Wave of support for official who warned of dangers of farmers using chemicals

[webfact]

Wave of support for official who warned of dangers of farmers using chemicals
By THE NATION

 

Phu Thap Boek

 

PHETCHABUN: -- THE deputy governor of Phetchabun received a flood of support from Thais on social media yesterday for his courage in warning that chemicals used by contract farmers to grow potatoes on Phu Thap Boek would contaminate the popular tourist mountain in the North.

 

Kraisorn Kongchalard wrote on Facebook on Sunday that he was contacted by a giant company, which wanted to sign up farmers to grow potatoes on the mountain.

Kraisorn, the deputy governor, strongly criticised the proposal, saying it would harm the environment as growing potatoes needed extensive use of chemicals and fertilisers. Doing that would contaminate the soil, air and the water there, he said.

Full story: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30298404

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2016-10-26

[canuckamuck]

This guy is deluded if he thinks the farmers aren't already spraying herbicides all over the place already. 

His concerns about contract farming might be realistic though.

[Alive]

The rich yuppies of Bangkok who have cheered the loss of democracy and the rise of this regime, who join all the crowd bicycling and who praise the  clearing of Bangkok's poor off 'their' sides walks are the ones posting in support of this guy. They have the right ideas but sadly selfishly have no problem of making the poor suffer to for whatever their next whim is.

[canopy]

You are right. Every plot of land around the guy who voiced the objection is grown using ample chemicals, burning, and poisons and yet he has absolutely nothing to say about that? On that mountain in particular growing cabbage is popular which by all accounts is one of the heaviest poisoned crops. Going organic is just a pipe dream and they have never been serious or successful in getting farmers to do it. His objection thus doesn't make sense so the reader is left to surmise the objection is bias against the "giant company" for reasons one might guess; nothing to do with potatoes.

 

If Thailand is to be competitive on the world stage, they are going to have to change the way they farm. Once upon a time a family subsisted fine on a few rai of land. Today it is a recipe for poverty that should be abandoned to unshackle the poor from this debt spiral. Is contract farming a solution? I don't know, but I hate to see someone go out of their way to prop up the existing model of poverty and deny the the poor from trying something else that at least has the possibility to work better. 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

6 minutes ago, canopy said:

 On that mountain in particular growing cabbage is popular which by all accounts is one of the heaviest poisoned crops.

 

 

Actually, I believe that cabbage came out as one of the less problematic Thai-grown veggies in the recent round of independent veggie testing for pesticide residues in excess of regulatory standards.

 

Look near the bottom of the right hand column in the linked chart:

 

http://www.thaipan.org/node/849

 

Unfortunately, the Thai PAN organization doesn't appear to include Thai grown potatoes among its pesticide residue samplings -- presumably because they're not one of the more common Thai-used produce items.

 

Edited October 26, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[worgeordie]

Stating the bloody obvious. 

regards worgeordie

[adhd]

gmo potatoes + gmo pesticides

[fruitman]

2 hours ago, Alive said:

The rich yuppies of Bangkok who have cheered the loss of democracy and the rise of this regime, who join all the crowd bicycling and who praise the  clearing of Bangkok's poor off 'their' sides walks are the ones posting in support of this guy. They have the right ideas but sadly selfishly have no problem of making the poor suffer to for whatever their next whim is.

 

The poor should study instead of making babies when they're 15. Maybe then they can contribute in a usefull way in BKK and make a decent salary.

 

If not they better stay on the countryside and grow banana's/mango's/peanuts/papaya's/rice so the rich Bangkokians don't have to buy imported fruit/vegy to stay healthy.

[TravelerEastWest]

"Going organic is just a pipe dream"

 

Actually in the past all farming was organic so certainly not a pipe dream and there are quite a few farmers growing niche organic crops making money worldwide. 

 

For short term thinking chemicals make sense if you don't care about health - Farmers are getting poisoned when using chemicals.

 

Do a little research and you will see lots of Thai farmers using chemicals for market crops; but for their family the crops are organic. Their personal garden will often be in the back and the vegetables will have holes in them - not beautiful but healthy...

[Asiang]

5 hours ago, canuckamuck said:

This guy is deluded if he thinks the farmers aren't already spraying herbicides all over the place already. 

His concerns about contract farming might be realistic though.

 

 

Exactly ! As if there was even 1 farmer not killing us softly in Thailand...

 

 

[Asiang]

18 minutes ago, TravelerEastWest said:

"Going organic is just a pipe dream"

 

Actually in the past all farming was organic so certainly not a pipe dream and there are quite a few farmers growing niche organic crops making money worldwide. 

 

For short term thinking chemicals make sense if you don't care about health - Farmers are getting poisoned when using chemicals.

 

Do a little research and you will see lots of Thai farmers using chemicals for market crops; but for their family the crops are organic. Their personal garden will often be in the back and the vegetables will have holes in them - not beautiful but healthy...

 

 

As if a Thai was able to think anything else but short term...

 

 

 

[sweatalot]

4 hours ago, Alive said:

The rich yuppies of Bangkok who have cheered the loss of democracy and the rise of this regime, who join all the crowd bicycling and who praise the  clearing of Bangkok's poor off 'their' sides walks are the ones posting in support of this guy. They have the right ideas but sadly selfishly have no problem of making the poor suffer to for whatever their next whim is.

 

" cheered the loss of democracy"

another one deluded, there was no democracy, they just abused the name for their frauds

 

[Jonmarleesco]

7 hours ago, Alive said:

The rich yuppies of Bangkok who have cheered the loss of democracy and the rise of this regime, who join all the crowd bicycling and who praise the  clearing of Bangkok's poor off 'their' sides walks are the ones posting in support of this guy. They have the right ideas but sadly selfishly have no problem of making the poor suffer to for whatever their next whim is.

Is there a connection between this and the majority of us constantly threatened with chemical poisoning from multi-sprayed produce, whether the farmers are poor, or not? And not all of them are.

[Wilsonandson]

 
The poor should study instead of making babies when they're 15. Maybe then they can contribute in a usefull way in BKK and make a decent salary.
 
If not they better stay on the countryside and grow banana's/mango's/peanuts/papaya's/rice so the rich Bangkokians don't have to buy imported fruit/vegy to stay healthy.

Fruitman
Fruitcake more like!

[chubby]

On 10/25/2016 at 2:36 PM, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Actually, I believe that cabbage came out as one of the less problematic Thai-grown veggies in the recent round of independent veggie testing for pesticide residues in excess of regulatory standards.

 

Look near the bottom of the right hand column in the linked chart:

 

http://www.thaipan.org/node/849

 

Unfortunately, the Thai PAN organization doesn't appear to include Thai grown potatoes among its pesticide residue samplings -- presumably because they're not one of the more common Thai-used produce items.

 

 

 

it seems at least in the USA, that cabbage must be able to be grown without the need for as many pesticides, coincidence?

https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/

 

[geriatrickid]

On 10/25/2016 at 6:28 PM, canuckamuck said:

This guy is deluded if he thinks the farmers aren't already spraying herbicides all over the place already. 

His concerns about contract farming might be realistic though.

 

 

He is not deluded. Rather he is informed. Modern potato farming methods kills soil fauna and   changes the soil somposition, such that it is dead. Modern potatos are not what they were 25 years ago and the overuse of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides has created a nasty item. Potatos are rather useless when it comes to providing nutrition. 

[canuckamuck]

4 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

 

 

He is not deluded. Rather he is informed. Modern potato farming methods kills soil fauna and   changes the soil somposition, such that it is dead. Modern potatos are not what they were 25 years ago and the overuse of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides has created a nasty item. Potatos are rather useless when it comes to providing nutrition. 

I made no mention of potato farming techniques.

[geriatrickid]

7 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

I made no mention of potato farming techniques.

The issue is the chap's position on potato farming and you went off on an unsubstantiated tangent about farming methods in Thailand. By reference it attaches to the issue  at hand , which was to express concern as to the manner in which potatos are  grown.

[dick dasterdly]

41 minutes ago, geriatrickid said:

 

 

He is not deluded. Rather he is informed. Modern potato farming methods kills soil fauna and   changes the soil somposition, such that it is dead. Modern potatos are not what they were 25 years ago and the overuse of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides has created a nasty item. Potatos are rather useless when it comes to providing nutrition. 

Slightly off topic - but its hard (impossible?) to know which foods aren't bad for us here.

 

We know (and it has been admitted) that vegetables are full of chemical pesticides and fertilisers, but don't know how much of this can be eliminated by thorough washing.

 

The meat (I assume) is battery farmed and full of hormones/antibiotics and the like.

 

Bananas seem to be a good 'bet' as the fruit will be protected from pesticides by their thick skin?

 

This should probably be posted on a different forum, but does anyone have good suggestions of foods that are likely to be less contaminated by the unwanted chemicals?

[canuckamuck]

2 hours ago, geriatrickid said:

The issue is the chap's position on potato farming and you went off on an unsubstantiated tangent about farming methods in Thailand. By reference it attaches to the issue  at hand , which was to express concern as to the manner in which potatos are  grown.

The fact that Thai farmers are completely reliant on copious amounts of herbicide,particularly Glyphosate. Should not need to be substantiated. As it is common knowledge. 

You are the one who decided to split hairs about it.

[TravelerEastWest]

On 10/26/2016 at 10:29 AM, Asiang said:

 

 

As if a Thai was able to think anything else but short term...

 

 

 

Being racist doesn't make you look smart or sophisticated.

 

Plenty of brilliant Thai business people and farmers out there - look around - if you can speak Thai reserach on youtube amazing what you can find and nice people who just liek to help.

[chainarong]

On ‎10‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 7:05 AM, Alive said:

The rich yuppies of Bangkok who have cheered the loss of democracy and the rise of this regime, who join all the crowd bicycling and who praise the  clearing of Bangkok's poor off 'their' sides walks are the ones posting in support of this guy. They have the right ideas but sadly selfishly have no problem of making the poor suffer to for whatever their next whim is.

Correct