There is actually a lot of information in this piece from the Des Moines Register this morning and this paragraph sums it up for me in respect to where agriculture needs to go at this juncture.
The symposium at Dowling Catholic High School had on full display the tension between advocates of modern, high-productivity agriculture with its technology and biotech seeds aimed at worldwide markets and a farming system more organic and less dependent on fuels and pesticides geared for local markets.
The most important part of this article was this.
Ron Rosmann, who raises corn, soybeans and livestock organically on 600 acres near Harlan, decried the use of chemicals and sprays in modern agriculture. Rosmann said he harvested 200 bushels of corn per acre last year on his organic operation. That was about 30 bushels per acre above Iowa's average for the 2008 crop. Rosmann said he did that by avoiding chemical sprays and using a six-year rotation of corn, soybeans, oats, alfalfa and two years of hay.
"Weeds are becoming resistant to Roundup," Rosmann said, referring to the widely used herbicide.I can tell you this. Proven by the example above and others as well high yields can be achieved without chemicals and that's a fact!
Problem is and has been for years is that these guys are not going to do it unless partially forced or paid to do so. Farming became so much easier with the introduction of chemicals starting in the 50's. These guys do field work for only a few weeks out of the year now. They are not about to put in the extra effort it takes to raise crops without chemicals.
Then this is going on as well. It's about the money as we all know.
Pioneer, Monsanto in biotech tug-of-war
When I was at school (a long time ago) one of the things I remember about agribusiness, is that farmers should always let a field lie fallow one year out of seven, just use it for grazing, grow nothing except what comes up naturally, wild grasses etc. I don't think that is a policy nowadays.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Diverted Acres Programs in the early 60's(Conservation + Market Stabilization) that tried to overcome the $1.00/bushel corn of the Eisenhower Adm. to the present welfare system for Agribusiness in the Midwest its' been a real idealogical fight, for sure. The ol' Free Market vs. Regulation for income stability. Couple that with food being gentically produced and used in 3rd world countries as a foreign policy tool(blackmail) and I can see that the Pope is worried and rightly so. The corn in the Midwest makes for unhealthy and garbage products at the consumption end: high fuctose corn causes heart disease, obesity, diabetes and mental illness. It's just fucking bad and should not be used to replace local and traditional farming and diets.Besides the high energy costs Poop Benny doesn't like the poor and children being poisoned by big Corporate Agribusiness. Neither do I.(Birth Control is a different issue.) As for local and sustainable and organic products they win and it's a no-brainer healthwise. Farming used to be a lot of things that it isn't now and that is too bad for everyone who eats. Big Agribusiness will continue to feed us garbage until it is banned from schools, banned from the Food Stamp Programs and labeled as the the true poison it is. I disagree with the Pope on many things but I really don't like to be a party to Wall Streets' genocide of the 3rd world thru the destruction of their ability to grow their own food. Have a nice Pot Roast for dinner and a big tasty bowl of corn syrup(I mean most ice cream) for dessert. Bon Appetit!
ReplyDeleteI see you're gonna beat on this drum for a while so why not join in( I'm listening to Lucinda Williams) and give it my best shot. The Poop is not doing any diffrently than the Vatican has been for centuries. Don't blame the Pope for all the worlds' problems just a vast majority of them. When the religious absolutists' arguments are written in stone get back to me. Meanwhile, I'm gonna go back to Lucinda.
ReplyDeleteI hate Monsanto and it's fun watching Monsanto and Pioneer have a go at it. Bring out the popcorn and may they both lose. Around here (PA farm country), the organic farmers plant their corn two weeks after the Monsanto/Pioneer farmers so that they can avoid cross polination. There is another insult to our food chain here in PA. Many of the non-organic farmers use sludge as fertilizer. Sludge is deadly stuff.
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