Biopesticides include naturally occurring fungi, bacteria and viruses. They are applied like chemical pesticides, but according to a recent study, their "obvious benefits" include their minimal impact on other organisms, compatibility with other natural enemies, absence of toxic residues and the fact that "they are relatively cheap to develop".
"It is evident that biopesticides have a potentially important contribution to make to a competitive agriculture industry," said University of Warwick Professor Wyn Grant, who led the research on biopesticide sustainability.
According to him, biological pest control has the potential "to increase consumer confidence in fruit and vegetables whilst moving away from a polarised and over-simplified choice between conventional and organic modes of production".
Yet despite these benefits, which the study claims "far outweigh the disadvantages of lower effectiveness and a shorter shelf life," the development and uptake of green pesticides in Britain has been poor.
This is, the researchers argue, due to a regulatory system "originally developed to register chemical pesticides" and which has acted as a barrier to the commercialisation of biopesticides. The study further suggests that their wider commercial availability is being hampered by the absence of an internal European market for pesticides, which makes securing economies of scale difficult for SMEs, the main developers and producers of green pesticides.
It suggests introducing a system of mutual recognition of pesticides between EU countries to help overcome the problem. Such a measure is currently being considered at EU level under a broad review of EU pesticides legislation.
The study also found that environmental groups lack public engagement in the biopesticides debate, which was due to "indifference rather than hostility".
Finally, the researchers underlined that the environmental sustainability of deploying green pesticides in agricultural systems remained "unclear", arguing that more research into the ecology of micro-organisms was needed to understand the function of even those that are naturally widespread in agro-ecosystems.
