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Conventional resistance to organic



For a bit of perspective, it might be worth a quick trip to another
discipline...  I did my undergraduate work in Geology during the era
when the concept of Continental Drift could no longer be resisted, in
the mid to late 60s.

Werner first proposed drifting continents in 1912, the idea being
first ridiculed, then in the 40s and 50s viciously opposed.  A close
family friend was one of the leading opponents, so I got to see that
response up-close.

Data and logic could no longer be opposed by the late 60s, but there
was still another decade of rear-guard resistance.  Most of the
geologists doing the synthesis of data into an understanding of the
New Techtonics did so on their own time at first, and there was
considerable reluctance to fund "arm-waving" research, "generating
outlandish conclusions, each more preposterous than the last."

By 1975, any geologist disputing the truth of Continental Drift was
lumped in with the Flat Earthers.

I guess that's why I'm such an optimist about the ultimate outcome of
the sustainable approach to agriculture  -- it will take longer, and
be more viciously opposed because there is *so* bloody much money
involved in maintaining the status quo, but I'm betting my career on
the idea that in fifty years the people currently screaming that
sustainable agriculture is evil because it violates economic rules
will be seen in much the same light as those opposing Copernicus
because his ideas violated the religious assumptions of the time.

With luck, I'll still be around to see how it all turns out.