I read an amazing and eye-opening article today: Bringing the Culture Back in Agriculture. You can read it in its entirety by clicking on the link, but I would like to quote the author on a few things.
"After the turn of the previous century there was a lot of experimentation with mono cultures. By that is meant growing only one field crop, e.g. corn or wheat. This is a principle that goes against nature, which works with ecosystems based on synergy and complex wholes, whereby plants work together and support one another. Some plants root deeper than others, allowing them to uptake minerals from underneath the topsoil. When these plants die, their rich mineral content in turn fertilizes the soil."
"Mono cultures meant the end of the use of natural ecosystems in agriculture. In order to achieve higher yields faster, nitrogen-based fertilizer was developed. Encouraged by the success of nitrogen bombs in the First World War, scientists were led to develop nitrogen-based fertilizer for agricultural purposes. The funding came from petrochemical companies whose goal it was to make the national and international economy entirely dependent on gas and other fossil fuels. It is not surprising, therefore, that these powerful companies enjoy warm ties with the arms industry. Oil is a major waster of fossil fuels and many wars have been fought over oil. The Iraq war comes to mind as a recent example.
Seen in this light, chemical weaponry as the inspiration for modern agriculture doesn't seem such a strange concept. The scientists were told to figure out the minimum amount of elements to achieve plant growth. The idea was to maximize profits with minimal means. The NPK method was the result. The letters N, P, and K stand for three elements: nitrogen (N), phosporus (P), and potassium (K). Using only these three elements, it was not only possible to grow crops but also to do it at a very fast pace.
Through a clever propaganda campaign, a dependency was created on these synthetically produced fossil-fuel based variations, to which the chemical companies held the patent. Mono cultures and artificial fertilizer were hailed as the solution for the world food problem. No longer would anyone have to be hungry because we were now able to grow food on a massive scale. Who wouldn't want that? These days, however, we are seeing food and oil prices rising, and food and oil getting scarce. The world hunger problem has never been resolved, while the petrochemical companies have only gotten richer and more powerful.
Most readers here are aware that our soils have become depleted and acidified. How this came to be is not known to everyone, however. Let's continue with our history lesson. Though the NPK method was capable of producing large-scale mono cultures, the health of these crops left a lot to be desired. It appeared fast growth was not healthy growth, as these crops were attacked by mother nature's cleanup crew: insects, fungi, 'weeds', viruses, and other pathogens, among which cancer. Mother nature simply does not allow large concentrations of weak organisms to survive.
The scientists looked again to the weapons industry to find something with which to battle these 'pests' and other unwanted garbage men of mother nature. These became the infamous pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and other 'cides'. Their origin? Nerve gas. Originally they were nothing but diluted nerve gas (by now it may not surprise you to find out that the basis of chemo therapy is actually mustard gas).
By selling farmers artificial fertilizer to grow their crops and pesticides to fight off unwanted intruders, a disastrous cycle was created, which can only be described with yet another 'cide': nutricide, the killing of nutrients. Crops grown in this manner are mere holograms: from the outside they may look like food, but in reality these weakened, pumped-up crops lack nutritional content.
The one-sidedness of mono cultures and artificial fertilizer as well as the destructive nature of pesticides have brought about a serious depletion of our soils' mineral content. By replacing mother nature's rich menu of minerals with only three synthetic elements and by 'treating' crops with highly toxic pesticides at various growth stages, soils have been poisoned and exhausted. Humans and animals eating these crops will experience the same poisoning and exhaustion."
"It's not as if we couldn't have known. In the 1930s, Congress had an official investigation done into NPK-based agricultural practices. The report, which came out in 1936, had alarming conclusions and has become known as Senate Document 264. It warned about a health crisis of unprecedented proportions if these practices were to continue. The highly powerful chemical industry managed to successfully lobby lawmakers, however, and through bribes got a majority of senators on their side. Document 264 was subsequently disregarded.
NPK farming and the pharmaceutical industry was then allowed to thrive. So was the incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other modern welfare diseases which followed as a result. Thus a system was created in which people were first made sick with non-nutritional, toxic foods, after which the same companies presented the 'solution' with medicines manufactured by their pharmaceutical branches. Chemical 'treatment' from the cradle to the grave. Why have we allowed to let it come this far in 100 years' time? We are now living the health crisis Senate Document 264 warned us about.
Since the 1970s these same chemical giants have been genetically engineering crops in order to gain patents on 'new' seeds whose genetic structure has been altered. Monsanto, which gave us Agent Orange and DDT, is leading this dangerous game. For years, they have been buying up seed stocks in order to genetically modify and patent them. There is no patent on nature, but nature reworked can, in fact, be patented. There is nothing natural about GMOs as only through pathogens such as viruses and cancer cells are they able to penetrate cells to alter their gene structure.
Monsanto is taking this idea even further. Monsanto's seeds are 'Roundup ready', i.e. they are resistant to their feared Roundup pesticide. You read it right, the seeds have been manipulated in such a way that crops cannot grow without being sprayed with Roundup, making the pesticide the fertilizer! Monsanto also has the technology to insert a so-called 'suicide gene' into their seeds, so that farmers can get only one harvest out of them, forcing farmers to buy new seeds each year. One cannot imagine a greater dependence on an industry which not only aims to control our energy reserves, but our food reserves as well."
So, folks, if you did not think that you needed to go organic up to this point, I hope that you will reconsider. I also hope that you will make your voices heard and speak up while president-elect Obama is considering different candidates for the Head of USDA for the next four or more years.
While the organic community spoke up against Obama's first choice Vilsak, and it seems that he listened, he is now considering yet a worse candidate for the job. According to press reports, Obama is now considering Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) to head the USDA. Peterson, like Vilsack, is a strong biotech supporter, head of the House Agriculture Committee, and a man who categorized organic consumers as "dumb" last year. (information obtained from Organic Bytes, to which I subscribe)
"Last week OCA delivered a petition with 10,000 signatures to Obama's Transition Team in Washington, asking him to take a strong stand in support of organic food and farming and to move beyond "business as usual" by appointing visionaries like Michael Pollan to top USDA positions. We also posted on our website a list of other progressive candidates for high-level USDA positions, including Jim Riddle, a national organic farmer leader, Texas populist Jim Hightower, Tom Buis from the National Farmers Union, and Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. You can read the profiles of some of these possible USDA appointees here."
The Obama Transition Team has set-up an innovative website to facilitate public input for policy initiatives in the new Obama Administration. Please take the time to share your insights and opinions: http://change.gov/
Please take a moment to log on to the web-site and make your opinion count!!!
Have a great day! And remember: EAT HEALTHY!!! BE HAPPY!!!
"After the turn of the previous century there was a lot of experimentation with mono cultures. By that is meant growing only one field crop, e.g. corn or wheat. This is a principle that goes against nature, which works with ecosystems based on synergy and complex wholes, whereby plants work together and support one another. Some plants root deeper than others, allowing them to uptake minerals from underneath the topsoil. When these plants die, their rich mineral content in turn fertilizes the soil."
"Mono cultures meant the end of the use of natural ecosystems in agriculture. In order to achieve higher yields faster, nitrogen-based fertilizer was developed. Encouraged by the success of nitrogen bombs in the First World War, scientists were led to develop nitrogen-based fertilizer for agricultural purposes. The funding came from petrochemical companies whose goal it was to make the national and international economy entirely dependent on gas and other fossil fuels. It is not surprising, therefore, that these powerful companies enjoy warm ties with the arms industry. Oil is a major waster of fossil fuels and many wars have been fought over oil. The Iraq war comes to mind as a recent example.
Seen in this light, chemical weaponry as the inspiration for modern agriculture doesn't seem such a strange concept. The scientists were told to figure out the minimum amount of elements to achieve plant growth. The idea was to maximize profits with minimal means. The NPK method was the result. The letters N, P, and K stand for three elements: nitrogen (N), phosporus (P), and potassium (K). Using only these three elements, it was not only possible to grow crops but also to do it at a very fast pace.
Through a clever propaganda campaign, a dependency was created on these synthetically produced fossil-fuel based variations, to which the chemical companies held the patent. Mono cultures and artificial fertilizer were hailed as the solution for the world food problem. No longer would anyone have to be hungry because we were now able to grow food on a massive scale. Who wouldn't want that? These days, however, we are seeing food and oil prices rising, and food and oil getting scarce. The world hunger problem has never been resolved, while the petrochemical companies have only gotten richer and more powerful.
Most readers here are aware that our soils have become depleted and acidified. How this came to be is not known to everyone, however. Let's continue with our history lesson. Though the NPK method was capable of producing large-scale mono cultures, the health of these crops left a lot to be desired. It appeared fast growth was not healthy growth, as these crops were attacked by mother nature's cleanup crew: insects, fungi, 'weeds', viruses, and other pathogens, among which cancer. Mother nature simply does not allow large concentrations of weak organisms to survive.
The scientists looked again to the weapons industry to find something with which to battle these 'pests' and other unwanted garbage men of mother nature. These became the infamous pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, and other 'cides'. Their origin? Nerve gas. Originally they were nothing but diluted nerve gas (by now it may not surprise you to find out that the basis of chemo therapy is actually mustard gas).
By selling farmers artificial fertilizer to grow their crops and pesticides to fight off unwanted intruders, a disastrous cycle was created, which can only be described with yet another 'cide': nutricide, the killing of nutrients. Crops grown in this manner are mere holograms: from the outside they may look like food, but in reality these weakened, pumped-up crops lack nutritional content.
The one-sidedness of mono cultures and artificial fertilizer as well as the destructive nature of pesticides have brought about a serious depletion of our soils' mineral content. By replacing mother nature's rich menu of minerals with only three synthetic elements and by 'treating' crops with highly toxic pesticides at various growth stages, soils have been poisoned and exhausted. Humans and animals eating these crops will experience the same poisoning and exhaustion."
"It's not as if we couldn't have known. In the 1930s, Congress had an official investigation done into NPK-based agricultural practices. The report, which came out in 1936, had alarming conclusions and has become known as Senate Document 264. It warned about a health crisis of unprecedented proportions if these practices were to continue. The highly powerful chemical industry managed to successfully lobby lawmakers, however, and through bribes got a majority of senators on their side. Document 264 was subsequently disregarded.
NPK farming and the pharmaceutical industry was then allowed to thrive. So was the incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other modern welfare diseases which followed as a result. Thus a system was created in which people were first made sick with non-nutritional, toxic foods, after which the same companies presented the 'solution' with medicines manufactured by their pharmaceutical branches. Chemical 'treatment' from the cradle to the grave. Why have we allowed to let it come this far in 100 years' time? We are now living the health crisis Senate Document 264 warned us about.
Since the 1970s these same chemical giants have been genetically engineering crops in order to gain patents on 'new' seeds whose genetic structure has been altered. Monsanto, which gave us Agent Orange and DDT, is leading this dangerous game. For years, they have been buying up seed stocks in order to genetically modify and patent them. There is no patent on nature, but nature reworked can, in fact, be patented. There is nothing natural about GMOs as only through pathogens such as viruses and cancer cells are they able to penetrate cells to alter their gene structure.
Monsanto is taking this idea even further. Monsanto's seeds are 'Roundup ready', i.e. they are resistant to their feared Roundup pesticide. You read it right, the seeds have been manipulated in such a way that crops cannot grow without being sprayed with Roundup, making the pesticide the fertilizer! Monsanto also has the technology to insert a so-called 'suicide gene' into their seeds, so that farmers can get only one harvest out of them, forcing farmers to buy new seeds each year. One cannot imagine a greater dependence on an industry which not only aims to control our energy reserves, but our food reserves as well."
So, folks, if you did not think that you needed to go organic up to this point, I hope that you will reconsider. I also hope that you will make your voices heard and speak up while president-elect Obama is considering different candidates for the Head of USDA for the next four or more years.
While the organic community spoke up against Obama's first choice Vilsak, and it seems that he listened, he is now considering yet a worse candidate for the job. According to press reports, Obama is now considering Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) to head the USDA. Peterson, like Vilsack, is a strong biotech supporter, head of the House Agriculture Committee, and a man who categorized organic consumers as "dumb" last year. (information obtained from Organic Bytes, to which I subscribe)
"Last week OCA delivered a petition with 10,000 signatures to Obama's Transition Team in Washington, asking him to take a strong stand in support of organic food and farming and to move beyond "business as usual" by appointing visionaries like Michael Pollan to top USDA positions. We also posted on our website a list of other progressive candidates for high-level USDA positions, including Jim Riddle, a national organic farmer leader, Texas populist Jim Hightower, Tom Buis from the National Farmers Union, and Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. You can read the profiles of some of these possible USDA appointees here."
The Obama Transition Team has set-up an innovative website to facilitate public input for policy initiatives in the new Obama Administration. Please take the time to share your insights and opinions: http://change.gov/
Please take a moment to log on to the web-site and make your opinion count!!!
Have a great day! And remember: EAT HEALTHY!!! BE HAPPY!!!
