When farmers continually grow only one type of crop in low nutrient soils, that crop is more vulnerable to pests and diseases and this often leads farmers to use chemical pesticides to protect it. Those chemicals can cause problems for the environment and the people who eat those foods.

	One third of the world's food depends on the pollination by bees and other insects. - BC Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation For more information on insects, check out EcoKids' Great Bug Hunt!

Pesticides are chemicals sprayed on farm crops to kill unwanted organisms, which we call 'pests' (insects, weed plants, fungi, rodents and other creatures that eat the crops). Unfortunately, pesticides kill many helpful creatures, too: ones that eat these same pests, pollinate flowers and actually help crops grow. Because of that, we call pesticides 'indiscriminate.'

Insects are important to crops because they recycle nutrients by feeding on dead plants and animals; they aerate the soil by digging and burrowing; and their droppings provide nutrients to the soil. Getting rid of insects not only adversely affects the crops, it also affects many bird, mammal and fish species that depend on insects for food.

Fortunately, there is a better way to farm so as to conserve the soil and reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It is called sustainable agriculture and the demand for it is growing.