“The first nano-formulations of pesticides are quietly making their way onto agricultural fields,” says Modern Farmer in a story by Susan West into the likely benefits of the technology and potential adverse effects. There is broad agreement that the total amount of toxins used in agriculture could be reduced significantly because smaller droplets mean a larger overall contact area with pests. Researcher Stacey Harper says the unique physical properties of nano-scale technology raise questions of what will happen to the particles, which are the size of molecules. Will they stick to the targeted plants and how long would they persist in the environment?
“The potential for nano-enabled pesticides is unbelievable but it’s still a dream at the moment,” says the head of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service. Modern Farmer says a lot of money has gone into nanotechnology research but very little into safety assessments. Only a few nanotech compounds out of hundreds tests by Harper “are raising red flags.” Harper and her colleagues have created “nano-sized ecosystems” to test the compounds and see how they travel through soil and water and if they affect animal life. She says multifunctional nanopesticides, which would release pesticide only if the target is present, could be on the market within 10 years. The Modern Farmer story was developed in partnership with FERN.