A Mixed Up World

To day I am very tempted to be angry. There is something going on across the road that is not right. It started this morning when a stainless steel tanker truck pulled up our road and parked in the field across the road. Soon two men(they can not be called farmers any more and they prefer this! they're are properly called Agribusiness men ) drove up in a tractor and pickup and started pumping the contents of the tanker into tanks on the tractor and on the seeder at the back of the tractor. I went over and asked what they were planting they said corn. I was a bit relieved as they do not spray corn as much as the other thing they plant. But then I asked what was in the tank they said "fertilizer yup liquid fertilizer". Yuk! Then one of then asked why I was not in school today I was a little taken back I grinned and said I was going on 23! Then it was their turn to be taken back one of them laughed and said to the other "yer giding old"(MI way of talking) Then I asked why they had to spray there carrots so many times last year. One of them answered " oh we spray once a week" what for I asked "fer bugs" what kinda bugs? "oh nematodes an leafhoppers an fungus" Wow I guess thats what they get when they plant a mono crop! I never get these pests on our carrots. What is so upsetting about all this is that we just got our water tested and it is high in nitrates it has gone up from 11 pm(parts per million) on the last test five years ago to 14.5 pm. And this is hindering us from getting our farm kitchen state certified. What I think is wrong is that the MDA expects us to pay for the problem and does not address the source of the problem. And the Health Department who took the test is calling it a natural high nitrate level! So very upsetting!