Is Food Plot Seed Poisoning Wildlife? The Truth about Neonic-Treated Food Plot Seed (743)

We interview Dr. Jonathan Lundgren about neonic treated seed and how it harms deer, turkey and other wildlife! Neonic treated seed may be cheap and easily available for spring food plots but it shouldn't be planted. Make sure you know exactly what you are planting and how it will affect wildlife!
Neonic Research - www.growingdee...
Research | Ecdysis Foundation | Estelline - www.ecdysis.bio/
We make sure to plant non-neonic treated seed in our food plots. You can find the seed we plant for wildlife forage here: www.growingdee...
@GrowingDeerTV
#deerhunting #hunting

[@marchhair01]

One of the reasons I love this channel is the University level research combined with practical real-world applications.

[@mississippiman601]

As a small farmer and hunter this has never crossed my mind. I go to the local co-op tell them what seed I want and I plant it. Thank you for the information so I can be more aware and also tell others about the harmful effects. Now I just need to find the right seeds without the pesticides!.

[@duanelamotte4640]

Thanks for this information I've seen those seeds I had no idea. Every one needs to know this so we can stop

[@41757]

As a farmer, businessman and educator, our industry is concerned about neonic usage. The solution is not to eliminate farming--especially small acreage farmers. We do need to look to better option, such as regenerative farming, for insect & weed control. Thanks for sharing this information with us. Let's focus on solutions and be great stewards of God's creation.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Branding - I agree! I was raised on a small farm and Dr. Lungren currently lives on and operates a small farm. I also agree that regenerative ag is a great solution to improve the soil, improve livestock quality, improve wildlife, and make farmers much more profitable.

[@scottschaeffer8920]

I keep reflecting back to the old farmers, they used green manure crops, they rotated, they were diverse in what they raised, there was pheasants, and rabbits, and meadowlarks everywhere-and yes, butterflies, and spiders. Hopeless romantic, I guess.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Scott - I agree and with regenerative ag those practices and healthy soils ands critters can occur again!

[@dukeman7595]

Thank you Grant for the info.. Folks we need to call our state representatives and have a bill introduced to stop this killer insecticide in our states.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

The better path is to encourage and support farmers that use regenerative ag techniques and don't use compounds that harms many critters from microbes to big mammals. Farming practices are changing, but at a slow pace. Our choices for food is the best vote we have! I'd rather my family consume a deer from my place where there's great native habitat and food plots created with no synthetic fertilizer, insecticides, fungicides, etc., than a deer from ag country where almost everything it consumes has been treated with multiple synthetic compounds.

[@dukeman7595]

@@GrowingDeerTV I agree whole heartedly, thank you for your wisdom and content..

[@keithhimstedt6870]

Thanks for sharing this content Dr. Woods. It's so important for us to know about the impacts we have on our land through our actions.

[@ubuntunewb]

AEA (advancing eco ag) podcast interviewed Dr Lundgren 4 years ago on this topic. I suggest listening to that channel too.

[@davidcrump2348]

Insecticides and herbacides are a lot of our problems with our food and food plots also

[@carltrano1325]

Super scary. Thank you for bringing this to light. My intention is to help wildlife not to harm them.

[@ChilcoteForestryServices]

thanks for getting this info out to us. Many seed companies are now selling untreated seeds if one prefers untreated. As food plotters we should always ask for untreated. Use a good- seed applied soil biological treatment instead. I have been researching seed treating and applying compost extract on some client properties and seeing that deer know where the best nutrient levels are and prefer the plantings with microbes applied with seed treatment and foliar applications

[@johnwagoner7571]

Listed to him at a soil health symposium in Billings Mt a few years ago. Shocking info!

[@nathanlester5054]

Dr. Woods, thank you so much for sharing this information. This was very eye opening for me!

[@victorandrews9790]

Thanks for this eye opening video, wow! One has to wonder if there are any food shortage overtones with the push to use neonic pesticides, not to mention the ravaging cancer diseases in the industrialized world!

[@legendaryhabitatllc7649]

Great video Dr. Grant, I appreciate you sharing this knowledge with everyone. The change is happening, as I meet with many clients that do not want to use things that will damage are health, the soil health or wildlife health. Unfortunately, we are fighting up stream from government agencies.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Thanks for doing good work and I agree - the Farm Bill often promotes bad/harmful practices.

[@josephf7720]

A gobbler I killed in central NC two years ago had a crop full of pink and green soybeans and corn. I wondered about the possibilities of harm then.

[@turkeyhunter7617]

Thank you Grant for sharing this!

[@DavidHarperMusic]

Excellent video, thanks Grant!

[@dennismiller1602]

Thanks for sharing this important information. I started hunting north central Iowa about 20 years ago when the pheasant population was off the chart great! Just a few years later the pheasant population was almost extinct, and my friends in Iowa were left scratching their heads as to what went wrong? I unknowingly purchase some treated seed last fall, but have determined to make sure to only purchase naked seed going forward. I will not be planting fungicide or insecticide coated seeds on my property. Proactive biological practices win with soil and plant health, but reactive chemical practices alway cause more disease in the long run.

[@TheWildDoc]

What I’ve seen in my years of hunting is a change in liver color/health of deer, rabbits, and other game! Wonder what all is causing that as well!

[@mixedbreed8196]

Thanks for all the easy to understand information! As always never fails to teach and relaying so much good information

[@-B_G-]

Herbicides insecticide etc can affect the shell and fertility of turkey eggs

[@jakeelliott6507]

Terrifying stuff. Thank you for sharing this information!

[@ronmacdougall9612]

Glad I saw this,I just shared this.I find that alot of food for wildlife and human is treated with a lot of different spray which isn’t good for us,I have a feeling it’s all about money.I now have my own garden and I know what goes in it.

[@davidcrump2348]

And from my understanding insecticides and pesticides and herbacides take many years to get out of soil if it even does

[@Cannonhillbootcompany]

Thank you for sharing this information. This type of research and information is valuable in moving forward with regenerative agriculture.

[@donald6427]

Think about what it does to humans

[@tompalmer3084]

I will not buy seed with neonic now that I have seen this video. We want to insure the wildlife we eat are as free from these chemicals as possible. Of course I will let my hunting friends know also. Thanks Dr. Woods for this and all the information you share for us trying to do the right things for our wildlife and our hunting enjoyment.

[@neonomad6078]

Last year I started wondering about the turkeys filling up on the rainbow colored food plot seed I was putting out, interesting to see this. I’ve pretty much figured out how to grow food plots without tillage and herbicide, but still don’t know what to do about coated seeds (or the acres of Liberty beans we’re surrounded by).

[@austinlang5324]

Tough to deal with acres around you but there are plenty of conventional varieties available you can get without coating or have a good cover mix blended up by a seedhouse. Just depends what species you are using but most options should be available. Try your state ag dept/seed dept or local university extension

[@paulwhitworth7233]

I will choose better living through chemistry, I have been mainlining neonics and glyphosate for years with no adverse effects

[@GrowingDeerTV]

That's a choice you can make. However, those chemicals impact others if applied - not just you.

[@shawneaston8896]

That’s 100% why NYS started seeing a decrease in turkeys in 2008. As well as every other state. Fuel prices went up which brought the introduction of no till and round up. Insecticides and herbicides kill both the plants and bugs turkeys eat, therefor the turkey’s die as well. Also all the hedgrows are disappearing. The state biologists blame poor turkey nest succession on cold wet springs and predation. Well New York has always had predators and we also use to have snow on the ground right into the month of may. Nobody cares. Now all the farm land is being sold to solar companies and by 2025 you won’t drive more than 3 miles without seeing solar panels, that’s only going to benefit welfare scumbags on the system (which is the majority of the state’s population). In two or three years the only way anyone’s going to shoot a turkey is if you go to a game preserve and buy a bird like we have to for pheasants.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Shawn - Predators are likely the biggest factor causing the decline of wild turkey populations. This is shown in study after study in multiple states. There's almost no trapping anymore - the fur market is way down. Trappers did great work for many species of wildlife. Neonics are an additional issue.

[@shawneaston8896]

Very true. I do my part with trapping but everyone needs to be on board as well. Social media is about the best method for change, that being said I appreciate what you do and your studies. Sharing with everyone is the best way to help figure out this problem with our environment.

[@russellhawn3499]

The fields are not "bare " when the farmer runs the disc over the field. It depends on the disc and and depth of the disc.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Russell - Disking is designed to churn soil which leaves bare soil exposed. When living plants there's no or very little soil erosion and plants take carbon out of the air and place it on the soil. This is a massive benefit to plants, soil quality, and air quality.

[@johnnyballgame7339]

Around 1980 here in Michigan, the pheasant population declined as if someone hit a light switch. Of course the DNR threw out the normal mantra...habitat loss, predators, blah blah blah...but to anyone with an IQ over 70 it just seemed too sudden to be attributed to the usual suspects. Shortly before he died, my wife's grandfather, who was a row crop farmer, told a story about farmers using a poison to stop crows and blackbirds from destroying corn crops. Apparently this was all done with a wink and a nod right around 1980...and it was effective. Unfortunately it was not limited to crows and blackbirds, and he claims that it was the farmers, not Mother Nature, who got rid of the pheasants via collateral damage...and they all knew it but determined that the benefit of killing pests outweighed the near eradication of pheasants.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Habitat quality and predators certainly play a role but a toxin can be a huge issue!

[@Grizzlife]

In my area of West Tn they Ag Corn and beans mainly. Cotton field here and there. Do some research on what the corn and beans are used for . It is all regulated by the government and purposely offers farmers big money to use their poisons and corn and bean that don’t benefit us for nothing good. All GMO Monsanto. Farmers should grow food that feeds healthy choices to humans and animals. My wife is an AG high school teacher and she is sharing this info with her students. I’m a farmer and have been one 40 years.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Thanks for sharing and please thank your wife!

[@davidcrump2348]

And Turkey eat those insects and it kills the Turkey also

[@lukedog7028]

Good information

[@skyhighactiondrones5453]

Great informative video, thank you. So are there seeds that we as food plot type of farmers can use that are not treated? Good, bad, ugly, results?

[@GrowingDeerTV]

There are! Several companies, like GreenCoverFoodPlots.com don't handle or sell any neonic treated or GMO seeds. About 95% of all field corn planted in the USA is neonic treated - that's scary.

[@regnaldreinhold130]

Any way that you could put up a link(s) that might give some insight to regenerative farming or land management?

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Regnald - There's lots of informative articles and webinars about regenerative at:greencover.com/webinars/. Then - find a subject you like and follow other links.

[@wayneedgerton5892]

What are we looking for on the seed tag to make sure we are not getting neonics treated seed. Will it clearly say? Please be specific. Thanks for your help.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Wayne - Neonics are often in seed treatments with names like Cruiser, etc. If the tag says "Danger" or "Harmful for wildlife" then don't use them. I'm proud of you for reading tags - very, very few folks do.

[@Scott_General]

Great video. What tree do you recommend to put in the middle of a small kill plot half acer?

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Many fruit trees require more than one tree to pollinate. Given I often use prescribed fire, etc., to establish and maintain plots, I don't plant any trees in them. Trees also can block the hunter's view.

[@Scott_General]

@@GrowingDeerTV I'm planning deer peer x2 America persimmons x3 and two apple around the plots tree line. Also have 4 chestnuts and one saw tooth oak going around the borders. I was thinking of putting a tree to get them to stop in the middle for a rub and nice shot. I definitely don't have to just a thought.

[@gsnicholas8522]

@@Scott_General have you thought about driving a locust post in the ground? Locust is rot resistant(any naturally rot resistant post will work) and once established, the deer will rub on it the same as a tree. Just a thought.

[@jimmiecalvert3572]

My God people if they’re doing it to are food you know they’re doing it to the wildlife

[@keithswilley4678]

This subject needs to be exposed. Non-treated seed should work well with no-till planting system, and it should also reduce the cost of seed --- you'd think.

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Keith - You are correct!

[@Jak1481]

All the farmers use treated seed could be harmful along with the chemicals they use 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@sandralittlejohn3816]

Just like us eating round up?

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Sandra - We certainly consume a lot of glyphosate, but neonics is a totally different and more dangerous chemistry.

[@sandralittlejohn3816]

Poison is poison

[@jarndt908]

commercial Farming is the biggest threat to our environment than anything out there .

[@GrowingDeerTV]

J - I'm very pro farming. However, there are much better techniques that many used today. Regenerative ag can allow farmers to be more profitable while improving the land and critters.

[@jimpowers2047]

animals pass it

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Jim - You may wish to read some of the volumes of research on neonics.

[@donald6427]

Might be a little part of the problem…. But it’s 70 maybe even 80 percent predator problem

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Donald - I agree predators are a huge issue! I have several Duke traps out now! 69 raccoons and opossums so far this season and counting!

[@donald6427]

@@GrowingDeerTV right on. Btw thanks for explaining and sharing stuff on here. It’s been a huge inspiration for our property

[@royguidry1311]

Can't be that bad. Deer are more abundant and have healthier body sizes and bigger antlers.

[@Treyno94]

I agree, I don’t think it’s hurting the deer. But turkey on the other hand is a question.

[@-B_G-]

Deer can thrive anywhere, I saw miniature bucks in Keywest eating out of the trash. It’s turkeys that are extremely fragile both habitat and physically

[@donald6427]

Raccoon and ground predators are the biggest problem then habitat

[@GrowingDeerTV]

Roy - Deer are abundant. People were abundant and smoking cigarettes for decades before cancer was linked to them. I encourage you to search for information about Neonics. You will likely be amazed. Let's not stick our heads in the sand anymore.

[@wayneedgerton5892]

You may want to look at the video again. It is that bad!

[@ktmryder300]

Buzzards should be a good source to study they consume several deer in this area