Sonoma County organic farmer Bob Cannard has the dirt on what’s killing the Earth and refuses to bury his head in the sand about it.
He’s part of a growing movement of farmers, vineyard tenders and conservationists who care for the soil as much as the crops.
The outspoken crop whisperer of sorts studies the leaves, sprouts and buds of his herbs, vegetables and fruits on his 40-acre Green String Farm in Petaluma like a microbiologist examines specimens.
“We, (as a society, wrongly) think we need pesticides on everything, perpetuating the concept that there are pests. It’s a genetic perversion,” he told the Business Journal in early March.
The conventional agricultural system, as he describes it, rewards herbicide and pesticide use to the detriment of many living species like the monarch butterflies that used to blanket the meadows of milkweed and other pollinator-friendly plants. Now they’re near extinction — at last count, down to under 2,000.
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