more about pesticide use in Central America

O Tuesday I posted about the threats to mgratory birds from Central American use of pesticides on crops grown for North Americans.  That evening, Tua and I heard, from Vermont'sCanon Missioner to El Salvador, about the human cost of those pesticides: cancer and kidney failure on massive scales.

If we ca't wean ourselves from pomegranates, avocados, and out-of-season strawberries, we t least need to buy organic.

In better news, the Salvadoran farm cooperative our church raised money for is putting its micro-loan program on hold temporarily to do more education.  Salvadoran farmers realized they couldn't keep farming the way they were - it was simply unsustainable, and bound to fail, sooner rather than later.  So they're learning about going organic, removing chemicals from the soil and replacing nutrients, and less plow-heavy methods of tilling (to help keep nutrients in).  Sounds exciting!