A few more thoughts
I have a few things to add to the post below by the Vicious Thump.First I'd like to point out the inherent patronization in Vallianatos's claims. A distinct rose-colored-glasses syndrome colors the views of this individual. Business is business. If you do not adapt, if you do not claim a niche for yourself, you shall be left behind. This is true in every business from widget manufacturing right on down to farming.
Vallianatos seems to revile the very advances that allow this country to have one of the cheapest food supplies in the world. More than merely feeding his fellow citizens, the US Farmer feeds the world, in particular, exporting democracy and goodwill when our surpluses are donated or sold on the cheap to developing countries and victims of tragedies.
Were it now for the pesticides and mechanical improvements that Vallianatos slanders in a thinly veiled manner, the US farmer would be much less efficient and have a much more difficult time making a living. The price of a bushel of corn is less than $2.50 right now. Imagine if your livlihood were dependent on the weather, foreign markets, and you only got one production cycle in a year. Can you really blame the US farmer for using technology to his benefit, to ensure the survival of his crop, and therefore his livlihood, all to keep his family fed?
Vallianatos would have us all go back to the days of 40 acres and a mule. Certainly, those methods were more ecologically sound and the number of farmers were greater. Unfortunately, nobody would want that job in today's market. The work was too hard, back-breaking even, and left little time for the other aspects of life that we hold so dear today.
Moreover, Vallianatos's claim that Agriculture should be different than all other industry rings false. Apparently it is perfectly acceptable for other industries to do things faster, cheaper, smarter, etc., by taking advantage of technological gains, but not the farmer. Not only is this unfair, but it paints in stark relief exactly how ludicrous Vallianatos's perception of the family farm is.
But most insulting is the idea that the American farmer does not care about the environment. I feel certain that I know more farmers than Vallianatos (I make this claim as a farmer's daughter and as an Agronomist in my own right). The American farmer, by and large, considers himself a steward of the land. He knows his tenure is short and that he must preserve the land for his sons and daughters after him. Moreover, in my experience, it is the folks in the cities and suburbs who are more casual and less concientious in their use and storage of pesticides. How many people out there in suburbia handspray every stray weed in their yards? The more ecologically sound thing to do would be to simply pull them, but that doesn't happen very often. Why? That would be work. You'd have to bend down, pull, bag, and cart off the offending plants. Spritz, spritz is much easier.
Ah, I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning!
