Before GMO crops, I had to put 3 times the amount of spray onto the fields. I had to handle the insecticide into the planter that I know is extremely dangerous.
What the GMO did, was eliminate the need for insecticide boxes all together, and limit my spray trips to once a year. I use about 1 quart of material, where I normally used a cocktail of pre, post, and post again. The post cocktail contained one chemical, which I will not name, that was applied at 6 ounces per acre.
6 ounces covered 43,560 square feet. What if I dropped 2 ounces of that stuff on the ground near a well? That is crazy concentrations!
I'm not happy about it. I liked doing full tillage and cultivating. But then, I was harming the environment by putting a lot of sediment in the creeks, and loosing organic matter along with nitrogen and phosphorus that flowed down the missippissi into the gulf of mexico. They claim a hug dead zone in that river delta and gulf. Ask any scientist and they will tell you that the dead zone in that area has not gotten any worse lately.
It is no-till practices/conservation practices that have kept that the same. Without the chemicals, you can't do no-till. I don't know how to win, because I believe you can't. A farmer needs to do something to grow profitable crops. I don't know how it is ok to spray BT onto corn(legally through organic standards, BT is completely OK) but if you incorporate the gene into the plant, it is now controversial. If there is no way to make money, we have less farmers, farming on bigger acreages. That makes things worse in the long run.
Which way should we go? I am not an engineer, a scientist, or whatever else you said. I am a farmer, farming on the same ground my family has farmed since May 10th 1775. I want to continue. My greatx6 grandfather grew the first crop of corn in the western frontier, yielding 50 bushels per acre, which was remarkable for the time. (when the western frontier was the land just east of the Ohio river) That is something I would like to continue. Every year, I invest a lot into learning and doing the right thing to maintain my farming heritage. What I do know is that I drink spring water from the farm. I have had to get water tests every year as per the gas wells regulations. They have not found anything extraordinary to alert me. They did find excess sediment the past 2 years, but the past 2 years have been exceptionally wet. I blame minimum tillage practices. I would like to eliminate that. What should I do? If you were me, what would you do? I can go 100% no-till and use more chemicals. I can continue with min-till, or go back to conventional tillage. I could also just stop farming and let it grow into forest. I would cry every night. I am not kidding.
So what would you do?
I just want to hear what you think the right thing to do would be. I really do. Give me an answer I can use, and I will, I promise you.
I appreciate all opinions, but, I can do a lifetime of research and still come to the conclusion that it will always be the lesser of all the evils. I do apologize if I sound obtuse. I just want to hear what the answer is. Someday, if we all take time to think, the answer might come.
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Today's Featured Article - A Lifetime of Farm Machinery - by Joe Michaels. I am a mechanical engineer by profession, specializing in powerplant work. I worked as a machinist and engine erector, with time spent overseas. I have always had a love for machinery, and an appreciation for farming and farm machinery. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Not a place one would associate with farms or farm machinery. I credit my parents for instilling a lot of good values, a respect for learning, a knowledge of various skills and a little knowledge of farming in me, amo
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