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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

farming practices are out of balance

I'm writing this today to share some disturbing "rumblings" in the agricultural world.

MONOCULTURE (definition from wiki-pedia) Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. It is also known as a way of farming practice of growing large stands of a single species. It is widely used in modern industrial agriculture and its implementation has allowed for large harvests from minimal labor. However, monocultures can lead to the quicker spread of diseases, where a uniform crop is susceptible to a pathogen. 'Crop monoculture' is the practice of growing the same crop year after year. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoculture)

"UNIFORM CROP" - genetically UN-DIVERSE

The Pistachio Crop in Australia Failure - points to AGRICULTURAL BREAKDOWN.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/pistachio-disease/

and Wheat Rust ...coming back?!?!?
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/decapua-wheat-rust-41apr11-120367854.html

Hybridization/GMO = BIG YIELDS with the aid of lots of chemicals...
Uniform Crop = Uniform Disease Susceptibility
Fence lines being torn out for bigger fields - bigger equipment
Gone are the days of a little alphalfa, corn, beans, wheat, oats, and PASTURE on the farm....

are we headed for a breakdown? is it already here?

As beekeepers we can SEE what this monoculture trend does to our bees....rows upon endless rows of corn - DO NOTHING for our bees. They used to ship BOXCARS full of honey out of the Ohio valley...because of all the clover cover - both planted and natural.

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