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Re: John Hagelin: Old vs New Approach in Agriculture
Joe Toth wrote:
>
> Current agricultural practices produce food that is
> increasingly hazardous to our health and, at the
> same time, damages the soil and water supply.
> Incredibly, government policies actually penalize
> farmers who attempt to use healthier practices.
> Is this what you want?
>
> Natural Law Party's John Hagelin
> http://www.natural-law.org
> would promote natural
> sustainable agricultural practices proven to produce
> healthy, high quality food grown without chemical
> fertilizers and pesticides. At the same time, these
> practices preserve the environment for future generations.
These are pretty bold statements without any supporting evidence. These low yield
production practices result in more land being needed for agricultural production
to meet even current needs let alone future needs. Yields from organic farming in
the United States and Europe are only about half as high because organic farmers
suffer more pest losses and need extra land for pasture, green manure and fallow.
Historically, the plow has caused far more land degradation than fertilizers and
pesticides. Afterall, how fertile is the "fertile crescent," now? The negative
effects of soil erosion have been documented throughout history.
In addition to the famine and wars, these so called sustainable agriculture
practices would also result in the loss of 100,000's of acres of wildlife habitat
to agriculture production.
With a growing world population, we need to be able to use all the management tools
available including cultural, biological and chemical technologies to be
sustainable.
Blair McClinton
b.mcclinton@sk.sympatico.ca
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