Robert Van Den Bosch: Stop the Pesticide Conspiracy
(Page 10 of 12)
July/August 1979
By the Mother Earth News staff
In addition, we now have an urban master control program underway in San Jose and have instituted others in Modesto, Palo Alto, and Davis. Even Disneyland is showing an interest in integrated control! They have a spider mite treadmill going there that's driving them crazy . . . so they've approached us for a solution, too!
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PLOWBOY: Do these groups contact your lab directly when they want advice?
VAN DEN BOSCH: Oh yes, they come to us, all right. That's one of our functions ... yet we've been disappointed by the fact that very few small farmers have so far-come here for help.
PLOWBOY: Why are small-scale growers hesitant to seek information about integrated control techniques?
VAN DEN BOSCH: I think it's because of the fact that our research aims have to be broader than the economic concerns of any one group. So, although the farmer does see that integrated control can work, he or she also sees that we at the Division of Biological Control help Cesar Chavez with the problems of pesticide poisoning among farmworkers, or that we work with environmentalist and consumer groups . . . and many growers feel a strong enmity for such organizations. So, the small farmer forgets what we've done for agriculture and associates us with the "enemy".
PLOWBOY: As news of the advantages of integrated control spread, though, it's likely that more and more farmers will want to get the facts about alternative methods of insect management. Now, I assume that California growers could contact your department here at the University of California at Berkeley . . . but how about the family farmer out in North Carolina or Montana or Pennsylvania? Can he or she write or call the Division of Biological Control for help?
VAN DEN BOSCH: Well, we're not an extension group. We do what we can, but we're simply not equipped or staffed to handle a great number of inquiries.
PLOWBOY: What other sources of information are open to these people, then?
VAN DEN BOSCH: Sadly enough, in some instances—depending upon the area and the pest in question—there just aren't any answers yet . . . because integrated methods haven't been worked out for every possible insect problem. And, worse still, the main sources of pesticide data for most growers—as recent studies have indicated-are the ag-chemical journals and pesticide salesmen!
PLOWBOY: Those people will, of course, follow their own profit motives and recommend continued insecticide treatments. Are there any alternatives open to the non-California farmers?
VAN DEN BOSCH: In several states a grower could—with a reasonable chance of getting integrated control information—go to his or her own state agricultural extension service. I can pretty much vouch for several such offices. Washington, for example, has good fruit oriented control programs. Arizona's ag-extension groups have worthwhile information, too . . . at least in terms of cotton pest management. Texas A & M knows the integrated approach, as do many of the extension services in Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, Michigan, and—especially those at Cornell University—New York. These are the areas that are-at present— supporting the most intensive ecological management work. Some states also have independent agricultural advisors who—by and large—are innovative in their approaches. California, for instance, has over 100 of these "private practitioners" . . . and they are pretty much in the forefront of modern pest regulation.
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