—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 7,1970
18
Role of Pesticides in
The issue of pesticides versus
the environment is an important
one to the i'annei.
T. Dean Smith, assistant gen
eral manager oi American Cyan
amicl Co., spoke at the late Sum
mer convention of the National
Association of County Agricul
tural Agents in Oiegon on the
need for a restrained but firm
move toward greater control
but no bant oi pesticide usage
Among those attending the con
vention were Arnold Lueck and
Jay Irwin, associate Lancaster
County agricultuiat agents
Smith’s comments included -
“Human hunger may not be
all bad; after all, it is an expres
sion of the “balance of natui e”
so beloved ot both home-grown
and professional environmenta
lists. The balance of nature is a
continuing senes of catastro
phes. Nature uses predalois,
pestilence, storms, floods and
starvation to maintain her so
called balance.
During the fourteenth cen
tury, Nature unleashed the bu
bonic plague on Europe, wiping
out one-tourth of the human
population within four years. I
presume that restored her
balance quite nicely for a
few years
Periodic famine, another of
Nature’s tools, kept the popula
tion of Asia under some sort of
control, even into modern
times
We cannot allow the balance
of nature to control human
population, our food supply nor
even our environment
Almost overnight people
everywhere have been concern
ed about the quality of life
The “in” word today is “en
vironment”. and agriculture
had its beginnings as an en
vironmental industry It has
always had as its goal improve
ment ot man's environment
The impiovement ot the human
environment, shellei, safety,
and better distribution ot food
and other human needs re
mains our company's goal and
t lie coipoiate goal of evei.v
company in the agricultural
chemical industry
Another word goes along with
‘•environment” in today's con
cern about the quality ol life
in this “Earth Day Eia” That
woid is "ecology” To put it
simply "cm ironinent” is man's
surroundings "Ecology” is the
relationship ot the mdiMclual
Robert K. Rohrei
Bulldozing - Grading
Patz Sales & Service
Barn Cleaners - Silo
Unloaders - Cattle Feeder*
Quarryville. R O. 1
Densel 348-2559
LLOYD H.
KREIDER
Auctioneer
and
Sales Manager
330 West State St.
Box 2 RDI
Quanvville Pa. 1756 G
whether man or insect to its
environment.
When we work in the fields
or forests, they become our en
vironment. When we relax at
home, it becomes our environ
ment. Our relationships with
field and forest our planting
and harvesting of crops or tices
with a resulting improve
ment in wildlife habitat or
water shed all of this means
that we are part ol the ecologi
cal system or eco-systcm, as
it is leleired to.
The important thing for us
to remember is that man is pint
of the eco-syslem He has been
part of it since he Inst arrived
on earth.
The environmentalists and
conservationists like to talk
about the balance of nature.
And this is fine. It’s good to talk
oi the leaf that falls to the
ground, so that it feeds the
worm which feeds the birds
which teed the fox, which when
it dies, decomposes to provide
fertile soil to nounsh the tree
that grows the leaf But this
ignores man, and this we can
not do
Yes, we do have environmen
tal problems: Problems which
require our earnest attention:
problems for which we must
seek and implement solutions.
But, all of our environmental
problems are not pollution
problems We do have humans
to feed, and if the advocates ot
zero population growth were to
@*•o.
ft**" 1
achieve instant success today,
we should still have two-thii’ds
oi the world’s people on inade
quate diets.
The Mure success of agri
culture will have more eflcct
upon the quality of our life and
the quality oi our environment
than any other single factor in
our society. First, the quality
and quantity ol loocl available
to us is the basic determinant
of the quality of our lives.
Second, the amount of space
that is available lor forests
and parks, cities and subiubs,
highways and airpoits, depends
upon how much land is return
ed to produce food. If we can
produce food on relatively few
acres, then more land is avail
able for the other uses our so
ciety seeks
The amazing productivity of
American agriculture is the re
sult ol the application of con
tinuously changing scientific
developments to practical farm
ing operations.
Very real problems do exist
As with any problem, the first
step is to define it' Just what
is the problem?; What is caus
ing it 9 : What are its parame
ters 9 ; What damage is it doing 9
Then we must consider the
possible solutions and evaluate
them, rationally, scientifically.
The solutions must be evaluat
ed in terms of their cost not
only in terms of dollars, but in
terms of the impact of the solu
tion itsell upon the environ-
into your cattle feeding program.
Get either supplement now for earlier weight gains and more
pounds of beef per feed dollar.
DEPEND ON US . . . FOR ALL YOUR FEED NEEDS.
Wolgemuth Bros., Inc.
MOUNT JOY, PENNA.
Environment
ment; of increased manpower is your shade trees, paiks, r
requirements; of diversion of reation and wildlife areas
natural resources from other less ability to take pleasure
uses essential to man; of in- our environment,
creased disease and mortality in solution can easily
plant, animal and human life; come more of a problem tk
of a lower quality of life that (Continued on Page 30)
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