[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1494]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND AGRICULTURE PRODUCTION

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                            HON. NICK SMITH

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 2, 1996

  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, those that have suggested that 
the use of pesticides by producers of our food supply is not 
environmentally sound have missed the most important environmental 
benefit of modern farming: It produces more food from fewer acres, so 
it leaves more land for nature.
  The best possible agriculture for the environment would look 
amazingly like modern, high-yield technology supported farming. High-
yield agriculture is the best available model--and the only proven 
success for a world that must triple its farm output over the next 45 
years, and whose largest demonstrated environmental threat is loss of 
wildlife habitat.
  Our environmentally ideal agriculture must use monocultures, potent 
new seed varieties, irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides to get high 
yields. It must do this because high yields are the most critical 
factor in preserving millions of square miles of wildlife habitat from 
being plowed down for lower yielding crops.
  These technologies have more than doubled the yields on our 
farmlands. Since 1960, we have been able to get twice the amount of 
grain and oilseeds, and feed better diets to 80 percent more people on 
the same amount of land. If these new technologies had not taken place 
we would have lost 10 million square miles of habitat, about the land 
area of North and Central America combined.
  Pesticide bans would cause yield reductions that would themselves 
lead to significant loss of wildlife habitat. Several studies have been 
conducted to ascertain the yield differences between farming with or 
without pesticides. According to a Department of Agriculture Economics 
study, production in crops would drop between 24 and 57 percent without 
pesticides. Farming without pesticides would cost us 20 to 30 square 
miles of wildlife by the time world population peaks in the year 2040.
  Environmentally sensitive agriculture is one that uses the best 
possible use of our land--by technology supported fertilizer use and 
other high-yield methods which most efficiently produce our feed supply 
and hence protect wildlife species from habitat loss. Our goal must be 
to produce more food on fewer acres, leaving the rest to wildlife and 
for future generations to enjoy.

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