Episode 52 - "Killing Fields"

Following the acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer, just a handful of companies now control over 70% of the world's supply of pesticides and 60% of patented seeds. Consolidations like this speak to an underlying trend in industrial agriculture, and in this episode we stop to consider the role that pesticides play in a system of food production that threatens biodiversity, food security, human health, and the environment on which crops are grown. In addition, we ask what impact these trends have on small farmers, and what we can learn from the efforts by local community seedbanks to preserve diversity and resist industrialization.

While we do explore the human health consequences of certain pesticides, as well as the risks we may not be certain of, we primarily choose to focus more deeply on why pesticide-aided industrial practices attract investment in the first place and what effects that has had on Earth and all of us.

Chapters

• 00:36 Agrochemical consolidation and pesticide dependance
• 09:51 Pesticides affect more than humans
• 16:35 Understanding the role pesticides play in a larger system
• 20:28 Why industrial farming anyway?
• 27:55 Roles of diversity in a better world
• 29:41 Indian landraces - Dr. Debal Deb
• 32:51 Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute
• 45:21 Intellectual property stalls farming innovation
• 50:38 Desiccation: the insane farming practice you've never heard of
• 56:35 We have enough food to feed the global population?
• 58:39 Harvard finds way to profit from climate change
• 1:02:49 Glyphosate
• 1:13:47 Regulations blind to global poor
• 1:19:07 What can we do?

A full transcript is available as well as detailed links and sources (plus credits and more) on our website ashesashes.org.

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