Thursday, October 20, 2011
Four Videos
Because Chapter Seven is a big chapter, we're going to have four videos this week. The first two are about soil conservation. The third one is about integrated pest management. The final video is about genetically modified foods and it's from Penn and Teller's "BS" show, so once again, I'm going to give you the "It's not safe for work because there's some bad words in it" warning.
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Video#1: Says that transgenic varieties are beneficial for the environment. Tillage avoids the erosion that conventional planting brings to the environment, and conserves the soil.
ReplyDeleteVideo#2: Says soil erosion is a fact of nature and it's been around for centuries. But through the methods of keep grass or crops residue on the soil in the hill side, and this is very useful to farmers, it will protect the soils from erosion and will also improve water quality.
Video #3: Talks about manage pests in plants, also known as integrated pest management (IPM). They use cultural, mechanical, biological and pesticides control to get a result of healthful vegetables to eat. We can do it in 5 steps: First, it to build your knowledge base; second, monitor your plants; third, decision making; fourth, intervention, fifth and final is record keeping.
Video #4: Talks about genetic engineering food (GE crops), a method developed to created more a bigger yield of food per acre. But many people are concerned that GE crops is a environmental disaster (thoughts by Greenpeace). The discussion is that GE crops can save lives, especially for people who are hungry on undeveloped countries. This video reminds me the Malthus theory. Malthus didn't expected the agrarian revolution. He said the population would grow in a geometric way, and food would grow in a arithmetic way, and he was wrong about the food.
People from Greenpeace say that they are against GE crops, they believe in organic food, but they forgot to think about to feed the world's population with the organic food method of plantation, many people would be dying by hungry, and like Malthus, they would be thinking in create a arithmetic food projection.
I had never thought about crop residue or the benefits of it for that matter. It’s good that people have discovered synergy between cultivating land and a reduction of negative effects from the process of doing so. Sometimes the answers are so simple. What looks like a problem is actually a solution staring you right in the face.
ReplyDeleteI grew my first garden this year. It was both a major failure and a massive success. It was an everyday battle to keep creatures out of my food supply… a lot more difficult than the guy in the third video presented it to be. It felt like a full time job trying to maintain the weeds and pests. Although I lost a fair amount of food to pests, I still grew more food than I knew what to do with, so it evened itself out… the way that nature should.
This brings me to the last video. I am all about organic food, that’s why I took it upon myself to grow my own food. I wanted to appreciate what it means to have food, and it truly is a lot of work. Those vegetables were the best that I have ever tasted, and I understand that they are a luxury for which I am very thankful. On the same note, I also really enjoy hamburgers from Burger King, because they are easily available and convenient.
In the way that I enjoy junk and my own vegetables, it is unfortunate to think of all the people around the world that don’t have many food options. The implications of hunger are so profound. Think of those Snicker’s commercials where the hungry people turn into divas. I’m practically useless when I’m hungry… think about a whole entire population that has nothing to feed their minds and bodies. You really can’t advance when everyday is a fight for necessity.
I used to consider myself to be a liberal, but the more that I hear groups like Green Peace, that think they are so self-righteous in their crusades for whatever is trendy at the time, go off about what’s good for everyone else, the more queasy I feel about the term. I’m pretty sure that everything I ate in the eighties was bad for me, but those crappy foods are what lead to the availability of organic, smart foods that we have to choose from today. The idea that we can choose what we put in our bodies is the key point here. I can choose to grow a garden, slam down a fast food burger, or eat a bowl or crappy Ramen. Do I really care how it affects me body? I do a little, but I care a lot more about how less hungry I feel in the end. People have to eat in order to grow. Why you would disrupt something so crucial for so many people is far beyond me.
Very good information about soil conservation. I had never thought that those crops residues would have a great impact on conserving our soil.
ReplyDeleteNext time I see a farm with crops residues or grass on the hill side, I will definitely give the farmer a high five for caring about the environment.
The third video gives valid information for those who have a garden and grow their own vegetables and fruits. It's a lot of work, if you have a huge garden, but it's definitely worth it. Unfortunately, for those who buy the veggies and fruits at the supermarket, the products are full of pesticides and we don't know about it.
That leads me to comment about the last video. The thing about genetically modified food is, as long as they don't affect human's health, I totally agree that we can consume them. According to the video, they're all approved and regulated by the top organizations. So, if they've been approved, I think, and I hope, that they are really taking that seriously and not thinking about economic issues. But I still think that we should have the option to choose what kind of food we want to eat.
I don't know if anyone noticed the first video was copywrited by none other than Monsanto (GMO creator extraordinarre). I agree with using the plant material to prevent runoff, however that video is propoganda... You need that special strain of corn that is unaffected by the herbicide, probably a GMO.
ReplyDeleteAs for the soil box, I was not surprised how big a difference there was between the grass and loose soil, but I was surprised on how little difference between the grass and scrap plant material.
The man mentioned different products which may work, IF you can find them. If I have aphids, and don't see any lady bugs, where should i get them? That clay spray? It isn't very practical eh?
I would like to give Penn and Teller an applause. Putting the uninformed in their place. We can afford to complain about food sources with a full belly.
Elly made a good catch there. As I mentioned in class, many no-till techniques are dependent on crops that are genetically modified to be resistant to pesticides. As one of the biggest producers of pesticide-resistant crops, Monsanto is by necessity a big proponent of no-till agriculture.
ReplyDeleteStill, the information about the effectiveness of no-till in protecting soils from erosion was good if you just ignore the obvious commercial interest.
Wow, I am learning so much in this class. I never knew anything about harvesting, since I was raised mostly in big cities and not country sides. I think "No-till" is beneficial to our economy as a whole since it requires less fuel. This causes equipment operation time to be reduced. This improves air quality by reducing dust and emissions from equipment operation.
ReplyDeleteThings are changing so quickly and I am very surprised that a lot I learned a while ago (spent years studying agriculture, earned my B.S. in Agriculture, specialty Farming) has proven wrong. So much was stressed on the importance of the soil cultivation and its preparation for the upcoming spring season for the high quality yields. We certainly learned about the advantages of till vs. no till. At some point in the past DDT was a magic and of course we studied about its active ingredients. The man who discovered its high efficiency as a poison against several arthropods was awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Now it is banned for agricultural use and continues to be a controversial issue. This is not a philosophy class but I am just questioning myself "How many other things did we get wrong?" I believe that the future generations will rewrite Einstein's discoveries. Now we learn about no till vs. till and it seems so logical... #1 post
ReplyDeleteVideo #2
ReplyDeleteI liked this video because it is a simple and vivid demonstration of what happens to the soil if it is left without a cover. We used to practice crop rotation by switching corn and wheat. Immediately after harvesting corn depending on the varieties and the weather (middle - end of October)we would prepare soil for the wheat. Cover crops especially legumes (nitrogen fixing bacteria on their roots) are used in between the major crops for their beneficial role; protection and soil enrichment as well as weeds control. The third box on the video with bare soil as I could see is not the extreme sandy soil but you could imagine what would it be like after a dry spell when the large soil particles are transformed into a dust and there is a heavy rain. Not only that a significant portion of the top soil would be washed away but how much it contributes to the pollution particularly with excessive use of artificial nutrients (nitrogen in the first place).
#3 Video
ReplyDeleteThis video is a short well done summary of integrated pest management practices. It is designed to protect your crop from the pests. It takes a lot of time and dedication to adopt these practices because there is a set of different ones wrapped up in a package and should diligently be followed through. Cultural practices (crop rotation, destruction of the host plants, soil amendments, etc.) are designed to grow vigorous, more resistant plants, therefore to prevent the pest. I think that the monitoring part is extremely important when you really need to be on the ball because an early detection could save a lot of your time, energy, headaches...and it is time consuming. The environment friendly tactics are used first and the pesticide application is used as the last. Once these practices adopted, they are easy to follow and are an asset to the food production and the environment.
#4 Video
ReplyDeleteI am all organic. I know what that means. We can't feed almost 7 billion people on Earth w/organic food and the population is still growing. Not all are lucky enough to produce their own food like Tara did. Think about New York and the most populated cities in the world. They need food and the food should not be too expensive becuase people would not be able to afford it. On the other hand how much food ends up in the containers because people do not care. I seriously think that too much food should not be produced anyway. People tend to eat more than they need too and to waste it. I know that we eat today more than ever before not because we are hungry but because there is too much food. Dear Norman is still trying to help feed the world that is growing too fast.