To: Jacques Chitte who wrote (49816 ) 5/1/2000 9:11:00 PM From: Crocodile Read Replies (1) | Respond to
Lather,
Thank you for posting. I agree with what you have said.
My own post from last night was actually more critical about pesticide use than I should have been, but I tend to have a hot spot about that. I think that is a result of the particular circumstances that we are experiencing in my own neighbourhood... In retrospect, I should have been more specific about what I believe.
As you have commented, we are living in a time in which the agriculture industry is being required to support more people than ever. At the turn of the century, the average farmer fed somewhere around 8 people. By the 1930s-1940s, I believe the number was around 25. Ten years ago, the number was at over 100... and I know it is far in excess of that now. As you have also remarked, it is not possible to accomplish that kind of production without a variety of technologies.
As for the use of chemicals in agriculture.... Having grown crops and raised livestock for many years, chemicals have certainly changed the face of agriculture. I've seen both the good and the bad side of modern technology... amazing drugs that seem to cure diseases that used to wipe out a whole flock of animals... but there have been some abuses... just as there are have been in pesticide and herbicide use.
However, I believe that there is a great deal of "will" to learn from past mistakes, and that many in the agriculture industry are committed to that end. In the past 10 years, I have seen an incredible growth in strategies such as soil conservation through no-till or low-tillage cultivation, the use of beneficial insects and biological methods of pest control, and proper training for people working with chemicals (in fact, farmers must take courses and then be licenced in order to purchase and apply chemicals on their croplands up here). Up here, we also have many successful land stewardship and wetlands preservation programs administered solely by farmers. Within the coming year, we will see a greater amount of accountability for on-farm livestock drug administration. I've been involved in a lot of agriculture education and farm safety programs... and I'm impressed with the speed at which changes are happening. True, I still hear of a lot of abuses... such as application of non-approved herbicides, or misapplication of substances, etc... but the situation does seem to be improving.
However, I see a lot of problems coming up on the horizon due impending water shortages and I have a lot of questions about long-range sustainability. Well water contamination with fertilizer residues is getting to be a very serious situation as well. I have no idea of how all of these problems will be solved. In truth, these are not entirely an "agriculture problems" so much as the symptoms of an already existing overpopulation crisis... but agriculture will be held responsible for whatever happens... of that I am quite sure.
Anyhow, I shouldn't have been so quick to criticize... or perhaps I should have been more "selectively critical" when it comes to agri-chemicals... Unfortunately, I have come to a point at which some of my own experiences are in conflict with what has been accepted as standard practice in the agriculture industry. No answers... just some observations... but a good topic for discussion...
croc
