Matlock Briefs Congressional Staff Regarding Crop Sustainability Research

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Marty Matlock, professor of biological and agricultural engineering and member of the Cherokee Nation, briefed U.S. House of Representative and Senate staff members on April 18 in Washington, D.C., on research conducted by the U of A regarding the effects of management practices on crop sustainability.

The research, funded by CropLife America, asked the question, "Do pesticides used to control weeds, insects and diseases for corn, cotton and soybean production have environmental benefits with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, land use, energy use and water use?" The purpose of the research was to use Life Cycle Assessment to analyze the environmental costs and benefits of pesticides. The analysis has completed a peer review and received an International Organization of Standards letter of conformity. The work will be submitted to scientific journals for peer review and publication in the coming months.

Matlock and Greg Thoma, retired professor of chemical engineering, worked more than three years to develop and calibrate crop models for each scenario across 40 archetype farms in top producing states and counties. They worked with producer groups to represent the range of modern agricultural practices in the analysis.

"The results of this analysis were not surprising," Matlock said. "We know that farmers use these chemicals to protect their crops from yield losses. When farmers get lower yields for the same inputs, the environmental impact burdens from the crops increase."

The yield penalty for not protecting crops can be as high as 70%, resulting in as much as 300% increase in land use, water use, energy use and greenhouse gas emissions per unit of crop.

"These results show that there are costs associated with every decision we make," Matlock said. "We need to understand the costs and benefits associated with our decisions to make better decisions about how we manage and distribute risks in society, for people and the ecosystems upon which we depend."

CropLife America represents the developers, manufacturers, formulators and distributors of plant science solutions for agriculture and pest management in the United States and is based in Arlington, Virginia.