Local knowledge on any farm is important. This picture shows a little jumping spider on a tomato plant. This spider is a hunter, and by spraying it with an insecticide, just like the pests, it also dies. Then begins a vicious circle in which the farmer sprays, wipes everything out and invariably the pests come back quicker and stronger causing even more damage because the natural predators have been eradicated. The balance is upset, and the scales tip, and the crops suffer.Toxic chemicals offer an immediate solution in the control of diseases, pests and weeds, but pests do build up resistances against pesticides, residues of specialised herbicides build up in the soils and ultimately cause problems with crops, such as stunted growth. The natural elements of the environment adapt and change, the chemical companies develop new chemicals to replace those to which a resistance has been forged by nature. Nature is an immense force and to work against it is folly, work with it, apply what occurs naturally and she does not have to fight back, she settles down, the farmer, and nature win.
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