Pesticides are the most devastating factor in pollinator decline.

What Are Pesticides

Pesticides include herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. Insecticides are designed to destroy both target pest insects and non-target beneficial insects. Pesticide active and inert ingredients can be found on the label of the pesticide container. The active ingredient is the chemical registered by the EPA as toxic to insects. Inert ingredients are penetrating agents, odor maskers, stabilizers, preservatives, diluents, surfactants, emulsifiers, propellants, solvents, spreaders, stickers, antifoaming agents, dyes, and drift retardants that modify the physicochemical properties of the pesticide mixture. Recent research demonstrates herbicides, fungicides and some inert ingredients are also toxic to bees and have shown that lower, sublethal amounts of insecticides affect behavior and alter the ability of insects to find food and survive. Combining pesticides often increases toxicity. For these and numerous other reasons, insecticides are not safe to use around pollinators and other beneficial insects.

Land and seed once belonged to no one and were shared by all, replicating the giving essence of the natural world. Today, these precious plant seeds and our food systems (agriculture) are tightly controlled and monopolized by four largest agrochemical companies and many crop seeds are covered in pesticides that harm pollinators, birds, wildlife and contaminate land and water. Read more here.

Videos on Pesticides

Neonic Effects Study Results on Deer, Birds and Wildlife with Dr. Jonathan Jenks

Ecological Impacts of Systemic Insecticides: Neonics with Xerces Society

Mosquito Control and Community IPM Without Toxic Chemicals

Reducing Pesticides in Land Management with Jay Feldman, Beyond Pesticides

Fixing the EPA’s Broken Pesticide Program with Tim Whitehouse PEER

Herbicide Effects on Pollinators with Xerces Society

What are Neonicotinoids

Neonicotinoidal systemic insecticides are toxic to pollinators at lethal and sublethal doses. Systemic insecticides render the entire plant, including pollen and nectar, toxic to a pollinator.  The EPA approved neonicotinoid use starting in 1991.  Since then, we have seen massive declines in pollinator and insect populations across the globe such as the bumble bee kill in Oregon from a dinotefuran neonic insecticide tree treatment.  Honey bee decline continues at 40-50% losses each year. Neonicotinoids are found in the majority of surface waters in the US.  and cause adverse effects on non-target organisms. Neonics are the most commonly used pesticides nationwide, and studies link even tiny concentrations of neonics in water with declines in bird populations and the collapse of fisheries.

Neonicotinoids are being reviewed as a pesticide of special concern for surface water contamination. Studies clearly indicate neonicotinoids are decreasing populations of aquatic invertebrates, birds, amphibians, fish and other living things. One seed coated in a neonic is all it takes for a songbird to take ill or die. Nearly 100% of all corn grown in the US is seed treated with neonicotinoids, of which 5% is taken up by the plant and the vast majority being sloughed off into waterways and the atmosphere. In 2020, scientists from the U of Minnesota researched the impact of neonics on surface and groundwater at 65 sites to determine concentrations and impacts on aquatics. In 2024, a report by Dr. Pierre Mineau finds that neonics are widespread in Minnesota surface waters at levels expected to harm aquatic life—and that pesticide-coated or “treated” seeds are largely to blame.

In 2021, a UC Riverside study shows neonicotinoids used on nursery plants are harmful to wild bees even when applied well below the label rates.

Neonicotinoids are also used extensively in the horticulture industry by nurseries and greenhouses, lawn and tree care companies, pest control services, municipalities and by homeowners. These dangerous chemicals are found in garden centers and hardware stores across the country.  Seeds coated with neonics are not regulated as pesticides in Minnesota and should be.

We believe in a food system that promotes soil health, farm biodiversity, and nutrient dense food- all while benefiting the farmers who grow it.

We believe every person and every creature from insect to moose has the right to public lands with clean water and a vital ecosystem.

Find Pesticide Toxicity Level Online:

Mosquito Sprays Harm Pollinators

Metropolitan Mosquito Control spraying frequency and backyard mosquito control services have seen an increase in past years. Most spray treatments from helicopter or fogger consist of a broad-spectrum insecticide, usually a pyrethroid. Pyrethroids are synthetic versions of pyrethrin, a toxin found in Chrysanthemum. Thus, mosquito control often call their application as “derived from flowers” or “green”. Pyrethroids are in fact chemical nerve agents and harmful to pollinators. Unfortunately, most mosquito insecticides are harmful to bees, particularly field worker bees that venture outside the hive. These bees can travel up to five miles to collect pollen and nectar from certain flowers and plants. They can be exposed to pesticides that have been sprayed directly on the plants from which they forage, or by pesticide drift — when wind moves pesticide from the area to another. Pesticides can kill the bees even before they make it back to the hive, and if they make it back, they infect their entire colony. You can say “no” to these treatments in your area by calling and ask that your property or community be put on their no treatment/no spray list Metropolitan Mosquito Control (MMC). MMC needs to be regulated more closely to avoid pollinator kills such as migrating Monarch groups. Mosquito control sprays can kill butterflies outright. Instead use best practices and avoid spraying.

•Watch this video on ecologically designed mosquito control

Emerald Ash Borer Treatments Harm Pollinators

Because Minnesota native ash trees lack natural resistance to some invasive pests and we do not have the right species of preda­tors and parasitoids to keep them under control due to insect decline and nature imbalance, good cultural practices may not be enough to save the trees they attack. This holds true for emerald ash borer (EAB) infestation of Minnesota ash trees.  

It’s imperative to consider environmental costs and impacts before using toxic chemical treatments for EAB. The benefits of retaining a tree compared to environmental costs need always be considered. Our world is experiencing an insect decline crisis. We lost over 50% of wildlife including insects in the last 40 years. Systemic insecticides kill target and non-target insects on the tree including pollinators and beneficial insects. Pollinators can visit ash tree flowers in the spring and carry the contaminated pollen back to their colony.

Emerald Ash Borer Control Best Practices

Effects of Neonics Used for Emerald Ash Borer Control