"The Tale of Tina, and the Three Bunnies"
By Dan Spillane, CFSeattle@aol.com
Seattle, WA 05/05/1999
[The following is an allegorical account of a farmer named "Tina", and her husband. This story is in line with recent discussion on the COEJL list, and strives to illustrate the interrelationships between economics, farming, and the environment. In this case, the focus is on a hypothetical farm, which opts to use non-hybrid corn. Anyway, based on a three-fold yield factor -- comparing hybrid to non-hybrid corn varieties of several decades ago -- the story then explores many of the environmental, economic and social effects of this planting decision. Oh, yes…this farm just happens to be next to a farm which grows the infamous "gene bean" soya, developed by Monsanto.]
CORN HYBRIDS improve yields on individual plants, there aren't more plants per acre -- they won't fit. Contributing to this increase in yield is a higher ratio of food to leaf and stalk material, as well as traits not so obvious. These include increased vigor of the plant, and built-in resistance to disease and insects. Whereas demand on the land by each hybrid plant may be somewhat greater, there is still an overall gain in efficiency of land use. Moreover, this is a reduction in the need for chemicals to fight insects and disease, since resistance traits are built-in. Heck, with a hybrid plant, an organic farmer might even get by with no pesticide use at all.
ON THE OTHER HAND, on Tina's farm they don't grow hybrids. This is because she and her husband aren't sure what will happen if they do; after all, these hybrid plants don't seem genetically "pure" - you can't even plant the same crop next year from hybrid seeds, which is just like Monsanto's "terminator." But Tina wants to grow food to sell at the local vegetarian market, and also make sure no veggies go to animal feed. So, instead of hybrids, she must grow three times the number in "standard" plants; these plants each produce a third as much. Someone once told Tina that the standard corn plants came as a result of thousands of years of selective engineering, from genetic mutations of a wild Mexican grass called "teosinte", but she doesn't believe this. In any case, she would rather be "safe" than "sorry", and calculates the amount of land they need to grow the amount of corn that will generate enough income for her family, based on the non-hybrid corn variety.
CONSEQUENTLY, Mr. and Mrs. Tina buy a large parcel of land - around three times the size of many nearby farms. To support this area, they have a fat pipe installed from the water company (sadly, because of the cost of these things, Mr. Tina breaks the news that only one of the three kids can go to college). On the first day they try and pump water into the fields, they blow a fuse…the power needed to pump the water is increased by a factor of three. In addition, since water is scarce in the area, Tina's neighbors all run out.
THE WATER COMPANY is upset, but the nearby gasoline company is happy. You see, with her large fields, Tina needs three times as much gas for the tractor. Therefore, the preparation, planting, and harvesting of the land all cover three times the distance, and generate three times the pollution. Invisibly, the carbon pollution Tina generates migrates, to contribute 3 degrees to global warming. Sadly for the family, the tractor has a loud engine, and Mr. Tina goes deaf because he has to ride it so long every day. This is somewhat of a blessing for him; now he just pretends to read lips, and says "gene bean" whenever Tina talks to him -- which is almost always about their "evil" neighbor's high-tech soy crop. (Tina's husband scratches his head on this one, he can't figure out how his neighbor gets by with only one weed spraying -- and no soil loss -- at the same time).
NOW ON TINA'S FARM, three times the land is exposed, so soil loss is increased by a factor of three. And the need for fertilizer or pesticide -- organic in this case -- is increased by a factor of three, and produce three times as much runoff. In a nearby river, three salmon die as a result of disruption due to soil and fertilizer. As if this were not enough, Tina's farm is large, and there are no buffer zones between it and the local river. Unfortunately, this particular river can't absorb such a large influx, so it gets clogged with algae, and THREE TIMES THREE (nine) salmon die because of this…
THIS PARTICULAR FARMLAND also used to be the home of bunnies, but now instead of one homeless bunny, there are three! Try as they may, these bunnies get lost and cannot find nearby grassland to feed on -- heck, this farm is THREE times larger than any others in the neighborhood. Dazed and disoriented, the three bunnies croak in the middle of Tina's large field...the soy farmer next door notices that the three bodies fall in an "arrow-like formation", pointing at Tina's house. Less fortunately, this farmland also used to be the home of an endangered species of fox, which happens to only eat bunnies. These critters now lurk in the brush at the edge of the farm. Alas...try as they may, these foxes can't find any bunnies…and all nine starve to death!
MEANWHILE, the soy farmer next door reads the paper, only to find out that Monsanto's stock price crashed because Greenpeace created a soybean cartel between European food giants, and the Brazilian mafia. There is a picture of the Brazilian farmers on the front page, happily clearing away more rain forest to meet this increased demand, which Greenpeace arranged for them! The soy farmer also knows for sure the Brazilians won't be using the Monsanto "gene beans" which allow for less herbicide use, because Greenpeace told them these were bad. On the other hand, the farmer knows they will use quite a bit of an alternate, soil-based herbicide, because weeds are the number one pest of soybean growers, especially in climates like Brazil.
NEARBY, SOYBEANS are on Tina's mind too. Tina sees the dead foxes, and is sure she sees a >>>mutant soybean<<< growing where one of the fox's noses should be, just like she saw on the Internet! Terrified, depressed, and despondent…Tina leaves a final note to her husband, instructing him NOT to forget to set aside THREE TIMES the seed corn for next season. Next, she eats a genetically modified potato -- which was ripped from the ground by her sister, who lives in England. Tina takes a bite...waits for the poison to kick in, just like she read about on the Internet...
INSTEAD OF DYING, TINA WAKES UP the next morning, without even as much as gas! Her husband turns on the TV, at high volume. The newscaster blares out, "US inflation triples! Productivity falls by a factor of three! ...Private sector cuts back 2/3 on grants to environmental programs, due to poor economy!"
Tina is confused by this news.
***
"The world's population is 6bn, and there are already 800m of us facing severe hunger. If you used the farming techniques being employed in the 1930s…you would have to use at least double the amount of land already being used for agriculture - land which, thanks to technology, is still preserved today for forestry, wildlife and flood control."
-- Norman Borlaug, Nobel laureate, as reported in the "The Guardian", 01 May 1999
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