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market-farming - Re: Methyl Bromide till 2015/

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>
  • To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Methyl Bromide till 2015/
  • Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 11:00:27 -0400


Jill,

Hugh may be outside right now. I'll answer what I can and Maybe Hugh will
share some of
his knowledge.

Methyl Bromide is injected into the soil as a gas to kill all life. This
results from
the thinking that if you kill everything, you kill the "bad guys." This is
widely used
by strawberry growers and some monocrop vegetable growers. It's used with
annual crops.

The problem is that the only life forms that recover rapidly after
sterilization are the
"bad guys," like fusarium, resulting (they think) in the use of more
sterilant. Sort of a
self-perpetuating system- sterilization increases the problem.

Hugh refers to an Acres USA article as an attachment to his letter. I'm
assuming this is
the issue containing the interview with Elaine Ingham. She has worked with
California
strawberry farmers who had used methyl bromide for years and were looking for
alternatives. Her bioassay of their soil showed that the soil ecology was
dominated by
the "bad guys" and that the "good guys" were few or not present.

She had them add compost with a balanced soil ecosystem present to inoculate
the soil and
balance their ecosystems- with great success. These growers are no longer
using methyl
bromide and are producing above average crop yields while decreasing their
cost of
production.

The moral of the story is, encourage a healthy soil ecosystem through proper
soil
management and add beneficial organisms through good composting practices
and/or
Biodynamic preparations to suppress disease rather than trying to kill
everything and
hopefully get the "bad guys."

Current research on methyl bromide centers around finding another sterilant.
The methods
being tested are other chemicals, solarization and injecting steam. All
follow the same
flawed logic of killing all life. Dr. Ingham's work is an exception. It
follows the
proven theory that a healthy soil ecosystem results in healthy plants. The
"technology"
is available to stop using methyl bromide right now. But the chemical
companies have law
makers convinced that they have to come up with a chemical alternative before
it's
banned. They have also convinced the farmers who use it that they have to
use a
sterilant or suffer crop losses.

The only reason I can see for pursuing sterilization techniques is that it
keeps farmers
dependent on supply companies. Dr. Ingham's work moves farmers towards
independence and
economic sustainability.

Alex McGregor
Walden Farm

Jill Taylor Bussiere wrote:

> Hugh,
> Is this the substance that is used on strawberries? Can you tell what
> it is used for, on what fruits and vegetables, and if there are any other
> ill effects besides the sterilization of the soil? Or some relevant web
> sites?





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