To anyone who is concerned about the environment, i
t is obvious that all is not
well with modern crop husbandry. One problem is tha
t pests and diseases are destroying
about one fifth of all crop production. A second pr
oblem is that these losses occur in spite
of an extravagant use of chemical insecticides and
fungicides that cost billions of dollars
each year, worldwide. Indeed, in the industrial cou
ntries, the use of some kinds of crop
protection chemicals has increased nearly tenfold s
ince World War II. Crop production
has increased also, very considerably, but so have
the crop losses due to parasites, in spite
of this increased use of crop protection chemicals.
And these chemicals are also
hazardous.
This kind of parasite damage obviously does not occ
ur in wild ecosystems. After
all, we do not spray wild plants, and the world is
still green. So why should such
appalling pest and disease losses occur in agro-eco
systems, in spite of all this spraying
with crop protection chemicals?
This book is addressed mainly to readers who are co
ncerned about the world food
supply, and the pollution of our food and our envir
onment with chemical pesticides, but
who lack detailed scientific knowledge about these
matters. It is also addressed to people
who are not scientists, but who are prepared to mak
e an effort to study a new subject that
is outside their own fields of expertise. It presen
ts a somewhat complicated and technical
topic, but it is written in plain English which, I
believe, will be readily comprehensible to
anyone who is reasonably willing to persevere. I al
so believe that readers who do
persevere will be excited by their new knowledge, a
nd will feel amply rewarded for their
trouble. The book is also addressed to activists wh
o want to put things right, and it
explains a possible way of doing this