How Would the Ancestors of Modern Farmers Feel About Pesticides?

When my husband’s grandfather farmed our family’s land back in the 1940s and ’50s, the grain harvested would have been considered organic by today’s standards. He owned less than 500 acres. Weeds were pulled by hand or reduced by tractor cultivation/tilling of the soil. This was labor intensive and time consuming. Insects were hard to control and could destroy acres of crops, and weather conditions determined whether or not a harvest would take place.

As time went on and my father-in-law inherited the family farming business from his dad, smaller farms sold out to neighboring ones. Many operations went under because of the enormous amount of hard work it took to make a living from farming. Generations of farm kids decided to leave the agricultural life behind them for jobs in towns.

The number of farmers in America has continued to decrease over the past several decades, and the average age of farmers has gone up (58 years). The farm families that last well into their fourth and fifth generations have had to triple the size of their operations since the days of their ancestors in order to make a living. This requires a more sophisticated and efficient method of crop production. Working with biologists and agronomists, we strive to keep our crops safe and healthy. Because of intensive research in the field of biotech and significant improvements in chemical applications, farms now use fewer pesticides and herbicides than they did in the past.

Life evolves, times change, and we need to adapt in order to survive. Can you imagine a world without the Internet or air-conditioning or chemotherapy? Agriculture is necessary; the growing world population depends on it. The crops that are grown in America are abundant and nutritious. Levels of pesticides found in foods (from both organic and nonorganic methods) are minuscule and pose no known health problem here in America. And proper handling/washing of food products keeps us safe and healthy.