It is all well and good to make recommendations to the farmers, but I can personally gurantee that those farmers will not follow the recommendations. A vac and containment system on the planter? Who is going to pay for and maintain that? The seed companies? Mandate it to the farmers and a few will use it, most will go back to spraying, which is way worse than the dust plume created by the seed coating dust.
Dont empty the whole bag into the planter box, thus eliminating some of the dust?
BEING one of those opening and dumping the bags, I can attest to the fact that it wont happen. When planting in the spring the farmers are under the gun, they need to MOVE and MOVE NOW to beat the incoming storms. they are going to roll just as fast as they can between storms to get as much planted as possible before they have to take a break when it starts raining.. when I am dumping seed, the tractor operator is sitting in the tractor with his hand on the gear selector, yelling through the back window to HURRY UP! GO! GO!.. the bag gets DUMPED, thrown to the side as another bag is handed up, already opened.. usually two to four guys standing on the back of the planter with a couple guys opening bags to hand them. Another issue is the bulk tanks fo rthe seed. they are becoming more common.. it is a wagon with an auger in it that augers the seed from the wagon into the planter boxes, and this has the effect of creating MORE dust..
The dust I see in the picture they posted is from DIRT. If it was from the seed the plume would be colored, purple, green, yellow etc..
I am not saying there is no neonicitinoid dust being plumed, only that the amount of it is in no way comparable to the overspray from ANY sprayer, tractor pulled, self propelled or air plane applied.
I have seen crops devestated by insects. It used to be a common thing when I was little. I remember my dad taking me with him to walk fields. In bad years half the crop could be destroyed. When a new tractor cost $10,000 dollars it was more sustainable than it is now where that field tractor costs more than ten times as much. Keeping up with the rising cost of equipment means farming MORE land, and producing higher yields..
I have heard it argued that it is all about greed. MORE MONEY..
In some cases it is, but in a vast majority of cases, its about making ENOUGH after paying the bills. If you have priced a new 4x4 truck in the last five, or even ten years, you know what I am talking about. What about that truck? Does it cost the automotive manufacturer 50K to make that new Chevy 3/4 ton with the Alison trans and Duramax diesel? Consumer reports claim they cost UNDER 20 thousand to produce. So who is greedy? Charging $32,000 for that truck would put the automotive industry in line with most other retail business..
I guess I find myself defending Neonics with only the limited knowledge I have. The ONLY reason is because I don't want to see the farm industry revert to the spray applied pesticides of the past. You know th eones? The ones that killed the fish, the eagles AND the bees...
By the way... Eagles have come back in a BIG way here in the last ten years. I usually see at least two every day...
