Getting the Drift

This year, for the first time, I've noticed mowing of wheat stubble.  In several nearby fields, I've observed spraying before the mowing.  I've thought of asking a farmer for an explanation, but never at the right time.  Internet to the rescue.

Mowing wheat stubble is apparently a strategy for controlling annual weeds and keeping them from producing seeds by chopping them off very close to the ground. The mulch will likely keep weeds on the surface from germinating,  and existing weeds will regrow, and will then be in perfect condition for a Glyphosate application, probably in September.  This "Roundup" application will also help control perennials that sprout in the fall (dandelion), and hardy annuals like cheat and henbit.

It all sounds like a neat strategy, except for one thing.  All that spraying causes collateral damage.  In our own garden, one entire row of previously healthy looking tomato plants sickened overnight and then died.  Another row had only three survivors out of 15.  Jason, the horticulture expert at our local garden center, has seen multiple instances of the same problem.  I know a handful of people personally whose gardens are scattered in various places in the community who have had their garden problems diagnosed as spray drift.  Jason says that in very hot conditions, with wind currents just right, the spray can both drift a long way and linger to cause damage  for a long time.  In our own garden, on a day when the wind speed was at least 16 MPH (no open burning is allowed when the wind is above 15 MPH) and Hiromi was working in the garden, he sought cover out of the wind behind the big round bales every time he smelled the herbicide while he was out there.  The garden plants, unfortunately, could not move to a safe place.

"Isn't there anything anyone can do about this?" I heard someone ask last night.  Suing individual farmers or the makers of Roundup are probably not good options--the farmers because they're also your friends, and the Roundup manufacturer because "it" would grind you to powder with its nearly unlimited finances and powerful legal machine.  Besides, there's the teaching in Scripture against suing someone.

My strategy is to simply give public witness to what's happening, and hope that awareness grows and people who choose to use herbicides in their fields are very conscientious about doing so.   A good start would be for farmers who use herbicides to become exceptionally knowledgeable about what wind and weather conditions are most likely to cause collateral damage and to religiously avoid spraying under those conditions.

I think there are probably a lot of people that would appreciate some compensation for their gardens' lost productivity, and it would be nice if people who use herbicides would take the initiative to inquire of people who have gardens in the vicinity of fields that are sprayed.  To desire integrity more than to desire profit is an important underlying principle.

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Our hot, dry weather is all too reminiscent of last summer.  We're in a multiple-week streak of temps over 100, and often over 105.  A few very localized thunderstorms tantalize and then don't materialize in moisture on this farm.  Last night on the way home from church, I saw lightening in the northwest and the northeast, but it was dry here this morning.  On the way home from Fairview today, I saw rain to the Northwest and had hopes for rain on our farm.  Nope.  It went by to the south.  We beg the Lord for rain, spontaneously, out loud, in the hearing of others.

This year, more of our eastern friends seem to understand our plight than was the case last year--not that they didn't try, but they didn't know it from experience.  This year many of them do, and we pray for them as well as for ourselves.

I'm not going into a yea or nay climate change discussion.  I do wonder, however, if the "naysayers" are having second thoughts this year.  Or perhaps they have never heard of the predicted effect of climate change:  many more extreme weather conditions and events.  Cloudbursts instead of gentle rains.  Excruciating multiple-year drought instead of a midsummer dry spell.  Unusually warm winters, or unusually cold ones.  Lots of snow or hardly any.  Blistering summers or too cool for normal plant growth.

In this matter also, whether or not climate change is happening, and whether or not man's activities are making a difference, integrity calls for the kind of restraint and caution that sees beyond a desire for profitability and weighs carefully the probable effect of our activities.