Tilling the soil with pesticides- article by Vandana Shiva

http://www.asianage.com/columnists/tilling-soil-pesticides-596

Major talking points-

"The chemical push changed the paradigm of agriculture. Instead of working with ecological processes and taking the wellbeing and health of the entire agro-ecosystem with its diverse species into account, agriculture was reduced to an external input system adapted to chemicals. Instead of small farms producing diversity, agriculture became focused on large chemical monoculture farms producing monocultures for a handful of commodities. Correspondingly, the human diet shifted from 8,500 plant species to about eight globally traded commodities, which were nutritionally empty but loaded with toxics."

"Another research by Navdanya released in 2011, “Health per Acre”, on biodiverse organic systems has shown that ecological systems produce higher biodiverse outputs and higher incomes for rural families. Our report shows that when measured in terms of nutrition per acre, ecological systems produce more food. We can double food production ecologically. Ecological systems of agriculture are based on care, compassion and cooperation."

Navdanya website- http://www.vandanashiva.org/