Where I grew up here in upstate NY (and still live here) there were hundreds of small dairy & chicken farms. Now there's only about a dozen dairy and one chicken farm left. All the rest have packed it in and gone out of business, the land subdivided and developed by city people. That land will never grow another crop of food again. That's unconscionable to me. As American farms are going out of business, we're importing more & more food. Chemicals that have been outlawed here 40 years ago, are being poured on crops in foreign countries.

But some of this is the fault of the consumer. For example, people want perfect fruit & vegetables. God forbid there's a worm in an apple or ear of corn. The only way to grow that perfect crop is to use fertilizer & chemicals. But it should be used prudently. When I see a worm in something I'm about to eat, that tells me it's free of chemicals.