"The USDA projection is that 40 percent of our vegetables will be from China by 2012."
40% ???? Are you kidding me? In just 4 years? China doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to the use of, uh, toxic substances and we don't have a very good track record of giving a rat's rump about it or stopping it. Old Kissinger's plan is beginning to appear to be very real.It just keeps getting worse.
Man, I gots to rent me some ground.......
I seriously doubt that China has the land available to supply us with many vegetables. They have enough trouble feeding thier own population. Besides, only cucurbits ( cucumbers, squash, melons) of the vegetable group are dependent on insect polination. South America maybe, but that is more dependent on labor costs than pollination. The folks who are really hurting are the fruit growers as apples, peaches ,plums etc are dependent on insect population, but again bees in other countries are also affected. CCD is not an isolated USA problem.
You are right on all accounts, Dave... though culpability is often a result of greed rather than malice.
The $64,000 question is......what the hell can we do about it? I'm not being a wiseguy. I don't think the fascists can be stopped and I think things are going to go down hard and the only way that some are going to survive this are by having the skill set and knowledge base to do for themselves. I've believed this and acquired knowledge and stuff for three decades, in hopes of mitigating the impending disaster we face. It's not a popular viewpoint and many shy away from me on account of my beliefs, but, as you apparently see, the handwriting is on the wall.
It's gonna be a rough ride and folks need to get their heads around the most natural and simple ways to feed their faces if they want to maintain any semblance of independence and self-sufficency.
Henry Kissinger is an evil, pragmatic son-of-a-bitch. His plan is becoming more obvious by the day. Population control.
Care Charlie
That sounds about right....10 people/acre. And take lots of manual work to get things going. Doesn't sound easy does it, given our developed life of luxury.
Did I mention... lots of manual labor? I didn't say Manuel, as that is what we lazy bastids have become accustomed to, someone else rpoviding for us what we won't or can't do for ourselves.
It's gonna get real, my friend.
Viva la Revolución Jardín Charlie
And this is precisely the reason I have been an advocate of open pollinated crops for so many years. Many of us saw this coming a decade or more ago and have been screaming from the rooftops ever since.
Simply growing your own is not enough. People *must* see that if they don't have access to their own seed, they will still be under the control of "them".
Saving ones own seed and learning to grow, and live, sustainably are very important skills. Los Cubanos are a classic example of what can be accomplished, food production-wise, in a modern society, and can be accomplished when there is sufficient need and will.
It's important that as many as possible understand, and act upon this. How is it going to work out when your neighbors see that you are the only one with sufficient food? What responsibility does that put upon us, when we see family or friends or neighbors going hungry?
If you've seen the news recently you are aware of a large treasure being deposited in a large frozen bunker on the small island of Svalbard (sp) north of Norway in the arctic ocean. Forward thinking people from around the world are depositing seed for all the world's food crops into a seed bank. So, hopefully, if/when the worst happens the survivors can start over. Teach your children and grandchildren about this- mankind's most valuable bank. Steve
I have seen this. There are numerous organizations doing this, but the one in Norway is a major and impressive undertaking. Seedsavers.org is a proponent, and is active in, preserving our seed heritage. I shamelessy plug them whenever possible. :-)
We are doing this on a smaller scale. So far we have approx 350 varieties of seed dried and stored in the freezer. Each year I add to this and grow out as many varieties as is possible in my limited space, in order to increase the volume of seed.
Frr anyone interested in the details of seed saving, and I mention this often, Suzanne Ashworth's "Seed to Seed" is the definitive work on this subject.
Care Charlie
but again bees
Imidacloprid: ARDS-Imidacloprid === Imidacloprid is registered in Australia for use on cotton, cereals, stone and pome ...
Press Release, May 21, 2008
Coalition against BAYER Dangers (Germany)
Mass death of bees in Germany: Pesticide approvals suspended
Bayer has to take Gaucho and Poncho from the market worldwide
The German Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has ordered the immediate suspension of the approval for eight seed treatment products due to the mass death of bees in Germany's Baden-Wuerttemberg state. The suspended products are: Antarc (ingredient: imidacloprid; produced by Bayer), Chinook (imidacloprid; Bayer), Cruiser (thiamethoxam; Syngenta), Elado (clothianidin; Bayer), Faibel (imidacloprid; Bayer), Mesurol (methiocarb; Bayer) and Poncho (clothianidin; Bayer). According to the German Research Centre for Cultivated Plants 29 out of 30 dead bees it had examined had been killed by contact with clothianidin. Also wild bees and other insects are suffering from a significant loss of population.
We have been pointing on the risks of neonicotinoids such as imidacloprid and clothianidin for almost ten years now. With an annual turn-over of nearly 800 million Euro (1.25 billion US dollar) imidacloprid and clothianidin are among Bayer's most important products. This is the reason why Bayer, despite serious environmental damage, is fighting against any application prohibitions, says Philipp Mimkes, speaker of the Coalition against BAYER-dangers. The Coalition demands that Bayer withdraw all neonicotinoids from the market worldwide.
Bayer is the worldmarket leader for pesticides. With sales of 556 million Euro in 2007, imidacloprid is Bayer4s best selling pesticide product. In Germany imidacloprid is used under the brand names Gaucho, Antarc and Chinook, primarily during the cultivation of rape, sugar-beet and corn.
It's a real bee emergency, said Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeeper's Association. Fifty to 60 percent of the bees have died on average, and some beekeepers have lost all their hives. Beekeepers and agricultural officials in Italy, France and Holland all noticed similar phenomena in their fields when planting began a few weeks ago.
In France most applications of imidacloprid were already banned in
1999. In 2003 the Comiti Scientifique et Technique, convened by the French government, declared that the treatment of seeds with imidacloprid produces a significant risk for bees. Only a few months ago Bayer4s application for clothianidin was rejected by French authorities.Clothianidin is a non-selective poison. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's fact sheet 'clothianidin is highly toxic to honey bees.' Seeds are treated with clothianidin in advance or sprayed with it while in the field, and the insecticide can also be blown onto other crops. The chemical is often sprayed on corn fields during the spring planting to create a protective film on cornfields.
See also:
7 Press Release of the Research Centre for Cultivated Plants (German):7 Protection of Bees: Open Letter to EU Commissioner of Health
7 Bee-keepers and environmental groups demand prohibition of pesticide "Gaucho"7 French Institutes Finds Imidaproclid Turning Up in Wide Range of Crops
Advisory Board Prof. Juergen Junginger, designer, Krefeld, Prof. Dr. Juergen Rochlitz, chemist, former member of the Bundestag, Burgwald Wolfram Esche, attorney, Cologne Dr. Sigrid M|ller, pharmacologist, Bremen Eva Bulling-Schroeter, member of the Bundestag, Berlin Prof. Dr. Anton Schneider, biologist, Neubeuern Dorothee Svlle, theologian, Hamburg (died 2003) Dr. Janis Schmelzer, historian, Berlin Dr. Erika Abczynski, pediatrician, Dormagen
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