ONE of the world鈥檚 longest-running experiments has shown that repeated doses of pesticides do not damage the soil. Having applied five common pesticides to experimental plots of land for the past two decades, Richard Bromilow and his colleagues at the Institute of Arable Crops Research in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, conclude that the chemicals neither harm the fertility of the soil nor the microorganisms that live in it.
In August last year, 17 months after the pesticides were last applied, no trace of them remained. 鈥淲e鈥檝e done our best to look for deleterious effects of pesticides, but failed to find any,鈥� says Bromilow.
Yields of spring barley grown on the plots were the same throughout the 20-year trial, showing that the pesticides did not impair the fertility of the soil. Despite the outcome, Bromilow warned farmers not to become complacent and start using pesticides 鈥渨ith gay abandon鈥�.
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