A three-year study just completed in Michigan apple orchards showed that reduced-risk pesticides—which growers are now adopting—are more damaging to the functional ecology of the orchards than the products they are replacing. Orchards using these reduced-risk pesticides have fewer beneficial organisms to help control pests, so growers will likely incur higher costs to control secondary pests, and use more, not fewer, spray applications, the study concludes. The reduced-risk orchards had fewer species of beneficial organisms and lower ­populations. The study began in 2009 and involved 22 orchards. Dr. Mark Whalon’s laboratory, at Michigan State University, conducted the study, using funding […]