United Nations Calls for an End to Industrialized Farming

[Pharaoh]

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/27636-united-nations-calls-for-an-end-to-industrialized-farming#



In 2013, the United Nations announced that the world's agricultural needs can be met with localized organic farms. That's right, we do not need giant monocultures that pour, spray and coat our produce with massive amounts of poisons, only to create mutant pests and weeds while decimating pollinators and harming human health. Don't believe the hype: We do not need genetically modified foods "to feed the world."

From my experience, many of these - how shall we say it - "worker bees" (i.e the GMO salesmen) who spread this propaganda, actually believe conventional tactics are necessary to ensure food security. They've drunk the Kool-Aid and cannot envision another possibility. The changes threaten their very existence

[peacebird]

1. K&R!

[WhiteTara]

2. It's all about the "weeds"

I met an industrial farmer...1000s of hectares in Brazil and they are growing soybeans (gmo of course) and they use RoundUp (probably something much stronger now) because weeding is the "scourge of humanity."

Bourgeois inconvenience is dooming civilization.

[HereSince1628]

4. Weeding is hugely labor intensive.

Poor people laboring bent over in crops for next to no pay isn't just a problem for the bourgeoisie.

[WhiteTara]

5. Well, that's true too and I apologize

for not thinking of them. But, there are other ways to deal with weeds than to poison the crap out everyone around.

[HereSince1628]

7. Yes, but none of them are as cheap...

The pursuit of money-savings in ag economics is a gigantic doodlebug hole with some provider at the bottom waiting to take the biggest share.

[WhiteTara]

11. Yes, well there are no consumers

on a dead planet.

I clearly understand what you are saying and their logic, but still, I don't believe our bodies are roundup ready and now the weeds are mutating into super weeds.

[XemaSab]

19. El Cortito

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/fightfields/book1.html

[proverbialwisdom]

14. Underpaid labor is the least of the issues here.

http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php/news/archive/2014/15649-argentine-researcher-confirms-scientific-evidence-on-the-harmful-effects-of-agrochemicals

http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php/news/archive/2014/15650-monsanto-is-a-monster-photojournalist
http://www.alvaroybarra.com/portfolio/projects/stories-of-a-wounded-land/
http://www.reportagebygettyimages.com/features/stories-of-a-wounded-land/

Much more available on the subject.

[HereSince1628]

22. The prioritization of that might depend on where you

are situated in the whole scheme...

I'm quite aware of the problems attending tilling, irrigating, chemically adulterating foods while degrading land, water and air, via industrial agriculture. 40 years ago we saw that knowledge was foundational and propagated it.

[HereSince1628]

3. If many localities in the US could do without peanut butter, bananas, and orange juice.

if they have the cash to buy organic I can see the dream and if you could convince a whole lot of people to live in the countryside with poor schools, medical care, and transportation.

Basically I see this as a great model for undeveloped countries in subtropical climates that need to build local and regional economies to escape the poverty and liberty traps of neo-colonialism

The mathematics works out for such human trophic systems. I've done it. This thinking was popular 40 years ago people looked at it. You can indeed support a lot of people's caloric needs on a small amount of land.

But when you do it you have to live inside the limits of the landscape. It'd be an unpopular transition for most of the northern states of the US.

[WhiteTara]

8. If weather trends continue

(and science says they will) people will be forced to migrate from the northern climes to more southerly ones...inland of course. We have passed the CO2 tipping point and we are now on a runaway train; there's going to be alot of unpopular transitions for everyone.

[HereSince1628]

9. The GCC prediction for most of the upper tier of states doesn't make it more survivable

Winters in the upper tier are likely predicted to become subject to more severe excursions of temperature as the polar cell, the polar easterlies, and the prevailing 'winter low' become more energetic.

Hotter more storm prone summers are predicted for the other side of the year.

Those aren't good things for human trophic ecology limited to local production.

[WhiteTara]

10. Yeah, that's what I meant.

The northern states are going to see an exodus migration to more southerly areas, especially inland.

[SidDithers]

6. The UN announced no such thing...

the truth-out article you posted links to Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, and her nutter website Institute of Science and Society. Post the link to the UN report, not some pretend journalist's report of a quack's interpretation of something from the UN.

truth-out is becoming more and more like HuffPo everyday, with their credulous "reporting" on dumbassery and health-woo, using completely unreliable sourcing.

Be sure not to miss the in-depth series from Mae-Wan Ho about the wonders of homeopathy.
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/water1.php


Sorry, but anyone promoting that kind of BS has no right to call themselves a scientist, and their opinions on just about everything can be summarily dismissed.

Sid

[WhiteTara]

12. Thanks for the debunking.

But I sort of wish they would. CAFOs are abhorrent and more and more common around the US.

[SidDithers]

13. I don't disagree...

But anyone relying on Mae-Wan Ho does more damage than good, to the cause of environmental protection.

Sid

[Major Nikon]

16. Sometimes I think a statistically negligible quantity of arsenic just isn't enough

[SidDithers]

18. A bottle of water in one hand, and a massive invoice in the other...

Love Mitchell and Webb.



Sid

[Towlie]

17. Thanks for that! I was almost sold but a nagging hint of skepticism kept me reading.

[bhikkhu]

23. I always enjoyed my garden, but it was bloody hard work

and I never produced very much food. I know it can be done, but its worth saying that most kids growing up on farms 100 or 200 years ago, or as far back as you want to go, really, probably longed for freedom from the drudgery, hard labor and meager returns. Before industrialized agriculture food was proportionately much more expensive and the bulk of the human population was locked up on farms, in poverty.

We all enjoy the benefits of industrialized agriculture, which is food so inexpensive almost all of us can spend our time and money on other things more enjoyable. A kitchen garden is a fine thing, especially when you don't have to depend on it to survive. The future will very likely be different, but it may not be a "joyful progress" type thing.

[proverbialwisdom]

15. K&R

[Enthusiast]

20. Kicked and recommended!

I agree with this article 100%.

Ever increasing amounts of poison are not a good answer for anything.

Now the manufacturers insist that these chemicals are not harmful. We know this is a complete lie.

[Zorra]

21. [phone]! nt

[U4ikLefty]

24. I await a visit fom our Monsanto-loving

"friends" to tell us we need GMOs, otherwise we don't believe in science.

[Cha]

25. Organic Farmers have no problem telling us what the nutrients are in their soil preparation..

The giant corporatewhore$$$$ like Monsanto?.. Shhh.. It's none of our fucking business what goes into the gmo toxic products..



Eat up, suckers.. or not.

[Major Nikon]

26. You mean like cow shit?

[Cha]

28. Eat up!

[Major Nikon]

29. You act as if you have a choice

[Cha]

30. You poor thing.. of course I have plenty of choices that aren't connected with your stupid

Last edited Fri Nov 28, 2014, 08:47 PM - Edit history (1)

mainstream "organic" food connections.

And, you seem so proud of it. LOL

[Major Nikon]

31. Maybe, maybe not

I seriously doubt you have as many choices as you think. Regardless the point which you are apparently oblivious to is the effort to force GMO labeling is financed primarily by large corporations who own the vast majority of the organic market. It's really nothing more than a campaign based on irrational fear and nothing more than the same story of large corporations who seek to use government regulation to increase their market share. Meanwhile nobody has died from any GMO products ever, and we just can't say the same about food fertilized with "organic" cow shit which has managed to kill thousands and sicken who knows how many. And while I wouldn't favor a campaign to label organic food that's fertilized with cow shit, it might be interesting to see what would happen if Big Agra financed a campaign to do exactly that as they'd have much more of a rational basis to do so. I suspect the same people who are now big proponents of full disclosure of "nutrients" would somehow figure out a way to be opposed to it. You think?

[Quantess]

27. Kick

[Quantess]

32. K & R

[SidDithers]

33. More from Mae-Wan Ho...

Beyond the HIV-Causes-AIDS Model

Awesome that so many DUers rush to rec and kick a bullshit article promoting the fevered ramblings of a real, live AIDS denialist.

Nice job.

Sid

[Major Nikon]

35. Exact same thing with "Natural News"

Yet some here promote that site as if any of it makes the least bit of sense. AIDS denial, anti-vax, and homeopathy seems to be a common thread of nutbaggery with the loons from these sites.

[SidDithers]

36. Yup. It's crank magnetism...

Credulous belief in one bit of woo, or pseudoscience, is symptomatic of beliefs in all kinds of woo and pseudoscience.

Anti-vax nutters are AIDS-denialists are anti-fluoridation loons are cannabis-cures-cancer rubes are homeopathy dolts.

Sadly, many on the anti-GMO bandwagon lack the critical thinking to properly evaluate claims such as the nonsense posted in the OP.

If the OP were being honest, they'd link to the UN report, not the truth-out article quoting the loony-tunes Mae-Wan Ho.

Sid

[Major Nikon]

37. I just think it's a bit strange that all the nutbaggery comes from the same playbook

It's as if there must be a school somewhere that teaches people how to be that fucking stupid.

[hack89]

34. Misleading OP

The UN said no such thing. I would suggest a link to the actual UN report instead of one man' s opinion of what it actually said.

[RiverLover]

38. Another report on UN's findings- "New UN report calls for transformation in agriculture"

New UN report calls for transformation in agriculture
09/2014

Transformative changes are needed in our food, agriculture and trade systems in order to increase diversity on farms, reduce our use of fertilizer and other inputs, support small-scale farmers and create strong local food systems. That’s the conclusion of a remarkable new publication from the U.N. Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The report, Trade and Environment Review 2013: Wake Up Before it is Too Late, included contributions from more than 60 experts around the world (including a commentary from IATP). The report includes in-depth sections on the shift toward more sustainable, resilient agriculture; livestock production and climate change; the importance of research and extension; the role of land use; and the role of reforming global trade rules.

The report links global security and escalating conflicts with the urgent need to transform agriculture toward what it calls “ecological intensification.” The report concludes, “This implies a rapid and significant shift from conventional, monoculture-based and high-external-input-dependent industrial production toward mosaics of sustainable, regenerative production systems that also considerably improve the productivity of small-scale farmers.”

http://www.iatp.org/blog/201309/new-un-report-calls-for-transformation-in-agriculture

I don't understand why supposed Democrats here would say its hogwash?

Why is that? Industrialized farming is clearly a huge problem...

[SidDithers]

39. And where in the report does it say...

"United Nations announced that the world's agricultural needs can be met with localized organic farms."?

Oh that's right. It doesn't.

What I don't understand is why alleged Democrats so often rely on misleading articles, dubious sourcing, and outright lies to promote otherwise noble goals.

Sid

[RiverLover]

40. Here's the report~

http://unctad.org/en/pages/PressRelease.aspx?OriginalVersionID=154

When I read it, that is the conclusion I come to as well. Although they use much fancier words.

The report emphasizes that a shift is necessary towards diverse production patterns that reflect the “multi-functionality” of agriculture and enhance closed nutrient cycles. Moreover, as the environmental costs of industrial agriculture are largely not accounted for, governments should act to ensure that more food is grown where it is needed. It recommends adjusting trade rules to encourage “as much regionalized/localized food production as possible; as much traded food as necessary.”

That's just one extract from the report, but they also talk of the widespread poisoning of chemicals in farming. ("Two types of irreparable environmental damage have already been caused by agriculture: nitrogen contamination of soil and water, and loss of biodiversity;&quot This would lead to the logical conclusion that they favor less use of chemical fertilizers & greater controls in disposal of manure from large animal feeding operations or even the end of LAFOs, as well as controls on fields where manure is used in both organic & traditional ag...

It is possible to reach that conclusion when reading it. But I understand some people are unable to take 2 + 2 and get 4 unless someone else spells it out for them. It is has to be from what they deem as a "CREDIBLE" source.

[SidDithers]

41. Mae-Wan Ho is not a credible source anywhere, anyhow...nt

Sid