While the great increases in the efficiency of food production have been astounding and life-saving, there have been unintended consequences for the over-use of fertilizers and the use of pesticides and herbicides that harm beneficial insects and plants and damage the ecosystem.

​

Chemical alternatives, as well as non-chemical alternatives, are being developed and need to be implemented as scale. These range from targeted bio-pesticides to herbicides that focus on specific pests and plants to pesticides designed to degrade rapidly into non-toxic degradation products. Integrated pest management systems have been shown to be efficacious and economically practical without the environmental damage.