The second generation resulted from war time (World War II) research and were based on synthetic chlorinated hydrocarbon compounds.

These pesticides include BHC, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, 2,4-D and the infamous DDT.

DDT was very effective. Cheap, persistent, wide ranging, water soluable.

So “beneficial” was DDT as an agricultural pesticide, residential mosquito; control and numerous other applications that Paul Hermann Muller was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1948 for discovering it’s anti-pest application.

DDT and similar pesticdes were cheap and effective. What more could you want.. so they were used liberally.
Pests became genetically resistant, thus needing stronger doses. Plants and animals were poisoned. Pesticide residue, blowing through the air and seeping into the water table, started showing up in unexpected places.

The pesticide bandwagon began playing a different tune as more information came out.
Most notable – “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson published in 1962 became a best seller and is credited with starting the environmental movement. The book rang the alarm bell about environmental and health consequences of pesticides.

The public became a bit disenchanted, or at least nervous about pesticides. More studies were called for. Links to birth defects and cancer.
10 years after “Silent Spring” was published, most uses of DDT were banned in the US and subsequently banned worldwide.

Industrial agriculture moved into low dose pesticides and bio-pesticides which cultivate (and patent) seeds with “built-in” pesticide. They basically alter the genes.
Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland dominate that market.

Monsanto has MANY seed patents for a number of grains including corn and wheat.

Pheromones are also used for pest battle.
Pheromones are chemicals released by insects (and humans) for numerous reason, one being by the female to “signal availability”.

When used as a pesticide, they disrupt the reproductive cycle. They’re believed to be safe… but so was DDT.

A completely non-chemical form of pest control… predating industrialized farming… is “companion gardening”.

Companion gardening seeks to create an eco-system. A bio-diverse garden with a symbiotic food chain.
Healthy, organic soil to feed plants and bugs. Insects and birds to carry on chores such as pollination and to feed off other insects – keeping them in check.
Partnering plants together that make good allies – one plant species repels insects that are attracted to the other plant species.

Before industrialized farming, Native Americans planted “The Three Sisters” – corn (maize), pole beans and squash together.
Corn stalks grow tall and sturdy.
Pole beans use the corn stalks to “climb” up.
Squash is leafy and grows along the ground deterring weeds and shading the soil which reduces the need for water.
As well, beans are nitrogen rich; corn is a high nitrogen user.

These three species, grown close together, form a symbiotic relationship producing a significantly higher yield than you would get in a “monoculture” system with rows and rows of a single crop.

And because there isn’t a concentration of one crop, there’s a lesser likelihood of pest infestation.

Companion gardening is easy on a backyard scale.
On an acres upon acres scale, perhaps not… or at least it depends on the crop(s).
Certain crops are harvested by machine. That wouldn’t be possible if they weren’t lined up in rows.

But just because the big farms use pesticides doesn’t mean you have to.

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