A pesticide is any chemical or biological substance that prevents, controls, or eliminates pests. There are 425 active substances currently approved for pest control in the European Union (EU, 2024), and around 600 are approved worldwide (McDougall, 2018). Pesticides are commonly classified by their function (e.g. herbicides, fungicides, insecticides), chemical composition (e.g. organophosphates, organochlorines), or mode of action (e.g. acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, sodium channel modulators), though other classification systems exist for this diverse group of substances (Akashe et al., 2018). Approximately 90% of pesticide sales are related to the agricultural sector, where they are used as plant protection products. These are applied to soil or weeds to combat plants competing with crops for resources, or directly to crops to fight organisms that damage agricultural commodities. It is estimated that 26–40% of global crop production is lost to pests annually; without pesticides, these losses could potentially double (Oerke, 2006). Ensuring high crop yields is becoming increasingly difficult as we face degradation and depletion of arable land, more frequent extreme climate events, higher pest incidences, and increasing pest resistance (Jung et al., 2019; Lykogianni et al., 2021; Prăvălie et al., 2021).