Complimentary Blueberry Juice

Over the last year or so I’ve taken screen caps of the sorts of advertisements that are targeted at me (I guess I don’t hide enough cookies from the surveillance capitalism data thieves so they know I’m a farmer).

Given that we don’t use any of the products that are attempting to woo our dollars, these ads seem particularly ridiculous (and they are).

The company in question here brought in over $56 billion dollars globally in 2022. While a portion of that is pharmaceutical, this is by far and away the largest agricultural chemical company in the world, as well as the largest apologist for the supposed safety of their concoctions (despite many a class action and many a settlement). The problems are created by industrial commodity agriculture, and the solutions are provided by industrial chemicals.

Not sure what sort of macho-man-farmer needs fungicides because of a petulant insult to his mother, but I’ll pass, thanks.

Fungus predates the evolution of vascular photosynthetic plants, therefore, plants are dependent upon fungus for their survival. To portray them as a curse is absurd.

The question that needs to be asked is not “which chemical should I apply to rid myself of this fungus,” rather, “what is causing this fungus to exist in my crop.”

Weeds suck!

Yeah weeds suck.

I have no idea what horrors these guys have invented that you apply after harvest to prevent weeds from growing, but I want no part of it. Nor do I want to eat anything prepped with something named “VALTERA” or “FIERCE.”

It’s really disheartening to see ads like this, mostly because it continues the normalization of spraying. Got a problem? There’s a chemical for it! These agricultural methods are based on only treating a problem after the symptom has been allowed to develop. In worse cases, chemicals are applied as a prophylactic, at the expense of the farmer’s wallet, and our health (you are what you eat).There’s more to be said about the poor logic of these methods, but to address them now would turn this into a lengthy post.

Suffice to say that these companies prey on farmer’s anxieties over yield and low profit margins (as well as weed OCD) to generate their sales, as well as the collective cultural reinforcement that everyone else is doing it.

It’s easier to suppress the uneasy feelings about spraying chemicals than do the hard work of addressing the root problems.

I wish as much effort and research dollars went into improving methods and understanding as goes into developing new kinds of chemicals to sell.

Graham

thanks for reading a chemical-free complimentary blueberry juice