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Sticky trick: new glue spray kills plant pests without chemicals
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
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Fundamentally you misinterpreted what I said. I'm not being disingenuous about why we use pesticides, I'm simply saying we are doing it wrong and should not use any. The whole premise of "we must use pesticides or we'll starve" is, to put it simply, a fallacy. Because we are no longer producing food so we don't starve but so that huge corporations can profit more.
The big problems with the "well this is slightly better than the alternative" are: First, the alternatives don't necessarily kill all insects - they can be highly targeted too. Secondly, killing any beneficials is treading backwards. The more beneficials you kill the more you need things to kill the pests. In other words, it's pushing "solutions" in completely the wrong direction. And industrial ag pursues this with such fervor it's accelerating the process to the point where we may have no functional insect populations left. This is an existential threat.
In fact they don't in the large scheme of things. Or as the joke goes, they only eat a little.
I think this sums up your misinterpretation of what I'm saying and I concede it's understandable because I was a little obscure in my jest. The "eww gross" line comes from a basic prejudice that people have about insects - that they are always pests and don't serve an important purpose. And so our approach to pest control has always been one of "insect bad! kill them all!". Even the fact that if someone finds a bug in their store-bought produce - and I've seen this with my own eyes - they are inclined to take it back. That's the level of ridiculous over-reaction we have when in reality we should be enlisting the help of the insect world.
And I can personally attest this works on a commercial scale.
Using sustainable practices "they only eat a little" is totally valid. The way we farm now.... A pest outbreak will ravage a monoculture crop.
I know there are great alternatives, but they all have higher labour requirements. Modern capitalism can't tolerate that. If we can find a better solution now we can mitigate the damage before we end capitalism. After that we can definitely switch to more labour intensive sustainable practices. I'm not an accelerationist so I'm not rushing to end the current world order before trying to make all the improvements we can.
On #1 - a diversified farm growing "speciality crops" (USDA speak for food we consume directly instead of commodities) will typically have margins >20% and can easily net $25k or more an acre. In commodities, even the highest net for almonds and pistachios might only get you $1.2-1.5k per acre. Many commodities like corn can have a negative margin and only survive through subsidies.
All this matters because farmers have literally been digging their own graves and become little more than share croppers. It's so hard to be viable direct to consumer there is little choice - a really classic example being chicken production where it's virtually impossible to be an independent producer because companies like Tyson have made sure all the regulations favor them. So now they'll loan you the money for facilities you'll never pay off and you have no choice but to sell to them at whatever price they set.
I like what you're saying and I agree with it fundamentally. I wish it is possible to have the majority of crops be direct to consumer. I KNOW everyone is happier when they have a real personal relationship with the products they consume. That's even part of what marketing abuses when it anthropomorphises brands.
I'm personally pessimistic on that front though, I think it can't happen in modern capitalism for two major reasons. Number one, I don't think the majority of the population of Western nations, let alone the world, can tolerate even a moderate increase in food prices without creating massive instability. I know what the "middle men" jack up prices considerably on almost everything, but the staples: wheat and meat in my part of the world, simply cannot be sold cheaper by smaller operations than grocery store prices (in part due to the regulatory capture so prevalent in modern capitalism). Number two, of the people that CAN tolerate the increase, I don't think modern capitalism would allow their profits to be undercut by a significant shift towards small producers selling direct to customers. They have a few tools that I just don't think most people are prepared to live without like comfort and consistency. I can get plums, cauliflower, tomatoes, broccoli ANYTIME OF YEAR at reasonably consistent prices. The idea that people will have to pay more AND change to seasonal eating habits where they just can't get certain things most of the year? I think we're too far into the comfort of bourgeois decadence, excuse my communist language, to tolerate the change.
I will say I have enjoyed this discussion and I certainly agree that I mischaracterised you by initially latching onto a throwaway "ew bugs" comment.