WHEREAS: Pesticide-based agricultural practices are creating growing risk to food companies. Scientists have connected pesticide exposure to cancer, developmental defects, and obesity, among a list of health harms. Consumers are increasingly demanding healthy, pesticide and GMO free foods, and food companies are seeing increased litigation around pesticide use. Pesticide-based farming methods degrade soil health, contributes to erosion, and is a major contributor to the loss of pollinator species essential to food production. Weeds and insects develop resistance to pesticides with associated crop losses of $1.4 billion per year.