ABSTRACT
Produce, and crop plants in general, can be attacked by numerous pests, mainly insects, nematodes, and fungi. Moreover, various weeds may compete with the crop plants for moisture, nutrients, and light. Ever since the dawn of agriculture, humankind has constantly struggled with pests and weeds to increase crop yields and provide an adequate supply of food. The idea of combating them using chemicals can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome, where burning sulfur helped to avert diseases and insects. Other examples can be found throughout history [1,2]. However, it was not until the 20th century when the era of mass-produced and applied synthetic organic pesticides began and chemical pest control became an integral part of modern agriculture that we were able to sustain a rapidly growing world population with land capacity to spare.
