Insect Regulations

Paul Cherubini cherubini at mindspring.com
Wed Dec 22 14:35:02 EST 1999


Neil Jones wrote:

> NO doubt monsanto et al will be breeding a bigger brighter bolder strain
> of corn that grows on the tundra someday. Then you can look forward
> to the same declines the rest of us have suffered.

Kenelm Philip wrote:

> 2) North America, unlike some other parts of the world, has been _reducing_
> its area of cropland. 60 years ago we harvested about 80 million more acres
> than we do now. Part of this decline can be attributed to genetic
> improvement in seeds. Further such improvement could reduce our effect
> on wild lands significantly. A case can be made for biotechnology as
> potentially helping the environment--although I doubt that this is how
> Europeans tend to perceive it!

According to the 1998 Agriculture Fact Book, Chapter 2-B, land in farms in
the USA reached a peak of 1.206 billion acres in 1954 and has 
declined steadily ever since to 968 million acres in 1997. That's a 20%
reduction in the amount of land in farms over a 43 year period.  There have also
been substantial declines in the amount of insecticide applied to US farmland,
especially since 1980.

Paul Cherubini, Placerville, Calif.


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