Agricultural pesticide use and its associated environmental harms are widespread throughout much of the world. Efforts to mitigate this harm have largely been focused on reducing pesticide contamination of the water and air, as runoff and pesticide drift are the most significant sources of offsite pesticide movement. Yet pesticide contamination of the soil can also result in environmental harm.

Soils contain an abundance of biologically diverse organisms that perform many important functions such as nutrient cycling, soil structure maintenance, carbon transformation, and the regulation of pests and diseases. Many terrestrial invertebrates have declined in recent decades. Habitat loss and agrichemical pollution due to agricultural intensification have been identified as major driving factors. 

This report reviews nearly 400 studies on the effects of pesticides on non-target invertebrates that have egg, larval, or immature development in the soil. The review encompasses 275 unique species, taxa or combined taxa of soil organisms, and 284 different pesticide active ingredients or unique mixtures of active ingredients.

The review presents extensive evidence that pesticides pose a serious threat to soil invertebrates and the essential ecosystem services that they provide. Given the widespread and increasing adoption of seed and soil-applied pesticides that pose a particular threat to soil organisms, there is strong support to include a soil health analysis in the United States pesticide risk assessment process.