Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
we won't be able to say, “This is another situation where it's likely to
work,” or not likely to work.
The growers have a strong interest in place-bound representations, but the
advisor fi nds these too circumscribed by their particularity to stand alone.
Here, the advisor explicitly identifi es himself as a scientist, arguing for
representations that will allow him to make judgments about causality and
applicability to other sites. For instance, the advisor would like to know
how many insects are in the fi eld near each treatment and whether this is
correlated with yield. Other pertinent information can include data on the
population of benefi cial parasitic insects in each treatment. Once again,
the balance between the scientifi c and commercial aspects of fi eld trials is
tricky to maintain.
Perhaps the most complicating factor about representations is the way
they get mixed together in fi eld trials. Trust, numbers, and visualization
are part of just about every trial, but they may say very different things
about whether something works or not. This is especially true in trials
testing new practices that are meant to be more environmentally friendly
than current techniques. For many years, fi eld trials that tested chemical
interventions in agriculture were simply focused on whether the chemical
controlled a pest without damaging the crop. Of course, now advisors and
growers (as well as the general public and government regulators) are more
aware of the effects that agricultural chemicals have on the wider environ-
ment, and fi eld trials are being used to test ways of farming that balance
profi tability and environmental effects. These fi eld trials are meant to
represent more than just whether “it works,” and therefore their repre-
sentations can be harder to control. This advisor describes his diffi culty
making growers “see” the utility of a more environmentally benign
chemical:
Entomol: There's a botanical insecticide and it's called Neemex—it comes
from the neem tree. It's an interesting product because it's very safe to
humans and mammals, has very little impact in the environment and it
acts . . . as an insect growth regulator. So, if you spray it on these insects
they're not likely to die. But they're likely to never complete their life cycle
and [reproduce]. . . . And that's something that's almost impossible for a
grower to see just by casual observation and walking their fi elds. But I've
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