Environmental Benefits from Reduced Pesticide Use and Returns to Research: An Application to the U.S. Cotton Industry

Cotton production is one of the main pesticide use industries in the U.S. This intensive use has resulted in the disruption of naturally occurring biological control factors that regulate other insect pest populations and “the pesticide treadmill”. The result is resistance to insecticides, high control costs and unacceptable levels of chemical insecticides in the environment. Concerns about the environmental and human health effects from pesticide use thus need to be modeled in evaluation studies.