On 11/06/99 at 7:21 PM Cass Peterson wrote:
>I think Brazilians deserve locally grown tomatoes. I also think that human
ingenuity, working with instead of against nature, will figure out a way to
make that possible without toxic soup.
I second that. Assuming that something is "not meant to be", with no fast, hard and comprehensive basis for doing so, is certainly no answer. In fact, it's an insult to human intelligence. This particular subject (concrete problems growing tomatoes in a given region of Brazil) is still very far from being exhausted and this isn't the first occasion that negative, uninformed comments have partially sidetracked honest, problem solving efforts on this forum. It sounds to me like the model being used for agricultural production in that area is largely responsible for current cultivation problems, having compounded the original issue of growing tomatoes there.
D H
Nothing more follows below.
>Anita Graf, in response to a discussion of tomato problems in the tropics:
>>>
>>Often times "sustainable" amounts to
>>figuring out if something ought to be grown in a specific place in
>>the first place. When nature starts a full-on combat of something,
>>it can sometimes mean that that something just isn't appropriate to
>>the area. If soils are fertile and well cared for and other basic
>>sustainablity steps have been taken and still it takes an arsenal of
>>toxic chemicals (organic or not) to get a harvest, it may be time to
>>reasses the planting regime from the beginning.
>
>That's a fair comment in some respects, but it reminds me of a comment my
>brother once made. He's a wildlife biologist, and I asked him for advice on
>how to keep the deer from devouring the farm profits. "You can't blame the
>deer," he said. "They're just trying to help the ecosystem by eliminating
>the exotics."
>
>Thanks, bro. Why is it that the deer eat the radicchio and ignore the
>Russian thistle, which is no less an exotic?
>
>More seriously: Some part of the term "sustainability," it seems to me,
>has to do with the ability to supply a great diversity of foods from local
>or regional sources.
>
>We've figured out ways to grow--without a toxic arsenal, synthetic or
>organic--most of the vegetables and fruits that are suited to our climate.
>A few crops we gave up on, not because we couldn't grow them successfully
>but because we couldn't grow them profitably. Big difference there.
>
>While we Pennsylvanians don't have quite the problems that Brazilians must
>have with diseases and pests that flourish in heat and humidity, we sure
>have more trouble with those problems than farmers in semi-arid regions.
>('Course, they have to have their irrigation water shipped in, which isn't
>all that sustainable, either.)
>
>I think Brazilians deserve locally grown tomatoes. I also think that human
>ingenuity, working with instead of against nature, will figure out a way to
>make that possible without toxic soup.
>
>Cass Peterson
>cpete@nb.net
>
>
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