Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
while obscuring the unequal social and harmful environmental impacts
of these technologies.
20
Yet the LGU system is not homogeneous, and there have always been
spaces within it that have attended to alternative approaches to social
and environmental issues in agriculture. They have generally been in the
minority, because they do not further the productionist ideology. The
fruit of their labor often takes the form not of technology but rather of
knowledge, especially ecologically informed knowledge. For example,
California's Mediterranean climate is conducive to the growing of fruits,
vegetables, and nuts. The diversity of crops attracts a diversity of insect
pests, and in the nineteenth century UC researchers led the way in the
research and formulation of “economic poisons,” as pesticides were then
called. Charles Woodworth was the first UC entomologist, hired in
1891, and he introduced arsenate of lead, which became the pesticide of
choice in California until DDT.
The alternative, minority tradition of California entomology devel-
oped in the context of great faith in chemistry. In 1888, a field biologist
sent to Australia discovered a naturally occurring predator of the cottony
cushiony scale, a pest that was devastating California's citrus crop. Upon
importation, the vedalia beetle fully controlled the scale, creating a
dramatic public demonstration that the manipulation of predator-prey
relationships could provide significant economic benefits to growers.
This success gave rise to biological control as a sub-field of entomology.
Biological control would provide the foundation for IPM.
21
The “bug vs. bug” stories sparked the imagination of some growers
and their organizations, who demanded pest-control solutions based on
biological control.
22
Harry Scott Smith devoted his five-decade career to
the study and extension of biological control. In 1923, Smith established
the Division of Beneficial Insect Investigations at the University of
California's citrus experiment station in Riverside. Smith's division did
not merge with the existing entomology department for 50 years, but
rather maintained a distinct niche for itself within the LGU, as a division
and later as its own department.
23
It became an important seedbed of
ecologically informed pest management, with influence felt around the
country.
DDT's “miraculous” solution to insect problems pushed ecologically
informed pest control into the shadows of the agricultural sciences. Far
