Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
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and technology is under agricorporate control and their goal is profit. Hence
safety is secondary.
This ingrained system is particularly baffling when we consider that at
the same time the use of industrial agricultural pesticides soared (from
1965 to 1990) the estimated crop losses from insects, diseases, and weeds
actually increased from about 35 percent to 42 percent worldwide (USDA-
SARE 2000, 4). This indicates that while we are poisoning ourselves and our
environment, we are also failing to control crop pests. Even before planting,
seeds in industrial agriculture are treated with chemicals to halt seed-borne
pathogens - despite the fact that recent research shows that simple hot-water
treatments may be just as effective (Nega et al. 2003). Industrial agriculture
reduces diversity by relying on just a few crops. This, in turn, simplifies
and intensifies the pest complex present. Then pesticides kill off beneficial
insects, making some pest densities higher and crop losses greater (Matson
et al. 1997). In addition, pesticide resistance is an increasing problem. The
most commonly used chemicals are being outsmarted by weeds, as they
adapt and become immune to the once-effective sprays (Pollack 2003). In
this evolutionary process, we can imagine the development of a“superweed”
that survives and becomes the ancestor to future weed generations. This has
serious long-term consequences for farmers worldwide.
The best way to step away from these risky synthetic pesticide and fer-
tilizer hazards is to support organic farming methods. In addition to the
obvious exclusion of synthetic pesticides that cause human health prob-
lems and water pollution in our environment, organic farming methods
do not allow synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which contaminate our water
with nitrate and nitrite. Organic farmers use crop rotations, green manures
(tilling under a crop to provide enriching compost), and livestock manure
for fertilizing their soils. Scientists have found substantially lower levels of
nitrate concentrations beneath organically cropped fields and high levels in
soils under conventionally farmed fields (Honisch et al. 2002). Other re-
search shows that organic farming could significantly reduce pesticide and
nutrient run-off that pollutes regional and even international watersheds
(Paulsen et al. 2002; Kersebaum et al. 2003).
Farmers and consumers alike see that organic farming is the best way
to avoid the problems with pesticides and artificial fertilizers: water con-
tamination, the question of “inert” ingredients, and the sheer magnitude
and mixtures of dangerous chemical exposures today. In addition, farmers
see organic methods as a means to distance themselves from the social
problems of industrial agriculture: massive farm size needed to get higher
yields, low crop prices, the game of federal subsidies, and the bankruptcies of
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