@article{discovery10086408,
         journal = {Nature Sustainability},
            note = {This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.},
          volume = {3},
           pages = {63--71},
           month = {January},
            year = {2020},
           title = {The costs of human-induced evolution in an agricultural system},
             url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0450-8},
          author = {Varah, A and Ahodo, K and Coutts, S and Hicks, H and Comont, D and Crook, L and Hull, R and Neve, P and Childs, D and Freckleton, P and Norris, K},
        abstract = {Pesticides have underpinned significant improvements in global food security, albeit with associated environmental costs. Currently, the yield benefits of pesticides are threatened as overuse has led to wide-scale evolution of resistance. Despite this threat, there are no large-scale estimates of crop yield losses or economic costs due to resistance. Here, we combine national-scale density and resistance data for the weed Alopecurus myosuroides (black-grass) with crop yield maps and an economic model to estimate resistance impacts. We estimate that the annual cost of resistance in England is {\pounds}0.4 billion in lost gross profit (2014 prices) and annual wheat yield loss due to resistance is 0.8 million tonnes. A total loss of herbicide control against black-grass would cost {\pounds}1 billion and 3.4 million tonnes of lost wheat yield annually. Worldwide, there are 253 herbicide-resistant weeds, so the global impact of resistance could be enormous. Our research supports urgent national-scale planning to combat resistance and an incentive for increasing yields through food-production systems rather than herbicides.}
}