Insecticide regulations need to consider impacts on conservation adoption

The US Environmental Protection Agency implemented a new insecticide strategy requiring site-specific changes to their use. An updated strategy was urgently needed, given the scientific evidence linking pesticides with precipitous declines in pollinators and increasing numbers of insects added to or proposed for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Protecting nonpest insects requires all hands on deck; however, the new strategy threatens to undermine support from a key set of hands: farmers who use pesticides, and who are crucial partners for achieving conservation goals. Care should be taken to align the insecticide strategy with the USDA Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a popular program that provides crucial financial support for farmland owners to voluntarily engage in conservation, including insect conservation. We spotlight the CRP Prairie Strips (CP-43) practice to exemplify problems with the new insecticide strategy and recommendations to improve the policy for both farmers and the environment.