.  A study of 22,000 women in Iowa showed that their bladder and ovarian cancer risks were elevated due to higher N levels in their water.  

Other studies show that elevated N levels in our water and foods increases the chances of birth defects related to the brain and spinal cord.  Why are we seeing these issues develop with higher N levels?  One key factor is that high N use heavily influences a plant’s ability to uptake many other vital nutrients.  For example, N fertilizers decrease calcium uptake, reduce levels of Vitamins C, E, B1 and Beta-Carotene, and lower phosphorus and iron in our foods.  Multiple studies over the past several decades have documented that as N applications increase total nutritional value in many foods progressively decreased.  So, the price for all those higher yields has been a steady decrease in the nutritive value of much of what we eat in our daily diets.  

Pesticides

The other big issue we must deal with is the high use of all types of pesticides.  These include herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides.  What we now know is that pesticides are becoming insidious in the human population.  Multiple studies testing for evidence of pesticide residue in people residing in the U.S. show that these residues exist in more than 90% of our total population.  More than 50% of the people tested had a minimum of 6 different pesticide metabolites in their bodies.  

How are we being exposed to these pesticides?  The exposure routes are almost too numerous to count.  They include inhalation, skin exposure, consuming pesticides in our foods and water (and other beverages).  We often think this is a farmer problem only relative to exposure, but when these pesticides are ubiquitous in our food and drink everyone is exposed, and from an early age.  Other routes of exposure come from our well-manicured lawns, our athletic fields, golf courses, municipal parks, and backyard gardens.  Data has shown that pesticide loads in our urban streams are equivalent to the loads coming from agricultural lands.  

Here is the deal, we have these regulatory standards that are supposed to define what “safe” levels of pesticides and nitrates are for people.  Not one of these studies measures true lifetime cumulative effects of these toxins in our bodies.  Every individual person responds very differently to toxins.  You and I have no idea how our bodies will respond to pesticide toxins as they accumulate over time.  The labels on these products describe danger from acute exposure.  However, none of them describe the dangers from chronic exposure.  That is what we are experiencing.  Chronic exposure over our lifetime.  We now have multiple generations that have been exposed since conception.  

How are these exposures manifesting themselves in us?  Rising rates of cancers of all sorts, significantly increased inflammation and leaky gut syndrome, neurological disorders, birth defects, reduced fertility, altered metabolisms, kidney and liver problems, gastrointestinal, neurological, respiratory issues, and many other disorders.  Birth defects in the U.S. can be traced to the seasonal use of pesticides.  These pesticides are also present in human breast milk, so every time a baby nurses it is exposed to these pesticides.  

Pesticides also cause significant harm to much of our soil life.  In 2021, there was an exhaustive review of close to 400 studies examining the impact of pesticides on non-target soil invertebrates.  About 71% of these studies documented harmful effects on soil life.  In our own work, we have noted that pesticides significantly lower soil mycorrhizal populations (Picture 1) and earthworm populations (Picture 2) within 7 days of application.  Their effect on mycorrhizal fungi impacts both the abundance and diversity of mycorrhizal species.    

Picture 1.  Loss of Rhizosheath Coating 7 Days After Glyphosate Application.