. Cranberries; : the national cranberry magazine. Cranberries. <~Vv. PESTICID THEIR ROLE IN FOOD AND HBER PRODUCTION FOR A HUNGRY WORLD by DR. CHESTER CROSS and DR. ROBERT DEVLIN Let us turn from consideration of pesticides and their role in (protecting human health to what I;has been called the world's greatest i current and future problem-that of [feeding, clothing and sheltering 1 people. Our largely urban popula- | tion in America must realize on reflection that fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products all come I ultimately from growing plants. I Fewer of them realize their depend-
. Cranberries; : the national cranberry magazine. Cranberries. <~Vv. PESTICID THEIR ROLE IN FOOD AND HBER PRODUCTION FOR A HUNGRY WORLD by DR. CHESTER CROSS and DR. ROBERT DEVLIN Let us turn from consideration of pesticides and their role in (protecting human health to what I;has been called the world's greatest i current and future problem-that of [feeding, clothing and sheltering 1 people. Our largely urban popula- | tion in America must realize on reflection that fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy products all come I ultimately from growing plants. I Fewer of them realize their depend- ence on green plants for their clothing and still fewer that lumber, j boards and timbers for house con- | struction, all come from growing trees and forests. Early in this | century nearly half of the American i work force was engaged in food and ! fiber production; today less than 5 | per cent is so employed, and herein lies one of the great problems of American food and fiber produc- tion—the lack of knowledge and understanding by the great majority of urban Americans of the prob- lems of farmers and foresters. One of the sobering facts of twentieth century America is this reduction of food and fiber produc- tion workers from 50 to 5 per cent of the total. During the last several decades this had meant the steady loss of about 100,000 farmers each year. We say "; Clearly it means that year in and year out (and despite many govern- ment programs designed to be helpful) farmers have had increasing difficulty making their long work week yield a decent living for themselves and their families. We do not have a solution to this growing problem, but in view of the above, it is clear that food prices paid to the farmer have not been high enough to keep many of them in business. It may come as a shock to most readers to be told of the amazing achievements in food production during the past half-century. Com- modity after commodity has shown a sharply increa
Size: 2985px × 837px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcontributorumassamherstlibraries, bookspons
