3 ms·

Okay, so with a half-life of five years, whatever you spray at year zero, you get about 87.0551% left by next year. So, let's imagine we spray just one unit pe

Okay, so with a half-life of five years, whatever you spray at year zero, you get about 87.0551% left by next year. So, let's imagine we spray just one unit per year. Year zero, one unit. Farmer Brown shows up to do his usual one-unit blast, recommended by Monsanto, but 87% of the stuff is still there. Year two, 1.870551 units are present. Year three, 2.628408673 units. Year four, 3.288162485. By year ten, you have 5.79376654 units present. If the half-life is really five years, you should do an initial one-unit dump, then just thirteen percent of that every subsequent year.

RandallBrown 5y ago
Presumably most of the pesticides get removed when the plants are harvested. Some probably are still around, but if spraying less worked, the farmers would because it would be cheaper. Not saying that pesticides aren't a problem, just saying that we're probably not just flooding our fields with more and more pesticides.
- sjwalter 5y ago
  > the farmers would because it would be cheaper As a person who just became a farmer at the start of covid, I think this is a mistaken conclusion. Farmers are, in general, not out there a/b testing concentrations of herbicides or pesticides in their fields to find the exactly optimal level. If they're anything like most of the farmers I've met--who are absolutely really smart, well-intentioned folks--they talk to the guy at the extension office or weed control office and that guy tells them what to mix and how to apply. If it works, the farmer is generally happy. If not, he'll complain. The definition of "works" is: the immediate problem is solved. So the extension office guy, who usually seems to be indirectly funded by Dow Chemical in some way, or just by chance seems to really love that concern's range of products, is motivated to maybe overshoot a little. On my farm, we're doing things a little bit, uh, differently. Our food is expensive, but it's helping heal our soil and provides actual nutrition. https://mulligan.farm https://mulligan.farm.
refurb 5y ago
A quick scan says half-life can be up to 5 years, but also low as several days.

RandallBrown 5y ago

Presumably most of the pesticides get removed when the plants are harvested. Some probably are still around, but if spraying less worked, the farmers would because it would be cheaper. Not saying that pesticides aren't a problem, just saying that we're probably not just flooding our fields with more and more pesticides.

sjwalter 5y ago
> the farmers would because it would be cheaper As a person who just became a farmer at the start of covid, I think this is a mistaken conclusion. Farmers are, in general, not out there a/b testing concentrations of herbicides or pesticides in their fields to find the exactly optimal level. If they're anything like most of the farmers I've met--who are absolutely really smart, well-intentioned folks--they talk to the guy at the extension office or weed control office and that guy tells them what to mix and how to apply. If it works, the farmer is generally happy. If not, he'll complain. The definition of "works" is: the immediate problem is solved. So the extension office guy, who usually seems to be indirectly funded by Dow Chemical in some way, or just by chance seems to really love that concern's range of products, is motivated to maybe overshoot a little. On my farm, we're doing things a little bit, uh, differently. Our food is expensive, but it's helping heal our soil and provides actual nutrition. https://mulligan.farm https://mulligan.farm.

refurb 5y ago

A quick scan says half-life can be up to 5 years, but also low as several days.