Something changed when Swiss farmers stopped fighting pests with more chemicals and started planting flowers instead.
Researchers found that wildflower strips sown through winter wheat fields cut cereal leaf beetle numbers by up to 53%. Crop damage dropped by 61% because the flowers gave natural predators like parasitic wasps and hoverflies a place to live and hunt on. The idea is refreshingly simple.
Give nature’s pest controllers a home and they take care of the rest. The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology has now planted similar strips across 15 farms in England to test whether the results hold outside Switzerland. Early signs suggest these flower corridors help insects reach the center of large fields, not just the edges.
It is a small change with a big promise for farmers hoping to grow food without leaning so hard on pesticides. Source: Schumi et al., Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Agroscope, Switzerland.
Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
canisgallicus 