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market-farming - Re: Herbicide persistence in compost

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  • From: "Jeffery Blake" <echoecho AT bedford.heartland.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Herbicide persistence in compost
  • Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 11:39:29 -0600



> I am curious to know what you think are the misconceptions of the
> chemical/organic debate. Would you be willing to share them? I am sure
> that would liven up our discussion!

Well why not. I probably should get up and do some work, but we had about 8
inches of snow the other day and its turning the lots and barnyard into
sloppy nasty muck. I can't get serious about working. It doesn't take much
to give me an excuse.

First let me say that I think that herbicide use should be limited for
environmental reasons, I believe that farmers are way to reliant on
chemicals rather than management to fix problems. How to do this? Most
farmers and chemical companies insist that there are no adverse effects of
chemical use on the environment or on food safety. I think this is a
misconception.
Conversely I think that many organic/consumer orgs/etc. think that if
chemicals can have some adverse effects, then ALL chemicals at ALL levels
are harmful. I don't think this is necessarily so.
Facts such as those found at the Extension services are important in making
our decisions/ and as foundations for our opinion. For example in the last
two days I learned that Tordon can be used on pasture and that Roundup stays
in the environment for several months. These are important misconceptions
I had. I KNOW that roundup will not harm plants after the first day or two
after spraying and have learned that it is not hardly toxic to animals, but
can be taken up by crops even though it doesn't kill them. My opinion on
this matter is that it probably has little environmental impact if used in
moderation. I think that many people learn of minute traces of chemicals
and are of the opinion that they are unsafe or harmful. I think this is a
misconception. I think in our world there are a lot of traces of things
that we pick up/ingest,/absorb/etc. farm chemicals are just one of those
things. I do think that some use of farm chemicals is necessary to feed
America. I do think that use of these chemicals could and should be
drastically reduced. All of that being said--if I had a choice I would eat
an organic vegetable way before I would eat a chemical grown vegetable. And
I would prefer growing organic to using chemicals, but I think some of that
is just me; I don't think a few--temporary degradable chemicals in our local
environments are such a sin and I think much of the hype stirred up by some
groups is fear mongering and misuse/misunderstanding of the effects of these
chemicals. But I feel that those groups--fact based or not--do play an
important role in mobilizing an effort to reduce chemicals around the world.
Much of this is opinion/value judgment. So don't anyone assume I am
attacking anyone's values or judgment, this is just my take. Like I said
I'm kind of torn on the whole issue. I doubt if I interjected any facts or
anything here, but I'm just philosophizing.





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