THEY ARE EVERYWHERE !
In your bed, in your bathroom, in your living room, on your desk, in your library, from decorating your home, even hiding among the best symphonies, even on yourself, they are there with you, around from you.
In your bed, in your bathroom, in your living room, on your desk, in your library, from decorating your home, even hiding among the best symphonies, even on yourself, they are there with you, around from you.
Who?
But who?
Mites? Yes,
also, of course. But it's not them in this case.
No, I mean the
farmers.
What? There is
a farmer hidden in my bathroom?
No,
don't worry. Unless you are a family of farmers, of course ...
I'll
enlighten you ...
I just want
you to be aware that agriculture is present in our daily lives, well beyond
food.
Obviously
we're all big consumers of agricultural products, since each and every food we
are ingesting comes from agriculture or one of the integrated sectors,
sometimes after passing through the food industry.
But agriculture
is involved in many other sectors of the economy, which makes it even more
present daily.
Agriculture
includes in particular crops, livestock, forestry, beekeeping, fishing and fish
farming.
Here
is a not limited list of products or elements of your daily life that come from
agriculture. You probably know that, but maybe you are not conscious. This will
give you a glimpse of this reality:
- Bedding,
from the wooden bedspring, through the latex, horsehair or wool mattresses,
with its layers of cotton or wool, with its cotton finishing, its linen, cotton
or silk sheets, wool blankets or feather duvet, everything comes from
agriculture.
- Clothing:
all natural textiles come from agriculture (cotton, linen, wool, silk, bamboo
fiber, leather)
- Footwear:
leather, cloth, laces, and even the sole, if it is leather or natural rubber,
-
Furnishings: wood, be it natural, plywood or chipboard, comes from forestry,
and recycling of by-products of agriculture. Natural cloth and leather as well.
- Energy:
Biofuels are processed from agricultural products, biogas is largely based on
the processing of agricultural waste.
- The chemical
industry uses, inter alia, agricultural products as raw materials or to
transform them. This is the case of latex, of new biodegradable and renewable
plastics from corn, potatoe or others crops starch, natural resins, etc.
- The
pharmaceutical industry also uses agricultural crops to synthesize certain
drugs (cannabis, eucalyptus, mint, etc.), or essential oils. A current example
is the use of tobacco (genetically modified, so GMO) to produce the first
promising treatment in the fight against Ebola virus.
- Cosmetics
and Perfumery also use a lot of vegetable oils, essential oils, natural
flavors, and many plant extracts.
- Hygiene
and cleaning products also use a lot of materials from agriculture.
- Many
natural plant dyes (pastel, indigo, madder, chlorophyll, etc.)
- The
cellulose present in the tissues, toilet paper, diapers, paper, cardboard, etc.
- The music,
with all instruments made of wood, horsehair violins, cellos and basses archers,
etc.
- Many craft
or traditional items are made with elements like olive wood, walnut, pear, or
braids wicker or straw, for example.
- Lots of
useful everyday things such as cork, wax candles, charcoal or wood for your
fireplace, natural ropes of hemp or cotton, etc.
- The
flowers you love to decorate your home, your deck or jardin, you can buy them
at the florist cut, potted for planting or seed for sowing. All this comes from
the floriculture and nursery, other branches of agriculture.
- The sport: your football, rugby, cricket or baseball stadium, your favorite racecourse or
golf, all are also a branch of agriculture, called green spaces.
Be aware of
that every day, when you growl on the road behind a tractor or an agricultural
machine, or you protest against farmers mood movements, when you think
(wrongly) that agricultural subsidies are excessive.
Be also
aware of that every day, when you see a farmer working in his field on Sunday,
or harvesting during the night because rain threat, even if he makes noise with
his tractor at night or early morning, when you want to sleep during your
weekend in the country.
If he does
it, is that it has a good reason to do so.
The planet
could experience a great cataclysm, face severe electromagnetic solar storms,
and the world should do without a lot of industrial or high-Technology
activities. In short, the world could survive despite the absence of many
existing business.
But the
world could not survive without agriculture.
Farming is
life, simply.
Farmers work
for you, daily and for your daily wellness.
