The Rural Voice, 1990-08, Page 6CROPS UPDATE
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CENTRALIA RESEARCH - DEMONSTRATION FARM
4 Km north of CCAT Campus
Wednesday,
August 22, 1990
9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Featuring:
• Presentations by OMAF and
CCAT crop specialists and guest
speeches by representatives of
various marketing boards
• Tours of research plots
- White Beans
- Corn and Sweet Corn
- Rutabagas
- Weed Control Demonstration
Equipment display provided by
local dealers
Lunch Available
12 noon - 1 p.m.
For further information contact:
Ministry of
Agriculture
and Food
ONTARIO
David Ramsay. Minister
CENTRALIA
COLLEGE
Huron Park, Ontario NOM 1Y0
(519) 228-6691
2 THE RURAL VOICE
FEEDBACK
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Questioning
Conventional Wisdom
Let me first of all assure Adrian Vos
(regarding his July column) that a true or-
ganic farmer is not after the extra buck but
farms out of a deep concern for the envir-
onment and future generations of mankind.
It is imperative that Mr. Vos, as a
writer, not only name the sources of his
information but also investigate their
objectivity. Having said that, I am quoting
from a news release entitled Figures Tell
the Bad News, which appeared in The
Globe and Mail on August 19, 1986. Dr.
David Pimentel, entomologist at Cornell
University, supplied these statistics:
U.S. farmers invest $3 billion yearly in
pesticides to protect $12 billion in crops.
Yet only 0.1 per cent of pesticides applied
on the ground ever reaches its target. At
the same time, $70 million worth of other
crops are destroyed by pesticide "drift."
Pesticide use in the U.S. is increasing
dramatically, yet 37 per cent of the crop is
still lost to pests! I have similar figures for
Canada.
More than half of the food in super-
markets contains pesticide residue, accord-
ing to Dr. Pimentel's findings. He claims
that pesticide use could be cut in half with
no reduction in effective pest control!
Just one more argument to show that
Mr. Vos is not up to date with his informa-
tion: in his attack on homemade pesticides
allegedly being used by organic farmers,
he mentions DDT when comparing the
longevity of these pesticides.
For his information, the use of DDT
has been prohibited in Ontario for almost
20 years (except for eradicating bat colon-
ies), precisely because of concems about
its longevity and effect on animals and hu-
mans. 1 am quoting the Task Force Report
on Toxic Substances (Ontario Ministry of
the Environment, 1981): "Ten years after
almost total restriction of DDT use in
Canada and the U.S., significant levels
can still be detected in human tissues."
I would also recommend that Mr. Vos
read the Law Reform Commission study
entitled Pesticides in Canada: an Exami-
nation of Federal Law and Policy. It is
available free from the commission at 130
Albert St., 7th Floor, Ottawa, K1A 0L6.0
Ziggy Kleinau
R. R.4, Lion's Head