Reducing agricultural pesticide use in Sweden

Excerpt

OVER the past decade, concern has increased throughout the world regarding the unintended effects of pesticides on humans and the environment. Pesticides can, for example, reduce the diversity of flora and fauna and contaminate soil, lakes, watercourses, and groundwater (3, 24, 25). Problems also have been observed in people's worlung environment and in the quality of fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables they eat (13).

Concern in Sweden about the adverse consequences of pesticide use is evidenced by the establishment in 1985 of an ambitious goal to lower the risks to health and the environment from the use of pesticides in agriculture. The goal is to reduce by half the amount of pesticides (measured as amount active ingredient) used in agriculture in period of five years, that is, to reduce annual pesticide consumption from 4,528 tons active ingredient to 2,250 tons between the years 1985 and 1990 (4).

An agricultural perspective

Sweden is about the size of California (174,000 square miles), with a population of 8.4 million. Roughly half the country's area is forest and woodland. Arable land comprises about 7.5 million acres, only seven percent of the country (8). A majority …