Downstream Effects
“The mechanical ‘digger’ moves along the rows turning over the ground and pulling the potatoes to the surface (the plants having been killed a week or so earlier by herbicide spray)...That is the essence of potato picking from the migrant farmworkers’ viewpoint”--Sylvia Kelly, “Migrant Art: From Field to Gallery” (1987)
The use of what we would consider to be pesticides and herbicides dates back to the 19th century in the United States. As referenced in various issues of The Genesee Farmer, potatoes could be submerged in chemical solutions of copper sulfate to “copper-fasten” them, supposedly a surefire way to prevent rotting and chitting; copper sulfate applied to wheat could rid it of smut, a parasitic fungus (Barnum; “Smut-Pickling”). Powdered sulfur spread on peaches and grapes could mitigate mildew; when packed into a drilled hole in a fruit tree, it could ward off worms once the tree’s sap started to circulate (“Sulphur”; M.B.). Burning sulfur to rid flowers of bugs was highly advised against, as the “ill effects of the fumes upon the tender foliage of plants” was likely to result in their death, yet dousing them with sulfur still was encouraged--despite the fact that it would “make even a pig sick” (Salter 222). Copper and sulfur were two of the most commonly used elements when it came to caring for crops, with various forms of calcium and zinc also being popular options. It was around this same time that new “artificial manures” like super-phosphate of lime and ammonia were being added to soil in order to promote faster growth (“Artificial”).
While the use of these chemicals offered some immediate benefits in terms of growing, protecting, and preserving crops, little consideration seems to have been taken when it came to their overall impact on the environment. As long the crops were doing well, then any negative consequences of questionable farming practices were left unresolved. This is ironic, considering the devastation caused by an illness known as “Genesee Fever” or “The Lake Fevers” that was common in Western New York (Ludlow). It was believed to have been caused by “‘stagnant waters, phosphoric exhalations, swampy creeks, and bad water for drinking’”; the remedy to the sickness was to clear the surrounding forests and drain the land (McNall 82). Today it’s generally thought the illness was caused by malaria, transmitted by mosquitoes, but in either case public health was closely related to water--creating an even more extreme emergency in Rochester when several cholera outbreaks were caused by contaminated rivers and wells.
Besides fear of malaria, farmers had agricultural reasons for draining stagnant water from their lands. It was said to destroy “all useful vegetation, all economy in working the land, all health, and all beauty of landscape….Manures are inoperative upon wet or moist lands. Do not content yourself with removing what is on the surface, for stagnant water, just below, is frequently equally prejudicial with that which is visible” (“Drain”). Aggressive underdraining had the unforeseen consequence of washing nutrients out of the soil, especially when combined with poor cover crop practices (“Study”). But no one seems to have envisioned downstream effects of pesticides and other chemicals introduced into the fields, and from there farmworker bodies, groundwater, and ecosystems. Today it is one of the most urgent issues for migrant farmworkers (Farmworker Justice).
It is situations like these that make it necessary for us to reflect on farming practices of the past. We might want to question why, in the majority of historical documentation of farms, that the personal impacts of these practices are rarely mentioned--especially in the case of farmworkers. Hired hands in the 19th century were already often mistreated by their employers, just as many migrant workers still are today; it would not be unreasonable to assume that polluted resources would have affected them tenfold compared to the average landowner. Environmental concerns are human concerns, and should be treated as such when it comes to modern-day agriculture.
Works Consulted
-- “Artificial Manures.” The Genesee Farmer 13.9 (Sept. 1852): 269-270. Courtesy of Internet Archive
-- Barnum, P.T. “Food Consumed by an Elephant.” The Genesee Farmer 16.8 (Aug. 1855): 247. Courtesy of Internet Archive
-- “Drain Your Lands.” The Genesee Farmer 9.11 (Sept.1848): 276. Courtesy of Internet Archive
-- Farmworker Justice. Exposed and Ignored: How Pesticides are Endangering Our Nation’s Farmworkers. 2013. Link to document
--Kelly, Sylvia. “Migrant Art: From Field to Gallery.” The New Nomads: Art, Life, and Lore of Migrant Workers in New York State, edited by Mary Arnold Twining, The New York Folklore Society, 1987, 59-78.
-- Ludlow, Edward G. Observations on the Lake Fevers and Other Diseases of the Genesee Country, in the State of New York. J. Seymour, 1823. Link to document
--M.B. “Sulphur for Killing Worms on Trees.” The Genesee Farmer 26.8 (Aug. 1865): 253. Courtesy of Internet Archive
--McNall, Neil Adams. An Agricultural History of the Genesee Valley, 1790-1860. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1952.
--Salter, Josiah. “Sulphur to Kill Rose Bugs.” The Genesee Farmer 18.7 (July 1857): 222-23. Courtesy of Internet Archive
--“Smut-Pickling Seed Wheat.” The Genesee Farmer 20.8 (Aug. 1859): 238. Courtesy of Internet Archive
-- “The Study of Manures.” The Genesee Farmer 15.12 (Dec. 1854): 361-362. Courtesy of Internet Archive
--“Sulphur for Mildew on the Grape.” The Genesee Farmer 20.6 (June 1859): 185. Courtesy of Internet Archive
-- “Underdraining.” The Genesee Farmer 19.1 (Jan. 1858): 9-10. Courtesy of Internet Archive