Not Evil, Just Wrong...

[Exterminator]

What I had hoped you would get out of it, was that conservation and recycling have always been a way of life for farm and ranch communities. Before it became popular and in people sometimes made fun of it. There is no one on this earth that has a greater love or respect for the land and the earth than these people. It is not a Cause, it is a way of life.

Puh-lease; any respect most farmers and ranchers have for the environment ends with their ability to exploit the land as best they can.  Farms are notoriously bad for the environment, even more so with the advent of factory mega-farms.  I suppose the next thing you'll try to tel us is that Gulf Of Mexico Dead Zone caused by farm runoff in the Mississippi River Basin is a myth?

[mcgonser]

If farmers hadn't taken care of the land over all these years there would be no farms to grow our food. You always lump everyone into the group when a few do wrong. We should be thankful for our farm families and their work.

[Exterminator]

If farmers hadn't taken care of the land over all these years there would be no farms to grow our food. You always lump everyone into the group when a few do wrong. We should be thankful for our farm families and their work.

While I am thankful for the hard work of farmers and for our bountiful food supply, you pretend that simply being a farmer makes one environmentally responsible which simply is not true and history is rife with examples.  The dust bowl in the '30's, for example, had as its most significant contributing factor bad farming practices that left the land without anything to anchor the soil.  When a drought hit with high winds, the topsoil that had built up over thousands of years beforehand simply blew away.  Farmers have since changed the way they plant to avoid a recurrence.

As I previously mentioned, runoff from farms is also a huge problem and not only because of the aforementioned dead zone.  Runoff of farm chemicals is the number one issue negatively affecting water quality in the country's lakes, rivers and streams.  How many farmers do you know who grow without the use of these chemicals?  Any?  Is it wrong then to 'lump everyone into the group'?

[mcgonser]

It was my opinion that alot of the pollution in our rivers, lakes and water supply are from Toxic waste, chemical dumping from companies who know better. It is just cheaper for them.
As to do I know anyone that does not use chemicals on their land. Ysx, alot. Part of them don't believe in it and the other part is just too cheap to buy chemicals.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17805752
http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/5/27/93622.shtml?s=ic

[Exterminator]

It was my opinion that alot of the pollution in our rivers, lakes and water supply are from Toxic waste, chemical dumping from companies who know better. It is just cheaper for them.

Certainly, dumping contributes to the problem but it is not near the problem farm runoff is.

As to do I know anyone that does not use chemicals on their land. Ysx, alot. Part of them don't believe in it and the other part is just too cheap to buy chemicals.

You might live in a farming community but if you believe this, you don't know jack about what it takes to grow crops.  What do you think all of those farmers are doing pulling around tanks of anhydrous ammonia, cooking meth?

[kimmi]

Hog Lagoons - need I say more? 

I don't think burning all the garbage in the back is environmentally friendly, but most farmers I know do that.  Why pay for a garbage service when you can burn everything? 

I'm really proud to be called a tree hugger.  I can't wrap my brain around how people don't see the impact that humans have on the world.  I guess if the stream near their house isn't polluted, then there aren't polluted streams.  Ignorance. 

[American_Woman]

 

[LOsborne]

I don't think burning all the garbage in the back is environmentally friendly, but most farmers I know do that. 

The way it was explained to me by my farmer daddy is "Oxidation is oxidation. That's what you get, whether you burn it, or compost it."

[followsthewolf]

Lots of those tanks are carrying herbicides for low-till and no-till farming.

[kimmi]

I don't think burning all the garbage in the back is environmentally friendly, but most farmers I know do that. 

The way it was explained to me by my farmer daddy is "Oxidation is oxidation. That's what you get, whether you burn it, or compost it."

Plastic?  Styrofoam? 

[LOsborne]

Plastic?  Styrofoam?

I don't know about your farm, but ours didn't grow much plastic or styrofoam. Seed came in burlap sacks and chemicals in metal drums.

[pariann]

LOL, I'm thinking she is talking about household refuse.  Having grown up and continuing to have some involvement in the farms, I can verify that yes, farmers create their own trash dumps when they can, and they burn all their trash.  At my grandmothers, it was always in a 55 gallon barrel. But at my dad's, we just had a place where we dumped the trash and burnt it.  We are talking everything here.

And if you go over to my grandfathers farm, you will find at least 3 areas where large refuse is dumped.  Things that don't belong in a compost heap. 

[kimmi]

Exactly!

[DannyBoy]

You guys are pathetic, attacking the American farmer.  The American farmer feeds the world.  The farmers, seed companies, fertilizer companies, farm machinery companies, etc....have all made so much progress over the past 10 - 20 years it is incredible.  Without this technology we could go back to getting 30 bushels per acre planted versus the 180-200 bushels per acre.  Just like any industry in our past, it was easy to go to excess and dump anything anywhere.  I can assure you farmers aren't wasting fertilizer etc by letting it run-off as they may have in the past.  One, they no better today, and two, it's too damn expensive.   This nation was founded on agriculture.....we are probably heading back that way with all the tree huggers blaming technology advancements for gorbal warming.

Farmers always have and always will be the backbone of this country.  Unfortunately the autoworkers run looks like it is coming to an end.

[pariann]

Which guys?  I posted in this thread, and I don't recall attacking farmers.  I commented on something I have knowledge of, having been raised on two farms. And my comments were strictly regarding those two farms.