Well our "Round-up Ready" land hasn't shown any degradation.
We are obviously NOT an organic farm, but we use very little that is not organic on our vegie crops. About 70% of our fertilizer is organic. Hubby will often plant something like Rye, winter wheat or Buckwheat on any fallow land to hold the soil and provide an organic 'plowdown'.
We rarely use any pesticides unless a crop is totally under attack and in danger of being lost. We don't use any herbicides on the vegies but cultivate often. My old Allis G tractor is probably as old as I am if not older. It's a chore to keep it running at times. Occasionally we will go thru a bad weedy area with a Round-up 'wipe' aplicator.
Last year was a rather mild year for things like cabbage looper and we only had to spray twice for them the whole season. Some of the late plantings only got the second spray.
Our Winter Squash will usually get 1 or sometimes 2 sprays for cucumber beetles shortly after they germinate because otherwise they will eat the young plants to death. We have in the past lost thousands of feet of row to the beetles. But once the plants get larger they can fend for themselves.
So how is being able to use less pesticides and less toxic stuff a danger to the planet ?? I thought that is what we are supposed to be doing. I know we have used a lot less chemicals the last 10 years or so.
Carol
|