Continuing education

Surrounded by herbicides with not a plant in sight. I am working at this company for the next three weeks, a temporary assignment sent by providence to give me an inside look at the workings of a multinational agricultural company.

First impressions: China and India are at the forefront of chemical production, and apparently this is where many companies are heading as prices rise here in the U.S. I now know what's in those rusted hulls of shipping vessels in the bay: chemicals. Refined pesticides, herbicides and fungicides to "help" the corporate farmer grow shiny strawberries on fungus-free sod, happy flowers in an aphid-free environment. Over the next three weeks I'm going to take a look at the active compounds in the products sold here, to determine what they do to bugs, to plants, and to us. Stay tuned.