Breakfast eaters sometimes sprinkle cinnamon on their cereal, but farmers may someday have the option of doing the same on their cereal crops.
Murray Isman of the University of British Columbia’s food and land systems faculty was part of a research team that combined rosemary, cinnamon, cloves, thyme and peppermint oil into an all-natural pesticide sold by EcoSmart in the United States.
Isman said essential oil-based pesticides are considered safer than more conventional products. They carry a caution warning, but none are labelled as poisonous.
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“The usual precautions should be taken, such as protecting your eyes and mouth, but there is much, much less risk,” Isman said.
However, there is some risk for crops. Field tests have shown the pesticides work well against small pests on strawberries, onions, and head lettuce, but they also have been found to act as a herbicide on some plants.
The essential oil-based pesticides are available only in the United States, where they are considered a minimum risk pesticide under the Environmental Protection Agency’s Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which means the pesticides do not require EPA registration.
Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency does not have a similar act under which to approve these kinds of products, but Isman said EcoSmart may work with Canadian businesses to gain PMRA registration.
If the pesticides are registered in Canada, the last factor for consumers to consider would be cost.
“Consumers might be willing to pay 10 percent more for a safer product, but not much more than that,” Isman said.
The pesticides are generally better for home and garden use because farmers would need considerably more product, he said.
Farmers are always interested in safer pesticides, he added, but a high price could dissuade them from buying essential oil-based products.
