I heard a rumor today that forces in Maine are fighting to have the whole state certified organic, which I suppose simply means deregulating all pesticides for all crops? No word yet if this extends to banning Ortho from the hardware store...This is absolutely a terrible idea and I hope, for the sake of Mainers, that it doesn't succeed/isn't accurate. It's really silly to suggest that pests and pathogens can be controlled as well without judicious chemical application as with them. I can't imagine how challenging it must be to grow a profitable crop with such a short growing season to begin with. It'll be the end of a lot of farms if sprays are no longer available to help fend off diseases during cool, wet summers.
Supposedly, part of this proposed law includes the special labeling of all imported transgenic seeds. It was pointed out that this could prevent Maine farmers from purchasing modern, cutting-edge seed from major seed companies, which would be unlikely to design special packaging just for one small market. It will be absolutely impossible for farmers who grow mainstream crops like corn to compete with other states if they're forced to use obsolete, non-hybrid seed.
At any rate, it's not a very strong statement of the superiority of your methods to legislate them.
Let me know if you hear anything about this!
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