Who shall reap? (1970?)

[Music] [Music] a farmer's day begins this farmer like Farmers everywhere goes to tend his fields to coax from the earth his his daily bread and [Music] ours but his task is not easy whether he turns the soil with a hole or a modern plow whether he threshes his crops by methods as old as farming itself or harvest with modern machinery all farmers face a common Menace in every corner of the Earth the pest armies are at work ravaging the fields scourging the land infesting the soil enemies that seek to reap what the farmer has sown and the enemies our [Music] Legion 300 million years before man appeared on Earth the insect was here with time to develop varieties so diverse their numbers are Beyond conception roughly a million species along with ticks and mites 34s of all the animal kingdom of these 10,000 species are man's mortal foe endlessly Ving with him for food and fiber endlessly looting what he has swn and [Music] tended and when it was morning the East Wind brought the Locust they did eat every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees and there remained not any green thing as it was in biblical times so it is today in the rice bowl of Southeast Asia the stem borer destroys a crop that would feed half the peoples of the world in India it's the ca Beetle world's worst Pest of stored grain in Africa render Pest of cattle and the Titi fly in the United States and Mexico it's screwworm in Central and South America the cattle tick and torsalo fly infecting destroying another of man's main sources of [Music] food this biological Wonder this product of natural selection this segmented walking crawling fing gigantic insect zoo is in all the animal kingdom the most successful to challenge man's Dominion of [Music] Earth weeds our silent enemy [Music] [Music] Farmers through the centuries have chopped and HED scraped and cultivated to rid their fields of these unwanted [Music] plants his crops stealing soil nutrients sunshine and moisture producing pollen and poisonous toxins that cause human allergies caused by fungi bacteria and and other nematodes often destroy the efficiency of roots insect carriers bring death and disease to man himself this insect alone carrier of the organisms that cause malaria infects 1 15th of the human race killing a man woman or child somewhere every 15 seconds other species of mosquitoes other insects also bring death or disease of all human deaths sickness deformity and disease more than one half is caused by insects on our crowded planet are 3 and 13 billion human beings by 1980 there will be over 4 billion by the end of the century more than six twice today's population food production must keep Pace with this rapidly growing world population meanwhile man's ancient enemy continues to multiply this TI alone in a few Generations can give birth to Young outnumbering the population of China the common housefly in a single summer can produce 191 quillion of its young take the nematodes in a single growing season a common root knot nematode can produce 31 qu drillion worms indeed a single acre of cultivated soil commonly Harbors 300 billion nematodes around plant roots in the laboratory man's mind has long been pitted against his enem iies from his Modern Chemistry biology and dedicated research have come thousands of effective chemical compounds all to help revolutionize the productivity of our own agriculture to help make possible the abundance and high quality of our food supply fungicides to check disease herbicides to Stamp Out weeds and brush after even before they emerge insecticides to control destructive insects rodenticides to combat the hated rat enemy of corn and grain storage beer also of human diseases such as Bubonic plague all of them pesticides important tools of food production modern weapons to stop the Invaders dead in their tracks in many less developed regions of the world desperate and feudal attempts to combat the enemy are slowly changing as technical Aid teams help introduce modern methods of pest [Music] [Music] control yet so persistent and destructive are pests that each year they take 13 of all man grows in the United States 1/4 of all we [Music] produced the powers of Destruction some so uniquely endowed so ingeniously capable of evading man's most potent weapons have built up over the years resistance to many once effective chemicals within another decade or so many of our existing pesticides may only be minor irritants with man only a step ahead of his Enemy new weapons are being devised in the Research Laboratories thousands of new com compounds and control techniques are being developed and put through countless [Music] tests for instance how will rain affect the efficiency of a [Music] chemical is there a potential Hazard to man and animals it takes years of research until a chemical meets rigid requirements of safety as well as Effectiveness safety safety to man to animals to crops to Wildlife to fish to beneficial insects to our total environment safety always the watch word in our use of pesticides to ensure this safety the United States Department of Agriculture registers [Music] pesticides and with the aid of the US Food and Drug Administration and other agencies checks for any residue these chemicals may leave in food crops in soil in water samples are collected for analysis [Music] food crops are then chopped and [Music] Blended a solvent is added to remove any pesticide residue a small sample of the extract is then injected into into this gas chromatograph a machine able to detect traces of pesticides down to parts per million or even parts per billion the results of these sophisticated tests May restrict the approved uses of certain pesticides or even take them off the market completely research has given us still another major weapon to use in this battle against pests manipulating or changing the environment in which insects nematodes weeds and diseases Thrive it is called ecological or cultural control among its practices are tilling the soil use of seed and planting stock treated to resist disease rotation of crops strip cropping all to help prevent the development and emergence of certain harmful pests the land is conditioned to discourage this in this half of our Century man has conquered the atom the frontiers of space the depths of the ocean could not this advanced technology be applied to control pests with the even greater Effectiveness and safety within the last decade Radio Active Cobalt 60 has been used to sterilize millions of pupy of the male screwworm fly whose parasitic larvi breeding In the Flesh of cattle deer and other animals posed a major problem to our livestock industry in the southern half of the [Music] nation once the Pew developed huge numbers of sterile male flies were dropped over infested areas to mate with female flies soon drastically reducing the population of a major threat in America this Advanced sterilizing technique has also been used to deplete the ranks of other major insect pests such as the Mexican fruit p [Music] we have found that certain radiations have special attraction to many night flying insects specifically raay in the realm of the ultraviolet or so-called black light in one experiment more than half of the adult Target insect population was captured as it responded to the color and wavelength of these rays in this trap unmated female moths were added their sex odor combining with the black light to attract male moths with sex a [ __ ] in the armor of some insects man is trying to use the highly active natural attractant in the female of many species an attractant related to reproduction in this experiment an odor similar to that given off by the female household cockroach so arouses the male that it collects in frantic numbers research that may lead to new methods of pest [Music] control scientists also also study the Ecology of pests and man the balance nature maintains among all living things most insects have natural enemies parasites and predators often a parasite's entire life cycle takes place within the host insect the larv of a tiny wasp has destroyed the internal organs of this aphid the Marissa snail from the rivers of South America is a predator of a different type it feeds on aquatic weeds this snail's voracious appetite for weeds may be the answer to a serious problem in the United States in the competition between man and insects sometimes microorganisms which are found in nature help the farmer by causing natural outbreaks of disease and death among major pests the Cabbage Looper meets a black death through destructive bacteria fungi or a [Music] virus aphids are also subject to disease the results are [Music] evident Environmental conditions are of primary concern in the field testing of these microorganisms variable weather factors are measured and correlated such as temperature and humidity solar radiation and wind direction and velocity basic tools for the scientist who evaluates the interaction between insects their natural enemies and their environment man has also applied His science of genetics to breed a wide variety of food crops that are resistant to the ravages of insects and disease he studies relationships between a host plant and its insect pest to determine why the plant provides a perfect fit for the insect's growth by selective breeding recombination of genes he adds physical and biochemical factors to alter these [Music] relationships because of development of disease resistant varieties rusts and smuts no longer devastate the wheat fields of our nation this Devastation was caused by the European corn borer crop loss was almost 50% but progress has been made in developing corn borer resistant hybrids selective breeding for resistance to this insect has also developed hybrids that are free from the ravages of root rot and nematode damage chemical weed control also boosts corn yields and improves quality today scientists are designing integrated Pest Control Control Systems which combine chemical biological cultural and other control techniques such Integrated Systems harmonized with the environment could be the shape of the future in the battle against [Music] pests [Music] through his intellect man has developed a superiority over every other form of animal [Music] life he has mastered a science and technology that has created an Empire fabulous to [Music] behold la by the end of the century we are promised a dazzling new world a world in which man will be in control of his [Music] environment but in many parts of the world despite all of his triumphs man often reaps only 2/3 of what he has sown two for himself one for the hungry pests in some areas one for himself one for the enemy what will be man's share of the world's food supply in years to come 3 billion people today 6 billion by the year 2000 a world that will need four times our present food production to avert famine and [Music] disaster our planet contains both The Have and Have Not Nations people living in abundance and those engaged in a daily fight for survival if this Gap