Government Funds Research on How Organic Farming Removes ‘Pests’ Without Chemicals

There’s something pretty obvious to us about the merits of organic farming. Food produced without the use of genetic modification, pesticides, and other harsh chemicals just has a better ring to it than the conventional foodstuffs, right? But now, there is some indication that the movement for organic farming methods will become better understood and perhaps more strongly considered by the federal government for its own uses, at least when it comes to the management of “pests.”

A $750,000 grant was awarded by the federal government to Washington State University (WSU) in order to fund a project that will, according to the Epoch Times, “investigate the merits of organic farming in eradicating pests without the use of chemicals.” More specifically, the project will look at how organic growing methods such as crop rotation, biodiversity, and utilizing insects rather than killing them with pesticides can actually help solve the problems that plague conventional agriculture.

Bill Snyder, a professor at WSU and a researcher on the project, told the Epoch Times that he “hopes to learn more about the intricacies of predator bugs and how they affect soil health in order to figure out ways that, as an entire system, bugs, crops and soil can co-exist in harmony with one another to keep everything in a proper balance.”

And the study will also aim to preserve “predator pests” like ladybugs — which often help crops because they eat other crop-destroying pests: “Ladybugs, for instance, are often used in integrated organic farming to eat aphids and other crop destroyers. Conventional farming methods that blanket crops in insect-killing poisons, on the other hand, are unable to sustain ladybugs, which means pesticide-resistant bugs will eventually prevail.”

We’re glad to see the government funding research about farming methods that actually are good for our health, the soil, and the entire earth. We are excited to see where this research can take us, and the impact it may have on the decision-making about how we eliminate pests from foods without destroying the earth in the process.

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