I know the reaction farmers around here have to such beliefs. At its most
polite, it's a weary smile.
Our 1994 survey indicated 3% of farmers, 6% of extension agents and 77% of
members of sustainable agriculture groups believed that farmers can produce
enough food and fiber without using synthetic chemicals.
Judging from comments on sanet lately, I'd say the polarization seems to be
growing in many circles.
The true believers on each side reinforce each other-until we get totally
different perceptions of agricultural history. And each writes off the
other as hopelessly misinformed. Meanwhile, planes every day spray
pesticides within smelling distance of my house. What a mess.
The holistic systems folks even have a technical term for it: a wicked
mess. "Wickedness," according to King (1993), "occurs when people confer
immutability on value assumptions and ideological considerations." "Messes"
(Ackoff, 1974) arise when dynamic complexity is high. These are much less
puzzles that can be "solved" than they are situations which require new
syntheses. Messes cannot be solved by solving component problems in
isolation from one another because there are significant couplings between
isolated problem symptoms.
So a wicked mess arises when polarization on assumptions occurs in
extremely dynamic situations.
What's the way out of any wicked mess? It starts with recognizing each
other's assumptions and then realizing that any assumption (like any
theory) is an inadequate representation of reality. Of course if you are
totally sure that you are totally right in every respect, then you're stuck
in your wicked mess for awhile.
Jim Worstell, Delta Land & Community
920 Hwy 153, Almyra, AR 72003
Phone: 870-673-6346 Fax: 870-673-7219
www.deltanetwork.org jvworstell@futura.net
> From: gardenbetty@earthlink.net[SMTP:gardenbetty@earthlink.net]
> Reply To: gardenbetty@earthlink.net
> Sent: Wednesday 10 June 1998 6:45 PM
> To: sanet-mg@shasta.ces.ncsu.edu
> Subject: Pesticide analogies revisited
> Just a quick point: Up until roughly the 1940s we grew all our food
> without synthetic chemicals and had agricultural productivity equal to or
> greater than we currently have. Crop losses due to insects have only
> increased since we started using pesticides. (studies by Cornell
> University and USDA) Agriculture has been "organic" for most of human
> existence. The use of agrichemicals (and other chemicals of other types)
> and the corresponding exponential rise in cancer have occurred in only
the
> past 50-60 years. We did fine without chemicals for millennia. Is it too
> late to reverse the trend?
> dawn
> garden resources of washington
>
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