"The other major factor in team building is having faith in the other team members ability.  There is the completely missing part.  One side is doing nothing but armchair quarterbacking."

Well, at least it is nice to see the admission.

Perhaps I can help the non farmers understand a little better.  Do you carry health insurance?  Or car insurance or home insurance?  Now, just think about how stupid it is to spend that  money.  After all, do you expect to have some major health problem this year?  I doubt it.  So you are going to pay a lot more money to the insurance company than you get benefits.  Why not wait until you really need that health insurance before you buy it?  That would be a lot smarter.

Exactly the same argument on car or home insurance.  Do you think you are going to have a big accident this week and total your car?  Or a house fire and do $50,000 in damage?  If not why are you paying for that insurance this week.  Are you really stupid and just like to waste money?

A farmer uses seed treatments and applies some pesticides for exactly the same stupid reason you carry medical, car and home insurance.  The cost is insignificant compared to the risk of not applying.  It is that simple.  It is insurance that he will get a crop to sell come fall.  He is not a bit dumber than you are when you write those checks for insurance.  You can call it prophylactic application if you wish, but your health insurance, car insurance and home insurance are equally prophylactic and equally stupid (or equally smart depending on your risk tolerance).

If you want to talk about who really abuses pesticide applications the first place you should start is turf use.  The amount of pesticides wasted on home lawns and golf courses is staggering and accomplishes nothing for the environment or quality of life for anyone.  Personally I could easy support a ban on all such uses.  My own lawn has seen zero fertilizer, lime, seeding, dethatching, or pesticides of any type for the last 43 years.  I do not rake leaves in fall.  I do not use a mulching blade on my mower or pick up clippings.  Its total care is mowing every week or so.  I do have a gripe with it.  It seems to grow faster every year and require more frequent mowing.  If it keeps this up I may relent and spray one of those growth inhibitors on it as I am lazy and do not enjoy mowing so much.

Dick

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