[Cob] Re: Coblist Digest, Vol 2, Issue 13

[Kyle Towers]

    I apologize to the list for responding to an off-topic statement.  My
response was merely meant to state that that losses to insects have
decreased as a percentage of the total crop under conditions in which they
should have increased exponentially (higher crop density, reduced tillage,
etc.)

    Everybody eats.  Without pesticides, some significant fraction of people
would have to forgo that activity.  One may not like that fact, but that
doesn't change the fact.  Of course, there is good news on the horizon.
Recombinant DNA techniques are putting the pesticides in the crops in the
form of insect hormones and such.  They have no effect on non-pest species,
no carryover, no overspray, no leaching!  We should all rejoice as the era
of mass-spraying begins to end.

    Any future feedback, criticism and judgment about off-topic issues can
be directed to me personally rather than boring everyone on the list.

Thanks,
Kyle

> i think what my quote meant is that perhaps the increase has been
> exponential and the benefits have not matched that. Yields have not
> increased tenfold or eightfold or anything close to the increases in
> chemical treatments to crop land.
> My opinions are always changing as I learn more and I find myself
> convinced that recent farming practices are out of balance.
> I am sorry, this has little to with cob and I apologize to everyone who
> has found it irrelevant.