Spraying chemicals over oilseed rape field

Agrochemicals are chemical products used for agricultural purposes. Although agrochemicals have high input costs, they are widely used in the farming industry for their beneficial effects on crop yields and quality and associated reduced labour costs.

Together with advances in agricultural machinery and infrastructure, the use of agrochemicals played a large role in the Green Revolution. This was a period in the 21st century in which the spread of various agricultural technologies led to greatly increased yields and production globally.

However, a number of concerns around agrochemicals exist including negative effects on human health and the environment and the development of pest populations that are becoming resistant to them.

A major challenge of modern agriculture is to try and reduce reliance on agrochemicals whilst continuing to increase yields and feed a growing global population.

Types of agrochemical

  • Fertilisers  
    • Fertilisers are concentrated forms of plant nutrients used to enrich soils and enhance crop growth and yields.
    • Many fertilisers are ‘NPK’ – they include the key elements of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) which are essential for plant growth.
    • Can be both organic (made from living material like animal manure) or synthetic (manufactured chemically).

 

 

  • Chemicals used in animal husbandry
    •  Antibiotics and pesticides for the control of livestock diseases and parasites.
    • Hormones and other animal-growth regulators to regulate animal growth and development.

 

  • Soil conditioners
    • Chemicals or organic matter (e.g peat) that alter soil properties including water holding capacity and aeration.

 

  • Liming and Acidifying agents
    • Neutralize soils that are too acidic or alkaline to optimize the pH for growing conditions.
    • Acidic soils are a particular problem in agriculture and can be caused by factors such as acidic rain and high inputs of nitrogen fertiliser.
    • Calcium containing compounds (liming agent) are often used to rectify acidic soils and sulphur compounds (acidifying agents) are often used to rectify alkaline soils.

 

To read more about the specific agrochemicals mentioned on this page, see the relevant topic pages on FarmPEP

Related Organisations

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Connected Content

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Integrated Pest Management highlights the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms. IPM is one of the tools for low-pesticide-input pest management, and IPM must now be implemented by all professional agchem users.

Biostimulants

Biostimulants are increasingly available and are now widely marketed to farmers. While the jury is still out on a definitive definition, most definitions of biostimulants explain that they should stimulate plant nutrition processes independently of the product’s nutrient content with the aim of improving one or more of the following characteristics: nutrient efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and/or quality.

Weeds

A weed can have many definitions, one being, any plant growing in a place it is not wanted. This topic focuses mainly on weeds affecting agriculture. Generally weeds are classified into two groups: grass-weeds (e.g Black-grass, Italian ryegrass, Bromes) and broad-leaved weeds (e.g Mayweed, Chickweed, Poppy, Cleavers). 

Plant Diseases

Diseases infect susceptible plant hosts, where environmental conditions favor disease development. Infected crops achieve lower yields and the quality of the produce can also be affected.

BASF

Crop Protection

Crop protection refers to practices and measures employed in agriculture to safeguard crops from both biotic (pests, diseases and weeds) and abiotic (environmental factors) stresses. They key goal of crop production is to maintain crop productivity, health and quality whilst minimising yield losses.

Pests

Invertebrate pests cause problems in agriculture when the level of injury they cause reaches a point where the crop yield is significantly reduced.   

Herbicide Resistance

Herbicide resistance is the inherited ability of a weed to survive a rate of herbicide which would be lethal to a member of the normal population. It can develop over time based on repeated selection pressure imposed on the weed. This selection pressure changes the population from susceptible to resistant. Herbicide resistance is becoming an increasing problem in UK agriculture, in both grass weeds and broad-leaf weeds. See also the general topic on herbicides.

The Voluntary Initiative

The Voluntary Initiative is an industry led programme to promote the responsible use of plant protection products (PPP's) through schemes, tools and messages advocating an IPM-based approach to sustainable agriculture.

Insecticides

Insecticides are a type of agrochemical used to kill, harm or deter insects that either directly infect cultivated plants/animals or that are carriers of disease. In agricultural settings, insecticides may be used in both arable and livestock husbandry situations. The classification of insecticides can occur in various ways: via their biochemical mode of action, their mode of penetration or on the basis of their chemistry. They can also come in various formulations and delivery-systems such as sprays, gels or baits.

Bioherbicide

This Topic doesn't yet have a Stewarded summary, but connected groups, content and organisations show below. Click the 'Ask to Join' button if you would like to be a Steward for this Topic and provide a summary of current knowledge and recommend useful resources, organisations, networks and projects. "Like" this Topic if you would like to see it prioritised for providing a wikipedia style summary.

Spray Application

The application of agrochemicals by modern crop sprayers involves sophisticated technologies applied by skilled operators.

Enviresearch Ltd.

Enviresearch exists to provide the best regulatory and risk assessment service in Europe for the global chemical industry.

The TALISMAN and SCARAB projects - reducing agrochemical usage on arable farms

TALISMAN and SCARAB were long-term projects developed to follow on from issues raised in the Boxworth project. TALISMAN focused on the economic issues of reducing pesticide and fertiliser use, whilst SCARAB examined the ecological side-effects of pesticides.

Fungicides

Fungicides are a type of agrochemical used specifically to kill fungal pathogens or inhibit the growth of fungi and the spores that they produce. They full under the umbrella of plant protection products (PPPs), also referred to as pesticides, along with other agrochemicals such as herbicides and insecticides that target weeds and insect pests respectively.  Prior to the development of fungicides, there are many historic cases of pathogenic fungi devastating crop yields - one of the most famous being the Irish Potato famine of 1845-52. This was caused by the potato late blight fungal pathogen Phytophthora infestans which today still causes massive losses to agriculture globally, although management by fungicides is now an important component of control.  A wide variety of fungicides exist with various modes of action (MOAs) to effectively control many fungal diseases including mildews, rusts, blights and leaf spots. A threat to modern agriculture is the development and spread of resistance to such fungicides amongst fungal populations.

AIC - Agricultural Industries Confederation

The Leading Voice for the Agrisupply Industry The Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) is the agrisupply industry’s leading trade association.

Cambridge Environmental Assessments (CEA)

Cambridge Environmental Assessments (CEA), part of RSK ADAS, provides novel solutions for an increasingly demanding regulatory world. Our team specialises in higher tier approaches to chemical risk assessment, including the design and conduct of higher tier studies tailored to address specific regulatory concerns. This encompasses agrochemicals, biocides, veterinary and human pharmaceuticals, food additives, novel foods, cosmetics and general chemicals.

Regulations

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