The Globe Digest #59: Technology developed by MIT engineers makes pesticides stick to plant leaves

March 30, 2025March 30, 2025

Revolutionizing Agricultural Efficiency: MIT’s Breakthrough in Pesticide Application

MIT engineers' new technology improves the efficiency of pesticide application, making the droplets stick to plant leaves rather than wasting on the ground. — ***MIT engineers’ new technology improves the efficiency of pesticide application, making the droplets stick to plant leaves rather than wasting on the ground.***

Reducing the amount of agricultural sprays used by farmers — including fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides — could cut down the amount of polluting runoff that ends up in the environment while at the same time reducing farmers’ costs and perhaps even enhancing their productivity. A classic win-win-win.

A team of researchers at MIT and a spinoff company they launched has developed a system to do just that. Their technology adds a thin coating around droplets as they are being sprayed onto a field, greatly reducing their tendency to bounce off leaves and end up wasted on the ground. Instead, the coated droplets stick to the leaves as intended.