Zane Taylor
HORT 30600
28 April 2014
Chemical Weed Control
Chemical weed control is something that is relatively new to the horticultural and agricultural world in comparison to when the respective industries were formed. Not a lot of people are aware of just how new this process is, they just go to the store and pick up the chemical they want. One such example is Round-Up, consumers know to take it home and just follow the label on the canister. If these people actually knew how much work and regulation went into the process of creating a chemical for weed control they may be more appreciative of the people who work with them day in and day out.
Definition of Chemical Weed Control
Weed control does not necessarily mean chemical control; weed control can also be mechanical which means that it can be any number of things from going out and pulling the weeds out of the ground to spraying them with Round-Up to kill them. According to the Larimer County, Colorado website, it describes chemical weed control as “...the most efficient and time-effective method of managing weeds.” Chemical weed control has not been around for all that long compared to other methods of control. One of the first chemical weed control that was really widely known was 2-4D which was registered in 1948 (2, 4-D, 1). Methods prior to chemical weed control are still used now, just in a more limited capacity. Such methods include plowing and disking which are still used today albeit it is rare to see a plow being run these days. These methods are used today however they are not really used by themselves since it is not as effective to use these methods in that manner. Mostly disking is used in conjunction with a chemical application just before the gr...
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...ed above, mowing and hand-digging, are not as practical in an agricultural setting since the magnitude of agriculture has made these particular methods of control impractical.
Chemical weed control is here to stay but to help it stay longer; we need to change up the kinds of chemicals and application rates that are used today. If we do not alter how we handle pests in agriculture, we may do more harm than periodic good to the environment and the world’s food source. If we did not have some of the developments in the agricultural industry that we did, we would have a much different idea of what weed control is. If we did not have these advances in the agricultural industry, we would be having a much harder time. If we want to change the future of weed control we must look at the history of it to make sure that the same mistakes are not made in the future.
The opinion of Marijuana during the 70’s was much more relaxed than it is today. Approval of Marijuana by 27 states, new medical studies, and its consequences on those convicted from use of the most common general, the argument about marijuana in this country is: should Marijuana continue to be given to citizens based on its health effects, medicinal values, and costs to the country? The reasons why this argument is so important are great. As previously stated, Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the world, and with millions of people using it regularly and almost 100 million that have ever used it in this country, the laws behind this drug hold great influence. It is because of this and the immergence of new evidence, that the justification behind prohibition of this drug is being rethought scientifically, socially, and economically. The use of Marijuana as both medicine and a recreational drug is being thoroughly questioned in the US. 27 states have Marijuana approved in some form, many of those for medical purposes however those users can still, and do get placed into prison by federal law. Currently, 830,00 people a year are in trouble with the law in regards to Marijuana and numbers seem to be on an uphill trend . Furthermore, the US invests 30 billion a year into the drug war, half of which is dedicated to Marijuana. Many are questioning its success all together. Both imprisonment and the war cost our country, and therefore our people, money. A change in laws is going to have a dramatic affect on America.
Crops today are thriving, and farmers can owe it all to the pesticides they use. If no pesticides were used, then insects would destroy crops, feeding off of their leaves and produce until hardly anything is left. According to corncommentary.com, Without the use of pesticides and fungicides, most fruit and vegetable crops would suffer a 50-90 percent loss due to uncontrolled insects and disease organisms. Despite what most people believe, even organic growers use pesticides on their crops that have been approved for such organic growers. Even they know that the wrath of insects and other disease organisms would destroy their plants and their profit they would have made from those plants. Also, without things such as weed killers, people would have to till the soil around their crops by hand. On large scale farms, this would take a huge amount of people to complete a task like this. The weeds would have to be pulled up, by their roots to ensure they wouldn’t grow back rapidly. On top of that, the crop would have to be routinely checked for weeds, as they grow fast and of many. The amount of money it would take to pay all the workers, and how often they would need to be paid for their work, is not owned by any farmer. Pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are what help keep our crops protected and healthy. Without them, we would be in deep
Organic fertilisers and natural pest control methods minimise the impact of viticulture on the environment. In recent years there has been a considerable movement by some growers towards an organic approach. This is as a result of consumer driven trends and pressure to minimise the environmental impact of viticulture.
The nature of the Southern Plains soils and the periodic influence of drought could not be changed, but the technological abuse of the land could have been stopped. This is not to say that mechanized agriculture irreparably damaged the land-it did not. New and improved implements such as tractors, one-way disk plows, grain drills, and combines reduced plowing, planting, and harvesting costs and increased agricultural productivity. Increased productivity caused prices to fall, and farmers compensated by breaking more sod for wheat. At the same time, farmers gave little thought to using their new technology in ways to conserve the
The French were the first to start experimenting on chemical agents in 1912. They first used it on their people as riot control to capture criminals that who had robbed a bank. They used 26 millimeter grenades filled with chemical agents into the center of the group criminals they were attempting to apprehend. It was not said if it was effective but continued to look into using it for other means. However, the Germans at this time had not been interested in producing any kinds of chemical weapons.
“Farming techniques such as strip cropping, terracing, crop rotation, contour plowing, and cover crops were advocated.” ("About the Dust Bowl")These new techniques were advocated in order to try and prevent more dust from getting picked up by wind and starting the dust storm again. “But for years, farmers had plowed the soil too fine, and they contributed to the creation of the Dust Bowl.”(Ganzel) This was a big mistake farmers had made. This was one of the huge factors in contributing to the Dust Bowl. This has definitely changed now. “Now, many farmers are learning how to raise crops without tilling their fields at all. (Ganzel) Farmers now not tilling their fields at all is a new farming
Qiu, J. 2013. Genetically modified crops pass benefits to weeds. p. 1. Available from: doi: doi:10.1038/nature.2013.13517.
Civilization began with agriculture, and agriculture continues to be an integral part of our lives. Civilization brought knowledge, knowledge brought technology, and technology brought chemicals and pesticides to “improve” our world. “The Obligation to Endure” is an excerpt from Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” a passionate and masterful work on the results of civilization’s efforts to control pests and insects. These effects include destruction of the environment, alteration of gene structures in plants and animals, water contamination, and an upset of nature’s delicate balance. This article is an impassioned plea to the world to understand the threat and demand the information necessary to make an informed consent on use of these deadly substances.
Cannabis has been known to man since as early as 7000 B.C. (Marijuana Legalization Timeline). In 1619, the colony of Jamestown in Virginia passed the first cannabis-related law, stating that it is required for all farmers to grow cannabis sativa or hemp plant because of its strong fiber that they used to make rope, sails and clothing (Marijuana Legalization Timeline). During the 1800s, cannabis extract medicines were produced by American pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly, Parke-Davis and Squibb (Marijuana Legalization Timeline). In 1910, in the Southwestern United States, Mexican immigrants introduced recreational use of cannabis, in which the immigrants referred to as “marihuana” (Marijuana Legalization Timeline). In 1915, Utah was the first state to pass an anti-marijuana law, then twenty-nine other states followed (Marijuana Legalization Timeline). In 1922, the Narcotic Drug Import and Export Act was enforced to control any cannabis going in or out of the U.S. (Marijuana Legalization Timeline). In 1930, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics was created (Marijuana Legalization Timeline). In the 1960s, “hippies” smoke marijuana, which symbolized rebellion (Marijuana Legalization Timeline). In 1968, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the Bureau of Dangerous Drugs merged into the Bureau...
History of Marijuana Prohibition Marijuana has been illegal for less than 1% of the time that it’s been in use (Guither, 2014). Going back to 1619, the Virginia Assembly passed legislation requiring every farmer to grow hemp. Hemp was allowed to be exchanged as legal tender in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland (Block, 2014). It was actually a crime in some states to refuse to grow hemp in the 1700's. In the late 19th century, marijuana was a popular ingredient in many medicinal products and was sold openly in public pharmacies (PBS, 2014).
The business, Monsanto, who was featured in the negative part of agribusiness, developed a seed technique. This seed technique creates a genetically modified seed that will not die by weed killer. The farmers can spray their crops without worrying about killing their crops. Monsanto has made genetically modified seeds for soybeans, corn, canola, and cotton to date. With these genetically modified seeds, farmers do not have to worry about some of their crop dying when herbicides and insecticides are applied. The seeds help ensure a higher yield every time. I agree with the supporters on this one. I know that our population is growing and I do not want to be without
The new chemicals which are produced to kill these strong pests and weeds may be more harmful to other plants and remove nutrients within the soil, in turn reducing the yield of agricultural crops. The benefits of these characteristics are seen in Argentina according to Pelletier (2010) as they use glyphosphate resistant soybean which allowed the comeback of this crop, as the soil was severely damaged from monoculture (The cultivation of a single crop in a defined area).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Most people believe that organic farmers do not use pesticides. That is not one hundred percent true. To be clear, pesticides are poisons farmers use to keep undesirables out of the garden, manly insects and weeds. While there are ways to keep insect at bay by using pesticide free methods, in which these methods are simply not as effective at saving crops as using pesticides. The only free of pesticides ways farmers can keep weeds out of the gardens to hand pick them. This is not economically feasible possible for small farmers and is not practiced by any large scale organic operation.
Pesticide is a chemical used to prevent, wipe out and control the pest problem in agriculture. The use of pesticides have become a common practice around the world, and used almost everywhere, such as agricultural fields, homes, park and school, and so on. Most pesticides are insecticides, herbicides and fungicides that have distinct purposes. Insecticides are used to control insects; herbicides are used to destroy plants; fungicides are used to prevent molds and mildews. Most commonly pesticides contain highly toxic chemical such as Acid copper chromate (ACC), Acephate and Chlorpyrifos, and so on. One of example of insecticides, Chlorpyrifos, sprays widely on a variety of food and golf courses in order to control pests in a cornfield. However, “Chlorpyrifos can cause cholinesterase inhibition in humans; that is, it can over stimulate the nervous system causing nausea, dizziness, confusion, and at very high exposures (e.g., accidents or major spills), respiratory paralysis and death.” (EPA GOV) In the market has thousands of products are similar as Chlorpyrifos.
Farming has been an occupation since 8,500 B.C. On that year in the Fertile Crescent farming first began when people grew plants instead of picking them in the wild. Then nearly 5,000 years later oxen, horses, pigs, and dogs were domesticated. During the middle ages, the nobles divide their land into three fields. The reasoning for this was to plant two and leave one to recover. This was the start of crop rotation which is a big part of farming today. Burning down forest and then moving to another area is a farming technique used by the Mayans called Slash and burn. Mayan farmers also were able to drain swampy areas to farm them buy building canals. In 1701 Jethro Tull invented the seed drill and a horse drawn how that tilled the land. In Denmark they would plant turnips in the previously unplanted field. The turnips help restore the nutrients in the ground thus crop rotation is born. In England people began moving there fields closer to each other for a more efficient way of planting. Later in the 18th century selective breeding was introduce which made bigger, stronger, and more milk producing livestock. In the mid 1800’s a steam plough was invented. By the 1950 tractors, milking machines, and combines were used by almost farmers. The latest f...