Organic farmers cannot use any pesticides on their produce, which creates an issue because bugs tend to destroy their crops. A very clever solution to this problem is putting sunflowers around their crops. Sunflowers are home to beneficial bugs, like lady beetles, which kill the bad bugs. Organic farmers have always had the disadvantage when it comes to fighting invasive bugs and weeds. Conventional farmers have a plethora of ways to battle these things off. Organic farmers have had to get crafty and learn how to grapple with these elements.
This is a easy solution, but I wonder if the sunflowers attract enough good bugs to kill all the other bad bugs? But I'm sure the sunflowers don't kill the weeds, so what do organic farmers do for that?
ReplyDeleteThis is a really creative way to solve a problem, but I agree that it probably isn't the most effective way. It just seems like you'd need a lot of sunflowers to attract enough predators into the environment. Has this method been proven?
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea. It is a great way to prevent the use of pesticides, and it is all natural. This really is a good step for organic farmers also, really gives them some positive attention and shows just what can be done if there is enough motivation to try it.
ReplyDeleteI think thats an awesome idea. IT sounds like a great solution to problems which have been around for years...I wonder why nobody ever thought of planing sunflowers around their crops before. I like the fact that sunflowers are pleasing to look at as well as beneficial :)
ReplyDeleteI agree this does sound like an awesome idea. I just have one question i thought that organic farmers could use pesticides were approved my organic farming regulations? I may be wrong but I thought I read that while doing my case study on organic farms. Also how can they guaruntee that the good bugs will for a fact eat all of the bad nasty bugs?
ReplyDeleteWhile this is a good solution, it is flawed. Depending on the crop, organic farmers ARE allowed to use some pesticides but with extreme moderations. There are different standards to meet for different crops to be considered "organic." The sunflowers do not fight off weeds (they might by outcompeting them for food and water but I don't know that for a fact) but sunflowers are not the only thing in an organic farmer's arsenal. Of course a solution like this cannot be 100% effective at having the right amount of beneficial bugs to kill the number of harmful bugs but sunflowers are better than nothing or pesticides.
ReplyDeleteEvent though you called my house lame and hurt my feelings, I will say this is a good topic. When my family had an organic farm in Vermont we had to think of other ways than the conventional to surmount difficulties we had on the farm. If we used artificial chemicals we would lose our certification of organic, so I understand completely what the sunflowers are about.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea for crops that are planted in certain seasons, however for crops that are grown during seasons of the year that the sunflowers don't grow the farmers will have to find other ways around using chemicals
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