• The primary reason for washing produce before eating it is to get rid of dirt and bacteria from handling the produce. Most chemical residues from crop protection products that could be found on your fruits and vegetables are completely gone by the time the produce gets to your market.
• The farm population has declined from 22 million people in 1880 to less than 5 million today.
• Researchers at the University of California at Berkeley estimate that we consume at least 10,000 times more naturalcarcinogens by weight than we do man-made pesticide residues.
• Farmers and ranchers saved 900 million more tons of soil in 1992 than in 1982 thanks to new conservation practices.
• In 1990, Americans would have spent $195 billion more on food if farmers were still using 1950’s technology. Farm output has doubled since that time. But farmers use of production inputs, such as chemicals, dropped 17 percent.
• U.S. farmers maintain 170,000 miles of windbreaks and 1.3 million acres of grass waterways.
• Did you know that 1percent of the Earth is fresh water?
• There are 2.27 billion acres in the U.S. In 1996, about 300 million acres were harvested.
• The average American eats 237 million pounds of fruits and vegetables each year.
• By using global positioning-satellite technology, farmers can determine precisely where to plant and can customize pesticide and fertilizer use for specific areas. This will increase yields and reduce both costs and chemical use.
• The agricultural chemicals industry supports sustainable agriculture and IPM (Integrated Pest Management) because they make good economic and environmental sense. These two practices greatly reduce the amount of agricultural chemicals that need to be applied to crops to protect the plant from damaging pests.
• Sustainable agriculture embodies a variety of farming practices that promote the judicious use of pesticides, respect for the environment and maintenance of rich farmland and natural resources for generations to come.
• We consume about 45 micrograms (or 45 one-millionths) of man-made pesticide residues per day. There are 185 micrograms of natural carcinogens in a slice of bread.
• The label on a pesticide product spells out the safe, approved uses of the product. The label is a legal document. Strict adherence to the label is required by federal law.
• The risk of getting cancer from drinking tap water for a whole year is less than the risk of getting cancer from the increased exposure to cosmic radiation experienced during two round-trip flights between Los Angeles and New York.
• A family of four eats about 5,000 pounds of food each year.
• Environment-friendly, biodegradable plastics are being produced from wheat, corn and other crops to make adhesives, coatings and films.
• To achieve “average” crop yields, a farmer needs to apply about 132 pounds of synthetic nitrogen per acre. To obtain 132 pounds of nitrogen from natural cow manure (the most abundant and lowest-cost source of natural fertilizer), the farmer would have to apply 52,000 pounds of manure per acre.
• “No-till” farming, which requires that farmers leave a layer of stalks and other plant residue on the field virtually year round, reduces erosion by more than 90 percent compared to old plowing and farming methods.
• “There is no evidence that suggests that regulated and approved pesticide residues in food contribute to the toll of human cancer in the U.S.”-Dr. Richard Adamson, National Cancer Institute
Reprint permission given by AgAir Update, P.O. Box 850, Perry, GA 31069 - an international agricultural aviation publication.
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