Plough or Not to Plough - 0 views

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  #1 McCain Hove on 21 Nov 13

   

  A couple of years ago, fresh from college and struggling to venture into science writing, I attended a seminar on crop biotechnology in Nairobi, Kenya. I vividly recall one particular guy from a multinational biotech business extol participants who included resource poor farmers, agricultural extension officers, the media, members of parliament and representatives of non-profit organizations, to consider integrating conservation tillage (CT) into Kenyas agricultural policies.
  
  Conservation tillage, he explained, preserves soil nutrients and reduces soil erosion. As soon as he talked about this, a single participant shot up, seeking to know how weed handle would be carried out. Visit per your request to read the reason for this enterprise. Use herbicides, the guy snapped.
  
  This ignited a highly explosive debate about the pros and cons of conservation tillage that practically derailed the seminar. In a nation where farmers are religiously allegiant to conventional farming approaches, conservation tillage proved tough to sell.
  
  Some in the seminar even dismissed conservation tillage as a ruse to market the economic interests of multinational biotech businesses. I, as well, couldnt resist dismissing proponents of CT as apologists for the biotech sector.
  
  Much water has passed under the bridge considering that then. I have come to appreciate that CT holds the important to sustainable agriculture, specially in developing countries. Should people want to identify additional info on non-gmo food list, there are millions of on-line databases people could investigate. We learned about no gmo diet by searching books in the library. I need to confess that I am not alone in this.
  
  Last week, for example, Rockefeller Foundation a non profit that performs with resource poor farmers in poor countries released a report revealing that 75 % of farmland in sub-Saharan Africa is severely degraded and is getting depleted of simple soil nutrients at an ominous rate.
  
  The report, Agricultural Production and Soil Nutrient Mining in Africa, warns that unless farmers in sub-Saharan Africa fail to adjust their farming approaches, meals insecurity would worsen.
  
  This report is an endorsement of conservation tillage and African farmers are greater advised to embrace CT.
  
  Conservation tillage is, definitely, the preferred farming approach. Some would hasten to argue that conservation tillage promotes herbicide use whose impact on the atmosphere can prove disastrous.
  
  With the emergence of herbicide tolerant genetically modified crops, farmers no longer want herbicides for weed handle. And because the jury is currently out on the security of genetically modified crops they yield high and are atmosphere-friendly farmers in Africa need to embrace them. They bond perfectly effectively with conservation tillage.

   

  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">A couple of years ago, fresh from college and struggling to venture into science writing, I attended a seminar on crop biotechnology in Nairobi, Kenya. I vividly recall one particular guy from a multinational biotech business extol participants who included resource poor farmers, agricultural extension officers, the media, members of parliament and representatives of non-profit organizations, to consider integrating conservation tillage (CT) into Kenyas agricultural policies. <br /> <br /> Conservation tillage, he explained, preserves soil nutrients and reduces soil erosion. As soon as he talked about this, a single participant shot up, seeking to know how weed handle would be carried out. Visit <a href="https://www.facebook.com/noGMOdiet" rel="nofollow">per your request</a> to read the reason for this enterprise. Use herbicides, the guy snapped. <br /> <br /> This ignited a highly explosive debate about the pros and cons of conservation tillage that practically derailed the seminar. In a nation where farmers are religiously allegiant to conventional farming approaches, conservation tillage proved tough to sell. <br /> <br /> Some in the seminar even dismissed conservation tillage as a ruse to market the economic interests of multinational biotech businesses. I, as well, couldnt resist dismissing proponents of CT as apologists for the biotech sector. <br /> <br /> Much water has passed under the bridge considering that then. I have come to appreciate that CT holds the important to sustainable agriculture, specially in developing countries. Should people want to identify additional info on <a href="http://www.nogmodiet.com/2013/10/29/non-gmo-food-list/" rel="nofollow">non-gmo food list</a>, there are millions of on-line databases people could investigate. We learned about <a href="http://markets.dealbreaker.com/breakingmedia.dealbreaker/news/read/25536247/Free_Book_Promises_Weight_Loss_And_Lower_Blood_Pressure_By_Eliminating_GMOs_From_Your_Diet" rel="nofollow">no gmo diet</a> by searching books in the library. I need to confess that I am not alone in this. <br /> <br /> Last week, for example, Rockefeller Foundation a non profit that performs with resource poor farmers in poor countries released a report revealing that 75 % of farmland in sub-Saharan Africa is severely degraded and is getting depleted of simple soil nutrients at an ominous rate. <br /> <br /> The report, Agricultural Production and Soil Nutrient Mining in Africa, warns that unless farmers in sub-Saharan Africa fail to adjust their farming approaches, meals insecurity would worsen. <br /> <br /> This report is an endorsement of conservation tillage and African farmers are greater advised to embrace CT. <br /> <br /> Conservation tillage is, definitely, the preferred farming approach. Some would hasten to argue that conservation tillage promotes herbicide use whose impact on the atmosphere can prove disastrous. <br /> <br /> With the emergence of herbicide tolerant genetically modified crops, farmers no longer want herbicides for weed handle. And because the jury is currently out on the security of genetically modified crops they yield high and are atmosphere-friendly farmers in Africa need to embrace them. They bond perfectly effectively with conservation tillage.</div>

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