From: dc_ags@ac.nsac.ns.ca (Don Christie)
Subject: Re: why
Reply-To: dc_ags@ac.nsac.ns.ca
Organization: Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Nova Scotia, CANADA
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1992 16:51:32 GMT

>
>Don sees himself as being at war with the "Greenies", therefore
>he doesn't need to be polite or friendly with them in a public forum,
>or even listen to them, for that matter.
>

Actually, I don't see myself at war with anyone... when it comes right down
to brass tacks, I'm basically on the same side as the `Greenies', as you
call them. 

I do see their movement (along with other similar movements) in the light that
they are compounding the problems agriculture is experiencing. I see it this
way because they perceive the efforts of government and of the agricultural
industry itself as being untrustworthy... they promoted this idea to get 
headlines, and it served a purpose then, but at this stage of the game, they
are preventing the public from seeing what is actually being done to remedy
the situation BY THE PEOPLE WHO ARE *SUPPOSED* TO BE DOING IT!! 

The industry is AWARE of the problems it has caused... it is TRYING to correct
problems as quickly as it can... BUT it must survive in the interim. I have
cited a number of areas where the Nova Scotia government among others has
polished its act... I have cited well-developed scientific disciplines whose
express purpose is to reduce our dependence on pesticides, and I have 
publicly stated that the `organic' production methodologies are a part of the
overall plan. I have read posts from the readership where this information is
dismissed out of hand, simply on the basis that the author knows nothing 
about it... and by all indications doesn't WANT to know anything about it.

You say that I don't have to be polite or friendly... Dan LaLiberte thinks
I've been outright insulting, and others have expressed similar sentiments.
From my point of view, I've just been fighting fire with fire. However,
after some reflection, I realize that I shouldn't be fighting at all. There is
no war. Again, from my point of view, I find it insulting to have someone
feel that my discipline is unworthy of expression simply on the basis of the
fact that readership doesn't want to hear it! I find it insulting to be
corrected on a point that is a scientific fact... not an opinion... one that
would be easily answered by a grade 10 biology student.... by someone who
hasn't even enough background to know the difference between fungal organisms
and bacteria! 

Nonetheless, it serves nobody's purpose to continue this senseless bashing
of heads. The topic at hand is just too important to let personalities enter
into it in such a big way. I joined the newsgroup because I thought it held
good opportunities to get new ideas and information that could be incorporated
into something useful here... by our farmers. I was hoping to be able to 
discuss things like plant breeders rights legislation in Canada and abroad,
about integrated crop management, environmental monitoring for the purposes of
predicting crop disease and insect management, organic nitrogen fixation,
weed control techniques, the successes/failures of no-till or low-tillage
systems which reduce soil erosion, and many other topics, including the 
large-scale implementation of organic production practises.   

I was the first person to post into this newsgroup... my subject line was
"What's this group gonna be?" ... in that post I suggested that we spend more
money on public education and a little less on post-secondary education....
essentially, what I was getting at was that educating the public about the
why's and wherefore's of agriculture will do the industry more good than will
more academics... and my experiences with this newsgroup (although there are
some VERY notable exceptions) have proven (to me, at least) that I was 
correct on that point.

So, in summary, I'll ask the question one more time: What is this newsgroup
gonna be... another alt.tasteless, or a forum where interested parties can
send and receive information about what we broadly term `sustainable
agriculture'?


//Don
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Who ELSE could have written The Adventures of Wild Bill Groady??
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture