ADAM OLSEN -- They were a highly effective, ultra-short-term solution. They killed everything, pest and predator, laying waste to the natural environment, and devastating entire eco-systems
My Championing Local Business
tour has opened my eyes to a wide range of enterprise in Saanich North and the
Islands. I have visited facilities manufacturing heavy industrial equipment for
logging and marine ports, boat building and repairs, food processing and
research and development in a variety of fields. Clearly, my riding is home to
a vast array of expertise.
As it turns out, we are also home to world-leaders in beneficial
arthropods. My meeting with Brian Spencer from Applied Bio-nomics, at his North Saanich
greenhouse facilities, reminded me of being a kid in our own greenhouses. The
science behind growing, storing and shipping parasitic wasps and predatory
midges is complex yet the premise is simple - figure out how nature works
naturally and then encourage more of it.
Nature does it better
The idea of controlling pests with their natural predators goes back as
long as humans have been engaged in agriculture. Even though agricultural
practices alter the landscape, hedgerows are an example of natural insectaries,
home to valuable natural predators of pests that love to feast on the food
produced for human consumption.
However, I grew up in the 1970's, 80's and 90's and my family business
was horticulture. I remember times when we were not allowed into the
greenhouses because we had an aphid problem. Instead of deploying an army of
naturally occurring aphid predators to seek and destroy their prey, we sprayed
chemicals.
The rise of chemicals
The Second World War was a turning point for the chemical industry. Up
until the 1930’s, insectaries like Applied Bio-nomics supplied natural weapons
for farmers. However, following the war, chemicals became the primary tool for
pest management.
They were a highly effective, ultra-short-term solution. They killed
everything, pest and predator, laying waste to the natural environment and
devastating entire eco-systems causing many unpredicted consequences throughout
the inter-connected web of life.
Even more problematic is that, much like antibiotics for humans,
efficacy decreases over time. Some of the pests will survive the chemical
attack, then they reproduce, making the chemical compound obsolete and fuelling
another round of chemical innovation.
It's a vicious cycle that lays waste to nature and poisons our food
supply.
Leading the world
Canada is a leader in the research and development of harnessing the
power of nature for pest management and Applied Bio-nomics on the Saanich
Peninsula is at the forefront of the industry. Through the federal government Scientific Research and
Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program they have been
able to develop our understanding by growing a massive population of the pest,
to encourage the production of the predators. Then they catch, store and ship
them for application in agricultural greenhouses and fields around North
America and the world.
The chemical industry made big promises. It's easy, available and is
sold as conventional agricultural practice. Health Canada determines products
like glyphosate are safe for humans but we are not the only part of nature to
be concerned about.
Unfortunately, the more you use chemicals, the more you need to use
chemicals. However, because of innovators like Applied Bio-nomics, we don't
have to rely on the chemical industry to create evermore complex chemical
concoctions.
It's exciting to see the work of Applied Bio-nomics reconnecting us with
what we always knew.
Nature has a solution.
If we get out of the way and watch, we can learn how to harness its
power. The work Brian and his crew are doing in North Saanich is one important
part of ensuring we have a safe and healthy supply of food in a rapidly
changing world and climate.
Adam Olsen ... is a Green
Party Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Saanich North
and the Islands. Born in Victoria, BC in 1976, Adam has lived, worked and
played his entire life on the Saanich Peninsula. He is a member of Tsartlip
First Nation (W̱JOȽEȽP), where he and his wife, Emily, are raising their
two children, Silas and Ella.
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