Safefertilizer’s Weblog

It don’t matter which side of the political fence you are on, conventional, commercial agriculture is going to be, or already is, a scourge on world population.  Even with industrial agriculture’s claim that its chemicals and genetically modified seeds are feeding many more people all over the world, we all know that isn’t true.  If that were true, why are there so many hungry people in every nation?  Not just on continents like Africa and Asia, but also right here in the United States?  Big Agriculture isn’t about feeding people, it’s about making money, period.  There are other, much scarier things going on than lobbying for miracle gro use in the White House vegetable garden.  We’ll cover those another time.

Enter the Lobbyists

I read this article this morning.  I almost threw up a little in my mouth.  I found it from some of my twitter followers.  (You can learn so much on twitter.  If you’re not already on it, I suggest joining.  It is also a huge time suck-but don’t say I didn’t warn you.)  Apparently, the chemical companies are lobbying Michelle Obama to use more chemicals in her garden.  Because, what she wants to feed her two little girls, to teach them to love home-grown produce, is a poison covered cherry tomato picked straight off the vine.

There are a lot of young women between the ages of 25 and 35 years old who are having infertility problems.  Let’s just say that I am, in no way, a doctor.  I do, however, have a master’s in horticulture, and have spent countless hours reading about the effects of pesticides on DNA replication.  Has anyone looked into why these young women are experiencing such problems reproducing?  Does anyone think part of it might have something do do with eating pesticide laden food for years on end?  Food covered with poison that kills insects chiefly by disrupting the activity of their nervous systems?  Maybe I sound alarmist and part of a hippie, granola-eating fringe, but I’m really not.  And, I’m part of that age group having problems.  I haven’t tried to have a child yet, but I hope I’m more successful than some of my friends.  One thing’s for certain:  I won’t be spraying a bunch of chemicals in my garden while I’m trying.

The Tradgedy of the Short Term View

One of the worst things about Big Agriculture is that its synthetically produced fertilizers are NOT sustainable.  They use incredible amounts of petrolium to produce, they are short-acting, and they wash away into rivers, lakes and the ocean, wrecking havoc on marine life.  However, Big Ag loves these chemicals, because they do not make the soil better, they make plants grow fast.  Because farmers have to buy these chemicals year after year, they keep Big Ag in business.  And that is all Big Ag cares about.  Don’t be fooled by any touchy-feely advertisements.  They are doing everything they can to make sure that we are dependent upon them to eat, forever.  However, the joke will be on them if something catastrophic happens and then they can’t feed themselves. Unfortunately, that’s not going to do us any good.