Adam Tompkins
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801456688
- eISBN:
- 9781501704215
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801456688.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
This chapter examines how a chemically intensive, industrial-style agriculture developed in the United States. At the end of World War II, many growers began using agricultural chemicals as their ...
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This chapter examines how a chemically intensive, industrial-style agriculture developed in the United States. At the end of World War II, many growers began using agricultural chemicals as their primary means of pest control. While pesticides had long been used in the United States prior to the introduction of synthetic chemicals, they were increasingly embraced after 1945 and saturated the country beginning in the 1960s. This chapter considers how growers came to believe that pesticides were an indispensable necessity in their ongoing war against insect predators. It also discusses changes in government agencies and professions connected with agriculture, along with the evolution of clientele politics and pesticide regulation through the Federal, Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1947.Less
This chapter examines how a chemically intensive, industrial-style agriculture developed in the United States. At the end of World War II, many growers began using agricultural chemicals as their primary means of pest control. While pesticides had long been used in the United States prior to the introduction of synthetic chemicals, they were increasingly embraced after 1945 and saturated the country beginning in the 1960s. This chapter considers how growers came to believe that pesticides were an indispensable necessity in their ongoing war against insect predators. It also discusses changes in government agencies and professions connected with agriculture, along with the evolution of clientele politics and pesticide regulation through the Federal, Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act of 1947.
Adam Tompkins
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801456688
- eISBN:
- 9781501704215
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801456688.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Occupations, Professions, and Work
Throughout the twentieth century, despite compelling evidence that some pesticides posed a threat to human and environmental health, growers and the United States Department of Agriculture continued ...
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Throughout the twentieth century, despite compelling evidence that some pesticides posed a threat to human and environmental health, growers and the United States Department of Agriculture continued to favor agricultural chemicals over cultural and biological forms of pest control. This book reveals a history of cooperation between farmworker groups and environmental organizations. The separate movements shared a common concern about the effects of pesticides on human health. This enabled bridge-builders within the disparate organizations to foster cooperative relationships around issues of mutual concern to share information, resources, and support. Nongovernmental organizations played a key role in pesticide reform. For nearly fifty years, these groups served as educators, communicating to the public scientific and experiential information about the adverse effects of pesticides on human health and the environment, and built support for the amendment of pesticide policies and the alteration of pesticide use practices. Their efforts led to the passage of more stringent regulations to better protect farmworkers, the public, and the environment. Environmental organizations and farmworker groups also acted as watchdogs, monitoring the activity of regulatory agencies to ensure that they fulfilled their responsibilities to the public. These groups served as not only lobbyists but also essential components of successful democratic governance, ensuring public participation and more effective policy implementation.Less
Throughout the twentieth century, despite compelling evidence that some pesticides posed a threat to human and environmental health, growers and the United States Department of Agriculture continued to favor agricultural chemicals over cultural and biological forms of pest control. This book reveals a history of cooperation between farmworker groups and environmental organizations. The separate movements shared a common concern about the effects of pesticides on human health. This enabled bridge-builders within the disparate organizations to foster cooperative relationships around issues of mutual concern to share information, resources, and support. Nongovernmental organizations played a key role in pesticide reform. For nearly fifty years, these groups served as educators, communicating to the public scientific and experiential information about the adverse effects of pesticides on human health and the environment, and built support for the amendment of pesticide policies and the alteration of pesticide use practices. Their efforts led to the passage of more stringent regulations to better protect farmworkers, the public, and the environment. Environmental organizations and farmworker groups also acted as watchdogs, monitoring the activity of regulatory agencies to ensure that they fulfilled their responsibilities to the public. These groups served as not only lobbyists but also essential components of successful democratic governance, ensuring public participation and more effective policy implementation.
Michael Lannoo
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520255883
- eISBN:
- 9780520942530
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520255883.003.0005
- Subject:
- Biology, Animal Biology
This chapter lists the natural and manmade causes of frog malformations. The natural causes of malformations include wounds from failed predation attempts, fish excrement, extreme tadpole densities, ...
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This chapter lists the natural and manmade causes of frog malformations. The natural causes of malformations include wounds from failed predation attempts, fish excrement, extreme tadpole densities, lathyrogens, nutritional deficiencies, ultraviolet-B radiation, diseases, temperature, hereditary factors, and parasites. Several manmade causes of amphibian malformations include acidification, radioactive pollution, ozone depletion, heavy metals, retinoids, agricultural chemicals, and xenobiotics. The chapter also discusses the correlation between morphology and cause of malformation type.Less
This chapter lists the natural and manmade causes of frog malformations. The natural causes of malformations include wounds from failed predation attempts, fish excrement, extreme tadpole densities, lathyrogens, nutritional deficiencies, ultraviolet-B radiation, diseases, temperature, hereditary factors, and parasites. Several manmade causes of amphibian malformations include acidification, radioactive pollution, ozone depletion, heavy metals, retinoids, agricultural chemicals, and xenobiotics. The chapter also discusses the correlation between morphology and cause of malformation type.
Steven Sexton and David Zilberman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226988030
- eISBN:
- 9780226988061
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226988061.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Agricultural production must grow in order to feed and fuel a global population that is at once increasing in size and wealth. Because of growing concern about climate change and biodiversity loss, ...
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Agricultural production must grow in order to feed and fuel a global population that is at once increasing in size and wealth. Because of growing concern about climate change and biodiversity loss, production may need to grow without expanding into natural lands. This chapter provides new econometric analysis of aggregate farm yields that suggests that among adopting farms, agricultural biotechnology boosts yields of the four main crops in which it has been introduced. Consistent with the theory developed in this chapter, it has been found that the yield gains are greatest in developing countries, which are generally characterized by high pest pressure and limited access to insecticides. The chapter also shows that the yield effect of GE crop adoption is growing over time, suggesting that learning effects have dominated the effects of expansion into less suitable applications and the development of resistance.Less
Agricultural production must grow in order to feed and fuel a global population that is at once increasing in size and wealth. Because of growing concern about climate change and biodiversity loss, production may need to grow without expanding into natural lands. This chapter provides new econometric analysis of aggregate farm yields that suggests that among adopting farms, agricultural biotechnology boosts yields of the four main crops in which it has been introduced. Consistent with the theory developed in this chapter, it has been found that the yield gains are greatest in developing countries, which are generally characterized by high pest pressure and limited access to insecticides. The chapter also shows that the yield effect of GE crop adoption is growing over time, suggesting that learning effects have dominated the effects of expansion into less suitable applications and the development of resistance.
