Michelle Obama's decision to make her new White House vegetable garden entirely organic has angered America's powerful agribusiness lobby who are urging the First Lady to consider the use of appropriate "crop protection products".
Mrs Obama started work on the kitchen garden with a gang of schoolchildren last month. Media coverage of the first White House food plot since Eleanor Roosevelt "dug for victory" in the Second World War garnered media coverage across the world.
But to the consernation of Big Ag, Mrs Obama has said the project will not use chemical products to tackle pests or give her plants a boost, the Times reports.
Shortly after the digging began, Mrs Obama received a letter from the Mid-America CropLife Association (MACA), which represents the companies producing the pesticides and fertilisers underpinning "conventional" American agriculture, the paper said.
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Ferchrissakes. Peacenik's outrage meter just blew a gasket. This is like the former BIG 3 automakers lobbying against CAFE standards and negotiating tax rebates for purchasers of Hummers. The Big 3 were doing this while they were functionally bankrupt. The Big 3 is still lobbying against CAFE standards just days before they head for Chapter 11.
BigAg is in the same boat. Its business model is defunct. BigAg is destroying the world, and defending its handiwork. BigAg depends on oil. Fertilizers depend on oil. Oil is running out quickly. But BigAg is ticked about a dinky organic garden. BigAg is about to become NoAg. Peacenik says again: if you have a patch of ground, grow something you can eat.
