A backlash against the herbicide Dicamba
This situation is a result of small farm consolidation and commoditization imho.<p>My grandfather was a small farmer.<p>He farmed about 120 acres in his retirement when I knew him and it was enough to keep his family well fed and well funded until the day he died.<p>He knew everybody in town. He went to all the farm shows. He bought the best animal breeds he could find and had a whole host of different animals, fruits, vegetables and legumes living happily on his farm at any given time.<p>Cows, chickens, ducks, wheat, peaches, onions, etc.<p>I remember he used to feed ground up eggshells to his chickens because he swore it made the strongest egg shells which could be shipped into town unscathed.<p>He fertilized his fields with manure.<p>And when a crop was lost to locusts... he didn&#x27;t spray the entire field with insecticide.<p>He invited me out into the crops with a torch and we burnt it all down to the ground in order to kill off their eggs.<p>He lived where he farmed.<p>I couldn&#x27;t imagine him ever agreeing to use the world&#x27;s most dangerous herbicide in order to grow a crop that did not want to be grown where his farm was located.<p>What would his neighbours think? Where would his livelihood come from if he somehow poisoned his land?<p>Nowadays when most farms are 10,000+ acres in size and overseen by absentee landlords... I&#x27;m not surprised in the slightest that they are tossing around dangerous chemicals like candy without a care in the world.<p>Shame on them. And RIP Grandpa ;)