Pesticides in Agricultural Soils: Major Findings from Various Monitoring Campaigns in Switzerland

Authors

  • Thomas D. Bucheli Agroscope, Environmental Analytics, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich
  • Elias Barmettler Agroscope, Plant-Soil Interactions
  • Nora Bartolomé Agroscope, Environmental Analytics, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich; EMPA, St. Gallen
  • Isabel Hilber Agroscope, Environmental Analytics, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich
  • Karel Hornak Agroscope, Environmental Analytics, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich
  • Reto G. Meuli Agroscope, NABO
  • Vanessa Reininger Agroscope, NABO
  • Judith Riedo Agroscope, Plant-Soil Interactions; Agroscope, NABO; Freie Universität Berlin, Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy; Agroscope, Soil Quality Quality and Soil Use
  • Andrea Rösch Agroscope, Environmental Analytics, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich
  • Philipp Sutter Agroscope, Environmental Analytics, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH-8046 Zurich
  • Marcel G. A. van der Heijden Agroscope, Plant-Soil Interactions; University of Zurich
  • Daniel Wächter Agroscope, NABO; Swiss Competence Center for Soil, University of Applied Sciences, Zollikofen
  • Florian Walder Agroscope, Plant-Soil Interactions; Agroscope, Soil Quality and Soil Use

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2023.750

PMID:

38047842

Keywords:

Micropollutants, Plant Protection Products, Swiss National Soil Monitoring Program

Abstract

Synthetic pesticides are widely applied in modern agriculture, where they are used against diseases, pests, and weeds to secure crop yield and quality. However, their intensive application has led to widespread contamination of the environment, including soils. Due to their inherent toxicity, they might pose a risk to soil health by causing harm to non-target organisms and disrupting ecosystem services in both agricultural and other exposed soils. Following the Swiss National Action Plan on the reduction of pesticide risks, Agroscope has conducted several soil monitoring studies that are briefly presented here. All of them resort to different multi-residue trace analytical approaches to simultaneously quantify up to about 150 modern pesticides by either accelerated solvent, or Quick, Easy, Cheap, Efficient, Rugged, Safe (QuEChERS) extraction, followed by separation and detection with liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. While partly still in progress, our investigations led to the following major findings this far: Multiple pesticides are commonly present in soils, with individual concentrations in agricultural soils often reaching up to a few tens of µg/kg. Pesticide occurrence and concentrations in agricultural soils primarily depend on land use, land use history and cultivated crops. Pesticides can prevail much longer than predicted by their half-lives, and were found in soils even decades after conversion from conventional to organic farming. Corresponding residual fractions can be in the order of a few percent of the originally applied amounts. We further found negative associations of pesticide residues with the abundance of beneficial soil life, underpinning their potential risk to the fertility of agricultural soils. Traces of pesticides are also detected in soils to which they were never applied, indicating contamination, e.g., via spray drift or atmospheric deposition. These results confirm the general notion of both scientists and legislators that prospective risk assessments (RA; as executed during registration and use authorization) should be confirmed and adjusted by retrospective RA (e.g., by environmental monitoring studies of currently used compounds) to jointly lead to an overall reduced environmental risk of pesticides.

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Published

2023-11-29

Issue

Section

Scientific Articles

How to Cite

[1]
T. D. Bucheli, E. Barmettler, N. Bartolomé, I. Hilber, K. Hornak, R. G. Meuli, V. Reininger, J. Riedo, A. Rösch, P. Sutter, M. G. A. van der Heijden, D. Wächter, F. Walder, Chimia 2023, 77, 750, DOI: 10.2533/chimia.2023.750.