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nafex - Re: [nafex ibiblio list] Autumn Olive

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  • From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@bellsouth.net>
  • To: nafex ibiblio mailing list <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [nafex ibiblio list] Autumn Olive
  • Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:09:23 -0500

On 1/9/2012 10:34 AM, Road's End Farm wrote:
But I don't think anybody in this conversation has recommended any
such thing as "massive removal in areas where they are not a problem".

No, not here but I sense that that is often done in ignorance these days around the US (while burning of the Amazonian and Indonesian rainforests is carried out) by people with questionable motives, affecting land that could be left as is with no ill effect. Ex. a Permaculture list post from my friend Mark, reflecting on a phone conversation we had a day ago:
"We discussed invasive plants last night. At the MNA's
(michigannature.org) copperbelly reptile preserve here in Michigan, after the reorganization 6 years ago, the Stewardship Director, along with many volunteers, removed russian olive shrubs on a field hill, also targeting purple loosestrife around the wetlands.

The snakes didn't mind those plants being around - they used them as
cover, shade and basking sites, just like they do on cattails, buttonbush, tree limbs, logs, brush piles, muskrat and beaver lodges, in the water itself. Don't buy into any propaganda that says that purple loosestrife displaces cattails, which has very strong rootstalks."

There is no question that invasive plants can and are causing huge problems with ecosystems, diversity and agricultural production.
I have fought them tooth and nail and lots of dollars on my small 6+ market farm: bamboo, Bermuda grass, redroot pigweed, ryegrass, ash saplings, Johnson grass, Pensylvania smartweed and Bradford pear, spread by seed from nearby trees producing thorns causing multiple flat front tires on my JD 3020 tractor. Control of these invasives should be measured, not indiscriminate and carried out in a timely fashion by people who understand ecosystems and are not using herbicide, only mechanical or human power.

My previous comments about invasive were definitely cavalier but were my reaction to the massive destruction of prime farmland all over the world by herbicide, other pesticides and gmo use; talk about cavalier;
if they can make money doing this then they will, regardless of consequences, lives and livelihoods, Gaia and preservation of species.

Read this article from Joe Cummins:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SANET-MG] A report to the parliament of Britain
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 17:50:54 -0500
From: jcummins <jcummins@UWO.CA>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

Dr.Eva Sirinathinghji of The Institute of Sciencer in Society
(http://www.i-sis.org.uk/full/USDA_scientist_reveals_allFull.php)
reports on a speech by Don Huber, professor emeritus at Purdue
University and USDA senior scientist delivered to the UK Houses of
Parliament a damning indictment of glyphosate agriculture as a most
serious threat to the environment, livestock, and human health . The
speech was made at All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agroecology Meeting, Huber DM “The effects of glyphosate (Roundup®) on soils, crops and consumers: new diseases in GM corn and soy and animals fed with it”, 20 November 2011, Houses of Parliament, UK An excerpt from Dr.Eva Sirinathinghji's report on Huber's comments states:"The conversion of US agriculture to monochemical herbicide practice has resulted in the extensive use of glyphosate herbicides. Coincidentally, farmers have been witnessing deterioration in the health of corn, soybean, wheat and other crops, and epidemics of diseases in small grain crops. All are associated with the extensive use of glyphosate, which has increased further since the introduction of glyphosate-tolerant, Roundup Ready (RR) crops. Glyphosate immobilises nutrients required to maintain plant health and resistance to disease. This weakening of the plants defence could explain the infestation of GM crops with the new pathogen, which has now been observed in horse, sheep, pigs, cows, chicken, multiple animal tissues including reproductive parts (semen, amniotic fluid), manure, soil, eggs, milk, as well as the common fungal pathogen that is
currently infesting RR crops, Fusarium solani fsp glycines mycelium. All are coming into contact with glyphosate either through direct exposure or consumption through animal feed. It is also highly abundant in crops suffering from plant Goss’ wilt and sudden death syndrome.
The pathogen can be cultured in the lab, and has been isolated from
livestock fetal tissue, replicated in the lab and re-introduced back
into the animals. It appears to be very common and may well be
interacting with the effects of glyphosate on both plants and animals,
exacerbating disease and causing reproductive failure in livestock (see
below). Although great expectations have been placed on Huber to publish his findings, he insists that before this can be done, further resources are necessary to be able to characterize the ‘entity’ and identify what type of species it is, including sequencing of its genome. This is a slow process and once complete, it is his intention to publish the work in a peer-reviewed journal."
It is wonderful that the government of Great Britain has undertaken an
unbiased report on Prof. Huber's findings.The academic bureaucrats in
the United States have disparaged Huber's findings most unfairly without having even looked at the data behind his studies and even some claiming to be environmental advocates have accepted the ignorant views of the bureaucrats from academia. I have previously pointed out the sad state of academic agroecology in US where public relation exaggeration by academic and government bureaucrats have begun to displace the full and truthful reporting of science.
<>
I think the main point is that Prof. Huber has the right to discuss his findings before final publication. He put the work forward because he believed the work had broad significance both inside and outside of plant pathology. He should not be condemned or hampered until he presents his final data in a peer reviewed publication. That important work should not be damned until the data have been published in full and found to be faulty. There are a number of important findings in genetic engineering that have been published in Europe and Russia but witch have been vilified in US because they threaten corporate interests and those findings have been forced underground to be ignored by both government and academic bureaucrats . My friend Arpad Pusztai was abused by the Royal Society even though his work was published in a peer reviewed journal and verified many times. It seems far to early to disparage Huber and his work should not be driven underground because it threatens corporate interests. Suppression of results threatening corporate interests itself should not be called science . sincerely, joe cummins

What I was talking about was that it's not a good idea to ship plant
matter from one continent to another without checking whether, not
only the plant matter itself, but any diseases or pests it might be
carrying, could cause a problem.

That is certainly true.

Someone else suggesting using populations already present, instead of
importing additional material from elsewhere.

That is always a good idea. Use what is already available to you.

Neither of those are "hysterical" recommendations.

I like organic practices at least as well as you do. But that's really
a separate issue from the invasiveness question. Even when growing
organically -- maybe especially when growing organically -- one needs
to pay attention to whether what one is planting is suited to the
specific area it's to be grown in.

This means that everyone needs to take renewed interest in their
property, learn permaculture and take responsibility for what grows on their land. I have to contend with "gifts" from neighbors: Bradford pear and worse, bamboo and poison ivy.




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