organic pesticides?
Maroc (maroc@islandnet.com)
Wed, 22 Dec 1999 13:20:10 +0000
Those of us in organic or natural or sustainable or, as I would put it,
traditional agriculture should make this point very strongly because the
chemical farmers would loke to believe that we use a lot a "organic"
pesticides. Nothing can be farther from the truth. It may be tough for a
while when you try to return land poisoned by chemicals to traditional
cultivation. I've been working the same land for 15 years and use no
pesticides, except occasional use of Btk. Occasional means every few
years, the last time was three years ago because of an infestation of tent
caterpillers in the fruit trees. One spraying was enough to cut them down
to acceptable numbers. Two years ago we were visited by potato late blight
but there is nothing that can be done, either by organic or chemical
farmers (there's a biochemist at the U of Victoria who is working on a
potato that will resist late blight and other fungal problems). It may be
hard for the chemical crowd to accept that we don't use nor need to use
pesticides, because they have allowed the chemical corporations and the
government agrologists to convince them there is no way to produce
efficiently without ever increasing use of killer chemicals. It is a sad
treadmill they are on.
Don Maroc
Vancouver Island, Canada
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