Matt Doll, Minnesota Environmental Partnership
Though the recent cold snap has made it feel far off, spring is a few months away. Once the ground thaws, millions of acres of Minnesota farmland – about 15% of the state’s total land area – will be planted with corn seed. Most of that seed will be coated with a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, or “neonics.”
Neonics are primarily used as a seed treatment to protect crops from pest insects like aphids. They’re also used in spray form in landscaping, and while that accounts for a small percentage of their use, neonics are typically applied in heavier concentrations in gardens and lawns than they are on farms.
These insecticides are not exactly a surgical solution – more like an ecological bomb, one that dissolves in water and can be absorbed by plants. Along with pests, neonics kill pollinating species like bees and butterflies, contributing enormously to their alarming decline. And they’ve been linked to birth defects among humans and animals.
These pesticides don’t stay put on cornfields, either – they leech into the surrounding environment and blow across the landscape on prairie winds. Most of Minnesota’s waterways contain at least some level of neonics.
They also show up in the food we eat, including deer harvested in Minnesota. A DNR study in 2022 showed that 94% of deer spleens tested across the state contained neonics, a jump from 61% in 2019.
As a deer hunter myself, that doesn’t surprise me: I know deer tend to feast on cornfields, the vast majority of which use neonic treated seed. It makes me worry that neonics could have detrimental effects on the deer population, threatening a massive ecosystem, one of Minnesota’s largest outdoors traditions, and a source of food for many, especially in Indigenous communities.
These threats to pollinators and health are why MEP has included action to reduce neonic use in our 2025 Collaborative Priorities. To start with, we and our partners are asking that the Legislature ban most non-agricultural uses of these pesticides – there’s no reason that these pollinator-lethal chemicals should be used for landscaping.
While that ban would help, it won’t get to the primary sources of the problem. To protect pollinators and Minnesotans’ health, we need to cut down the rampant use of neonics on our fields. MEP and our members hope our state will soon see less reliance on corn ethanol and better regulation of toxic insecticides.
To that end, MEP sent a letter to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture supporting a petition by MEP members Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, Minnesota Trout Unlimited, and Natural Resources Defense Council for the MDA to take stronger action to control these insecticides. To our disappointment, the MDA said it would decline to take any of the actions in the petition, claiming that the Department lacks the legal authority.
We don’t agree with the MDA on that point, but it’s all the more reason for the Legislature to take action to rein in neonics. These chemicals are devastating species vital to our food chain, they’re spreading throughout our streams and rivers, and they’re threatening our health, especially for children and infants. But their use has been shown to have little if any economic benefit for the average farmer.
In the long run, we don’t need neonics to maintain Minnesota’s large agricultural economy. These insecticides are banned in the European Union and their use is restricted in other states. We can farm without poisoning ourselves and our pollinators with these insecticides. Given how important pollinators are to our food supply, it’s our best and only choice.