Super scientific agville survey results

[cottonpicken]

Ok this is from 14 responders,basically an averaged
percentage of some crops.Ill work off 32million
sask acres-dont worry if you arent from sask-this
is a representation of what maybe or may not be
happening-probably not because there is only 14
people in the survey.

canola-54%(ya,seems big)-17.28 million

all wheats-20.5%-6.56 million

all lentil-9.5%-3.04million

barley-5.1%-1.6 million

0ats,flax,canary/specialtystuff-9.07%-2.9million
-i know,iknow i should have broken it down further
but im tired and got the chem shakes from spraying
and pulling out stuck sprayers

not done-27.9%-8.9 million

accuracy /-25%

It will be interesting to see how these numbers
stack up,i hope people see the benefit in
participating in something like this in the future if
it is accurate,big if.

I cant remember where to find the historical
numbers of some of these crops,but off the top of
my head canola and lentil acres might be there.

Was this worth it-idoubt it-but thanks for playing.

[Ron]

Thanks Cotton, it was worth every penny. And the seeded acres vs drowned/hurt acres will be hard to count.

[SASKFARMER3]

Great job but man could you have broke down the peas, oats flax. HA HAHHAHAHAH
Good job

[hobbyfrmr]

Chem shakes ?? WTF? Are you serious? I have been thinking about this issue on the tractor lately. For a family farm dynamic, father-son, the Father should really do the spraying. His family is raised and the sons are farming with him. The old guy wont have any more kids, and he does not need his health like in the past. It also helps operating when the contents of the Dads estate liquidates. Just a thought. Kind of an offensive weird thought, but, yet, kind of practical just the same.

[cottonpicken]

lots of guys get sick at spraying time and my kids will
be very old when they finally get to see a sprayer

you didnt think there was a price to pay for working
around some of the harshest chemicals knowen to
man for decades on end?

[hobbyfrmr]

Well, spraying is never really fun. Another strategy around here is, the big big farmers have the employees do the spraying, so, at least after a decade of lots and lots of spraying, the owner has had very little exposure. He is good enough to supply new sprayers, GPS and the other employee bring the water and chemical!!

[parsley]

A few excerpts to pause on:

1. "Those results, published last July in Environmental Health Perspectives, found that men with high levels of the herbicide alachlor were 30 times more likely to have diminished sperm quality. Men with high levels of the insecticide diazanon or the herbicide atrazine were 16.7 or 11.3 times more likely to have poor sperm quality, respectively"

2." 2003 JUL 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study in Environmental Health Perspectives, a U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences publication, has linked three common farm chemicals to lower sperm counts and quality, following up on its earlier findings that semen in rural mid-Missouri men appears significantly poorer than in urban males"

3. "Strong link established between pesticide exposure and reduced sperm quality in mid-West men. Research in the US mid-West has discovered that men with elevated exposures to alachlor, diazinon and atrazine are dramatically more likely to have reduced sperm quality. The study is the first to show such a link for common, current-use pesticides, and its findings are particularly troubling because the most likely route of exposure is through drinking water. The three pesticides implicated by the research are widespread contaminants in mid-West water systems"

4. "Lawsuit blames farm chemicals for two-headed fish April 21, 2010

The owner of a Queensland hatchery plagued by macabre deformities in fish has filed a lawsuit claiming chemicals from an adjacent nut farm are to blame.

The case gives new ammunition to critics of Australia's chemical regulator, which has taken as long as 13 years to review eight toxic chemicals that remain in use in Australia despite many being banned overseas.

Gwen Gilson, who owns the Sunland Fish Hatchery near Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, filed a suit in the Brisbane Supreme Court today, claiming the fungicide carbendazim has drifted over her hatchery from her neighbour's macadamia nut farm

She says it's caused gross deformities over the past five years, with some fish specimens having two heads, others three tails, and some no eyes.

She also blames the chemicals for fish kills and health problems she and her animals have experienced.

Carbendazim has been under review by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) since 2007, but the authority has yet to make a formal determination.

Ms Gilson is seeking compensation for financial losses and argues the farm's operators should have taken measures to stop chemical drift onto her property.

"The continued spraying of harmful agricultural chemicals on an adjoining farm has had a devastating impact on our client, her animals and her business," said Shine Lawyers solicitor Rebecca Jancauskas.

The law firm says there are grounds for an immediate ban on carbendazim.

While the APVMA has stopped short of that step, the regulator moved earlier this year to withdraw approval for carbendazim's use on fruit crops.

It also called for stricter health warnings on labels, including birth defects and male infertility in lab animals.

The case comes as Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke is about to meet with his state counterparts in Darwin tomorrow to discuss giving the APVMA extra powers to monitor and enforce label conditions for pesticides, duties currently done by the states.

The conservation group WWF says it would be dangerous to broaden the regulator's powers when it can't handle its existing job.

"We are calling on the Primary Industries Ministerial Council to act decisively and urgently to reform the way we deal with chemicals," WWF spokeswoman Juliette King said.

Mr Burke said chemical regulation was a complex issue.

"The government is committed to cutting red tape and increasing efficiencies in the way chemicals and pesticides are regulated in Australia, without jeopardising human health and the environment," he said in a statement.

Ms Gilson said she first became aware of a hazard at her hatchery after discovering fish embryos with two heads. A short time later, her farm animals fell ill.

"I've lost three horses, the family dog, and had literally millions of fish killed by the pesticides and fungicides they use over there" said Ms Gilson.

"I've had problems diagnosed with my liver, and talking to other neighbours they're experiencing unusual health problems too. It seems we're all being poisoned."

Ms Gilson also claims chemicals are affecting the nearby Noosa River system, fed by the outflow from Cooloothin Creek which runs past the macadamia plantation and the hatchery.

"I have captured male fish from the river system and attempted to breed with them, but they've produced severely deformed embryos, including two headed fish," she said.

The Queensland government has set up a taskforce to look into the issues brought up by the fish deformities, but it's yet to deliver its final report, due next month"

5. "HERBICIDE LINKED TO INFERTILITY IN WOMEN

A recent case-controlled study (2003) by Greenlee et al published in Epidemiology showed that infertile women who live near U.S. farmlands were 27 times more likely to have mixed or applied herbicides and 3.3 times more likely to have used fungicides within two years of conceiving than women who were fertile.

The authors of the study, summarized by The Collaborative on Health and The Environment, compared matched populations of fertile and infertile women totaling 322 cases. The populations were matched for most variables such as age, income, health status, body mass, sexual partner history, and ruled out participants whose infertility may have been caused by the male counterpart. Participants were asked questions concerning demographics, occupation, exposures, pesticide use, residency on a farm, and tobacco and alcohol use from present to two years prior to conception.

The findings support a number of epidemiological studies and animal laboratory experiments that show strong associations or linkages between infertility rates and exposure to agricultural chemicals. A study by Swan et al (2003) showed that men studied in Missouri who had traces of alachlor, atrazine and diazinon in their urine had increased risks of poor sperm quality.

The recent Greenlee findings provide strong warnings to women not to use or mix herbicides within two years of wanting to have a baby. The study�s results also indicated that alcohol use also contributed to women�s infertility rates by as much as 6.7 times. According to the Collaborative, �The collective weight of evidence is very strong, especially in light of the animal experiments. Taken together, they indicate that fertility of American women and men is being undermined by today's use of agricultural chemicals."

Notes:
1. The good thing is: there is an overabundance of information on the effects of usage of farm chemicals, so farmers can read it and be warned.

2. The second thing is: farmers have a choice to use them or not.

3. The third thing is: according to the survival of the fittest theory, the stupid will be eliminated.

4. The fourth thing is: Chemicals such as hardy and vigour and bull and grunt will endure in both soil and water.

The sun is shining warmly, and the farmyard is alive with chattering birds.
Pars

[cottonpicken]

Lots of men work at lots of hazardous hard jobs to put food on the plates of their women and children

The only thing funny about it is the femenist silence on work place equality all of a sudden I'm just a girl becomes a usefull phrase not a deragatory one

[Hopperbin]

It makes a big difference on me when I where my chem suit, gloves, mask when mixing the more toxic stuff. Nieghbour said there used to be a guy, chem rep., that came around here and drank round up. Were not sure what happened to him, lets take one guess.

[parsley]

Thirty years ago, would you would have made the same martyred comment about DDT usage? LOL (Hardly a test of time argument, lol) But, using the equality argument?? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

I am pleasantly amused. You must be sleep-deprived this morning.

Maybe doing things smarter on the farm might actually be named trump. Think of the money saved on panic attacks.

Pars

[parsley]

Dressing up in a protective chemical suit in order to grow food? LOLOLOLOL

Now, there's a marketing strategy you ought to patent. Crash suits if you sell cars. Parachute umbrellas for airlines. LOL I'm rather mischevious this morning. Pars

[checking]

You have it wrong. It's not for growing food, it's for killing weeds. Big difference!!!!

[charliep]

Perhaps everything is a matter of process to ensure food safety. Found the following in food navigator a few months back to highlight.

[URL="http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/On-your-radar/Organics/E.-coli-in-organics-depends-on-manure-treatment-say-scientists"]ecoli in manure[/URL]

[jensend]

funny how just about every crop protection product is poisonous! what's wrong with that picture?

[parsley]

Crop rotation, say alfalfa or sainfoin, is the most preferential way to replace nutrients, charliep, and crops grown that way are often ones the buyers with heavy coins like to buy.

China topcoats mandarin orange fields with fresh human manure, I HAVE BEEN TOLD COUNTLESS TIMES, BY RUMOUR, but RUMOUR ONLY; however, the gossip has influenced my shopping cart, flightly as she is, so it heads for Japanese Christmas oranges.

All about choice, isn't it?

And who you want your customers to be. Ah. Pars