Cannabis Is Creating A Boom For Biological Pesticides

As legal cannabis farms take the spotlight, safer methods of pest control are also taking root in more ‘mainstream’ agriculture.

With more states enacting medicinal and adult recreational cannabis laws each year, health officials have increasingly warned about the potential hazards of products made from crops treated with certain chemicals. In particular, chemical pesticides have been identified as a threat to cannabis consumers’ health, with potential risks that can vary depending on whether products are eaten, smoked, vaped, or topically applied.

As such, cannabis has joined a broader conversation about the dangers of spraying the crops we grow. Just this month, health officials noted that current widely used pesticides can show up in popular food products at arguably unsafe levels, and are likely tied to the ongoing drop in environmentally critical bee populations.

Regulators point out that there aren’t any pesticide products with federal approval specific to cannabis yet, but states like California and Colorado have set forth lists of acceptable and unacceptable methods under their own laws. Those seemingly safer methods include common substances like citric acid and sulfur as well as numerous biopesticides, which use living microorganisms and certain natural chemicals to fight plants’ tiny pests.
According to Pam Marrone, founder and CEO of Marrone Bio Innovations (MBI), these kinds of bio-methods have the potential to protect consumers, crop revenues, and the environment on a whole new level — and cannabis farms could help lead the way to this all-around greener future.

Throughout her distinguished career, Marrone has worked and led projects at some of the world’s leading research institutions and chemical giants, but her passion for using safer, more constructive forms of pest control and plant care began much earlier.
In a recent phone interview, Marrone explained that she grew up on 40 acres of farmland in southern Connecticut, where tree-threatening gypsy moth caterpillars were seen “marauding through the forests” every five-to-seven years. Once, to save a dogwood tree outside the family’s kitchen window, her father sprayed a toxic chemical that killed not only the moths but also the bees, lady beetles, and lacewings nearby.

“My mom was really angry and banned him from using it again,” Marrone said. “So he went to the farm store and bought the first-ever commercialized biopesticide, BT, based on a soil bacteria that kills caterpillars but is safe to the environment and other organisms. He said, ‘It’s great for the environment, it makes your mother happy, but I’m not sure it worked.’”