Corn & Pesticides – In These Modern Times, We Should Be Thinking Olden Times!
Above, this Facebook sharing of Philmaize Kamais, PK, tells me that the PK people have not learned their lesson in history: They are living in modern times but are ignoring the living past.
The sharing says:
Pesticides guide for corn farmer. Beware FAW (fall army worm). Let’s keep our vigilance in our corn fields. May God bless our farmers, our country.
What follows is PK’s long list of chemicals to fight the FAW.
But why does PK begin the advice with Modern Control and not with Historic Natural Pest Management, NPM? Why make the Chemical your first choice when you have the Natural?
Now then, with the long list of chemicals to fight the FAW, I have superimposed the image of a trap crop (from Agripedia[1]) – all PK and/or any of those corn farmers has to do is look for a crop that attracts the armyworm more than the corn, and you have your savior of a plant – no chemicals involved. That’s NPM.
Why is PK happy to resolve the problem of the FAW but not unhappy with the unhealthy corn it is selling to people for their tables or their poultry or livestock – which of course are for people’s tables eventually? Chemical agriculture is for the chemical companies, not for the consumers!
Where you plant your corn, you should also welcome the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees. Planet Natural Research Center says that birds love those worms; also, there are beneficial insects[2].
Armyworms, or caterpillars, also attack rice[3](IRRI, Rice Knowledge Bank). This webpage says, “Flooding seedbeds is the best defense against armyworms.” Ah, but I don’t think so, even if that is a natural, non-chemical method. This website also says, “Avoid killing natural enemies of armyworms such as wasps and spiders.” Now then, if you plant crops that attract wasps and spiders, you have trap crops and do not need to use chemicals to fight the armyworms!
In the Ilocos Region, they intercrop rice with onion or garlic[4], and they are successful farmers, as reported by Rene Rafael C Espino and Cenon S Atienza (July 2000, “Crop Diversification In The Philippines,” FAO). The authors say:
The (Department of Agriculture) has adopted crop diversification as a strategy to promote and hasten agricultural development. As such, this paper presents crop diversification in two perspectives. One aspect is planting a cash crop after the main crop and the other is planting intercrops (permanent or cash crops) in-between the main crop, usually a permanent crop. This strategy helps attain the (goals) of the Department in increasing productivity and farm income, (not to mention) environmental conservation.
When they say “environmental conservation,” they mean not introducing foreign materials like insecticides and pesticides.
In growing commercial corn, why does Philmaize Kamais think of Chemical Methods to fight armyworms and not Natural Methods? The Chemical is at the expense of the worms; the Natural results in the loss of the worms and the gain in health of the people!@517
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