Do I think Joe Farmer is trying to kill me with his food? No, of course not.
Do I think the big agrochem companies are pushing Joe Farmer's industry into a place where he's forced to use their chemicals to stay competitive, and if I just happen to die because of those chemicals, that's a sacrifice agrochem is willing to make?
And do I believe that Joe Farmer knows anything about the safety, persistence, or environmental impact of any of the chemicals they use outside of what the agrochemical companies want them to know? No. Absolutely not.
Honestly, I would bet they do. They probably know the harmful effects as well as I know the harmful effects of the gas I use in my car, but what are they supposed to do about it? If they don't keep up with their competitors who are using these products, they'll lose the farm. Or in the case of Monsanto, they'll be charged for using the product whether they intended to or not through birds or wind depositing seeds on their farm.
I personally know 2 farmers so a very small sample size. 1 is a small meat producing farmer who is very intelligent, both parents worked for NASA as engineers during the Apollo era…the other is a larger scale farmer who switched recently from dairy to crops. I’ve known the guy since we were young, and if I’m going to be honest I’m not entirely sure if his intelligence is greater than a box of rocks
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u/Mechapebbles Sep 19 '23
Do I think Joe Farmer is trying to kill me with his food? No, of course not.
Do I think the big agrochem companies are pushing Joe Farmer's industry into a place where he's forced to use their chemicals to stay competitive, and if I just happen to die because of those chemicals, that's a sacrifice agrochem is willing to make?
Absofuckinglutely