Environmental Impact

Pesticides were created to protect crops from pests, but over time, they’ve quietly become one of the most destructive forces in our environment. These chemicals don't stay neatly contained on the fields where they’re sprayed. They drift through the air, seep into the soil, and run off into rivers, lakes, and oceans — leaving a trail of contamination that affects every part of the ecosystem.

When pesticides are sprayed, only a small fraction actually hits the target plant. The rest travels. Winds carry particles into neighboring fields, forests, and towns. Rainwater pulls residues deep into the soil, where they destroy beneficial microbes and weaken the natural fertility of the land.  

The impact on pollinators like bees and butterflies has been devastating. Neonicotinoid pesticides, for example, are now directly linked to the massive decline of bee populations worldwide. Without pollinators, entire food systems collapse. Crops fail. Biodiversity disappears. The ripple effect stretches beyond fields and farms — it threatens the very balance of nature itself.

Bird populations, too, have been hit hard. Studies have shown that pesticides reduce insect populations — which are a vital food source for many birds — while also poisoning birds directly through contaminated seeds and prey. In the United States alone, it's estimated that pesticide use has contributed to the loss of over three billion birds in the last fifty years.

Even humans are not immune to the environmental fallout. Pesticides leach into groundwater, contaminating drinking supplies for rural and urban communities alike. Chemical drift puts neighboring farms and homes at risk without warning. Once these compounds are in the ecosystem, they don't just vanish. Some pesticides can persist in soil and water for years, slowly degrading the health of entire regions.

Every time pesticides are used, the natural defenses of the planet weaken. Soil becomes harder to regenerate. Waterways become more polluted. Wildlife becomes more vulnerable. And the resilience of future generations — plant, animal, and human — is stripped away piece by piece.

At Produce Now, we believe clean food should start with a clean planet.
That’s why we are committed to farming without synthetic pesticides — protecting not just our crops, but the air, water, and soil that sustain life for all of us.