>And I used to tell people that there aren't any stupid Questions! I guess I
>forgot about disingenuous ones. Three of the infinite number of things wrong
>with the current discussion on this list are:
>
>1) The politics of agriculture has nothing to do with the attempt to make it
>sustainable. Indeed, lip service to sustainability has cut out the people
>who worked long and hard in this direction and just provided another source
>of funding to the same university people who were perfectly happy promoting
>the unsustainable version.
A rather remarkable statement, Dan. I think if you think about you'll see
that the politics of agriculture has *everything* to do with the attempt to
make it sustainable. It is bascially a political problem (right down to the
University people who siphon off the funds). It is not a technological
problem. Any idiot can make compost, even academics!
>
>2) Politics is incapable of developing anything sustainable or even
>permitting it if awareness becomes a transitory attribute of the politicians.
Where I live the Mayan farmers have been farming, mostly sustainably, for
about 25 centuries. The only problems they have are due to the politics of
agriculture (e.g. policies that force them to buy agrochemicals on credit
and sell their products as cheap commodities) Political problems. So they're
fixing it.
>3) Discussions about agriculture that depend on politics are discussions
>about unsustainable agriculture and belong on another list.
Sticking your head in the sand is a political act to which we all have the
right--its only result is usually getting kicked in the most exposed part.
Denying the right of others to state their opinions on an internet list is a
very political act, rather on the anti-democratic and intolerant end of the
scale.
>Lets see how many farmers, as opposed to academics, disagree with these
>points.
I don't think farmers are opposed to academics (some of them are
academics--only way they can afford to farm), The idea of the list is to
work together, I think, to understand each other and agriculture better and
to help fix what's wrong. This requires respect and listening to other opinions.
Ronald Nigh
Dana Association
Tel & FAX 529/678-7215
danamex@internet.com.mx
Mexico