Are Neonics Critical to All Crops? Research Says No

In 2018, Louis Robert, an agronomist in Québec, was fired after releasing controversial research about the limited effectiveness of neonicotinoid pesticides.

After a year of asking his superiors at the Ministry of Agriculture to release the report, Robert sent the unpublished research to Radio-Canada.

The upshot of the study: That neonicotinoid seed treatments produced no significant difference in crop yields for corn and soybeans.

Shortly after he released the report to the press, while he was in a field giving a demonstration to farmers, Robert’s phone rang. It was his boss’s secretary, insisting that he return to the office immediately.

“As soon as I got to the office, I was invited to a conference room, and my boss was there, and on the video was his boss in Québec City, and they handed me a letter signed by my ministry,” Robert said. “I was suspended from the department.”