RE: Unidentified subject!

Hi, 
 
 Very good points.  I am only a home grower but what you say makes sense.  I
believe we tend to forget where our food comes from.  What I was thinking
when I replied was that since commercial growers have large amounts of
plants to tend to, they have no choice but to use chemicals when pests get
out of hand.  But if I've got 6 pepper plants as a hobby, I should first do
the hand pick thing before spraying willy-nilly. The web page did not offer
that as an alternative.
 
Beth (md zone 7) 

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Huhman [b*@bright.net]
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 1999 2:32 AM
To: veggie-list@eskimo.com
Subject: Re: Unidentified subject!


Amen, Lorraine!  The same holds true in the animal production field. I read
comments to the effect that the feed industry puts who knows what into
animal feeds just to make a buck, without regard to safety or efficacy. I
have managed feed mills for 21 years now, and the feed industry is
conscientious about what additives are used and in what quantities.  It's
very easy to criticize something that we don't personally have any knowledge
of, particularly if it pertains to our food or health.  Were it not for
commercial vegetable growers and livestock producers, a heck of a lot of us
would be going to bed hungry at night..Like Lorraine, I don't want to start
a war, but the 2% of the population that is feeding the rest of us needs
some help getting the real story out somehow.  No one cares more about
having a healthy food supply than the farmers supplying that food.  
 
Bill Huhman

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Lorraine  <g*@syix.com> Hoag 
To: veggie-list@eskimo.com <v*@eskimo.com>  
Sent: Friday, June 04, 1999 6:06 PM
Subject: Unidentified subject!

A quick comment on Beth G's remark about commercial growers using chemicals.
It is a fact that commercial growers use fewer chemicals than the backyard
gardeners.  Hard to believe?  Well it's true.
It's all those lawns  that home owners pile chemicals on to keep them
looking green and weed free. Also many home gardeners do not want any bugs
or insects around and spray wildly around without thinking of the predators
that are being killed as well.  
Yes I am a grower, almonds and prunes, and we are restricted to the bare
minimum of chemical spray that can be used on our orchards. We also monitor
the existence of insect damage before we even think of using a chemical.
Two reasons.  Our crops are edibles and chemicals are expensive.  
On the page you recommended to Bill, you will note that the university made
it clear that the grower must use traps or other means to establish the
damage expected from insects at any particular time.  We do not, we cannot,
just haphazardly spray away.
Hope I am not starting a war here. It is just that farmers, growers, have
this weird reputation of not caring about the environment and it's just not
true. 
L
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index