Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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Organic farming should allow family farmers to earn a fair price for their
crops without the government subsidies and bailouts that prop up the cur-
rent agricultural system. Finally, organic farmers as a whole are innovative
and outgoing and tend to be willing to educate others, which makes them
ideal for teaching the value of healthy soil, organic food, and rural life to the
rest of us. It is clear that we need organic farming and that it may provide
us with a future agricultural landscape of ecological integrity and social
stability. So let's aim high but set realistic goals and strive to reach them in
our generation.
A
DVOCACY
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It doesn't take much digging to find information on the hazards of conven-
tional agriculture. Look at the Environmental Working Group (EWG)Web
site at http://www.ewg.org/foodnews for the “Produce Scanner” to figure
out what pesticides you are eating daily. This “Point and Click Produce
Aisle” tallies government data on pesticide residues common to U.S. fruits
and vegetables (Environmental Working Group 2004). After you are over-
whelmed by the numerous unpronounceable chemicals that you're ingest-
ing, you can read the EWG's recommendations for the “Foods You'll Want
to Buy Organic.” As of 2004, for example, the types of produce listed are
apples, bell peppers, celery, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches,
pears, potatoes, red raspberries, spinach, and strawberries. These common
foods have high levels of pesticide residues, which pose health concerns for
consumers - and this is not even considering the ecological concerns of
pesticide use or the social destruction of rural life due to the conventional
agricultural system, as discussed in chapter 1.
Several recent topics provide clear examples of the destruction wrought
by industrial agriculture.
The Forgotten Pollinators
by Buchmann and Nab-
han (1996) is both a natural history and cultural history that describes recent
human-induced declines in pollinators (bees, bats, butterflies, and birds, to
name a few); one-third of our food comes from plants that rely on these
pollinators. The authors note that billions of dollars in agricultural crops
would be lost if declines in pollinator species continue. The reasons for this
disruption of pollinators are habitat destruction and deaths from pesticides
- two factors resulting partially or fully from industrial agriculture. In the
long term,“the fields and orchards that sustain our food supply should never
become too far removed from wildlands, or their yields will suffer” (223).
Natural landscapes help maintain the stability of our global food supply.
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