Coronavirus – Waiting For A Vaccine Is Waiting For Godot! And It’s Not The Best Solution Either!

Dealing with Covid-19, DoH doctors & UP mathematicians should learn health science from farmers!

Agriculture must go on – but the Enhanced Community Quarantine, ECQ, as dictated by doctors and mathematicians, is making it extremely difficult for government to function, private sector to operate, and farmers to grow our food – for all to benefit.

Being an agriculturist and a creative science writer, I shake my head when I see how doctors of the Department of Health, DoH, and mathematicians of the University of the Philippines, UP, are handling the pandemic:

DoH and UP are handling the Covid-19 crisis
not scientifically but only technically! Bad.

Dona Magsino of GMA News writes, 13 April 2020, “Philippine Covid-19 Problem May Last Until Jan. 2021 If No Intervention Will Be Done – DoH[1]”. Ms Dona’s first paragraph:

The Philippines' battle with coronavirus disease 2019 (might) drag on for months if proper interventions would not be implemented, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said Monday, citing studies by experts.

Those are modelling studies. My Internet search found “Covid-19 Forecasts in the Philippines: Insights for Policy Making (Updated as of April 22, 2020)[2]” news by J Mikhail Solitario), researchers & paper authors being Guido David, Ranjit Singh Rye, and Ma Patricia Agbulos, all of OCTA Research of UP.

The objective of the OCTA research borrows from the objective of the ECQ. (Here, the OCTA report misspells “Enhanced” as “Enhance” (no d). That is a tell-tale sign to this Editor In Chief that the paper has not been carefully reviewed and/or edited. This misspelling is just an introduction to a graver error!

The OCTA mathematicians say:

Ending the ECQ prematurely may disrupt the flattening of the curve.

Based on this math-based research paper, Ms Vergeire said (my free translation):

They had 3 modelling estimates, and they arrived at differing timeline ranging from up to the 3^rd quarter of the year, and worst case scenario, up to next year January.

The experts are maximizing the objective of the ECQ as “flattening the curve” before the ECQ is lifted. Ms Dona says, “(Ms Lim) said that it could take about six to 18 months before a vaccine against the new strain of coronavirus can be developed and distributed to the public.”

The ECQ is based on the absenceof a vaccine to fight the virus! What if the vaccine is never found?!

A more important question:
“Why are we relying on a vaccine when we can fight the virus on its own terms!?”

All doctors know that our body has an autoimmune system. Time for doctors to learn from farmers!

Now, how does a farmer grow healthy crops? No, you don’t plant “healthy crops” – rather, first you ensure that the soil is healthy, so it will grow healthy crops! The farmers who wait for the disease to strike before they strike back with their vaccine – chemical control – are the unscientific ones! (image of “Healthy Crops” from morningchores.com[3])

Our modern doctors are behaving like our olden farmers: unscientifically!@517

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[1] https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/733740/philippine-covid-19-problem-may-last-until-jan-2021-if-no-intervention-will-be-done-doh/story/

[2] https://www.up.edu.ph/covid-19-forecasts-in-the-philippines-insights-for-policy-making-updated-as-of-april-22-2020/

[3] https://www.pinterest.ph/pin/406942516333709042/

If Biodiversity Is Our Garden Of Eden, Where Does It Start? You Missed It Already!

You think Pandemics and Biodiversity have nothing to do with Agriculture? Think again!

Coronavirus, pandemics. I google for “pandemics biodiversity” (excluding double quotes) and Google gives me 15 million results. Everybody is talking about pandemics and biodiversity! Like so:

“Biodiversity Loss Is Hurting Our Ability To Combat Pandemics” – weforum.org
“Biodiversity, Pandemics And The Circle Of Life” – greenbiz.com
“Ban Wildlife Markets To Avert Pandemics, Says UN Biodiversity… – theguardian.com
“Want To Stop The Next Pandemic? Protect Wildlife Habitats – TIME
“Biodiversity And Emerging Diseases” – NCBI

Okay, already! In the Philippines, we have right at the upper campus of UP Los Baños the headquarters of the Asean Biodiversity Center, ABC, with Theresa Mundita Lim, as Executive Director. Janvic Mateo writes on “Biodiversity Protection Needed To Prevent Future Pandemics” (26 April 2020, The Philippine Star[1]) and says, “Lim said the current pandemic highlights the need to mainstream efforts to protect biodiversity to prevent future spread of illnesses.”

Ms Lim was saying, “Exposure to wildlife in general can result in transmission of illnesses.” The danger is real. She said:

There’s more exposure now to the wilderness areas, between people and wildlife. It’s not just the markets, not just the trade, but the encroaching of what used to be wildlife habitats, decreasing habitat areas.

So! We humans continue to disrespect Mother Nature! What you do comes back to you. One of the forms this disrespect comes back to us is pandemics.

Ms Lim was saying, “(We have) to protect biodiversity.”
The question is: How do we do that?

If you look at the above image, from The Conversation[2], the answer is:

You: “We go back to the forest!”
Me: “We go back to the farms!”

We have millions of hectares more farms than forests.

Martine Maron of the University of Queensland throws a very intriguing question in the title of her article, which also contains its own answer, and which is inspiring (source cited above):

“Food Vs Fauna: Can We Have Our Biodiversity And Eat, Too?”

Ms Martine says:

So, we have to feed an extra 2.5 billion people by 2050. For those of us interested in the future of biodiversity on this planet, this poses an uncomfortable challenge…

She is encouraging “land sharing” – using “wildlife-friendly” farming.

I am extremely glad Ms Martine does not say, “Farm the mountains!”

Now, look at the above image again. Because we prefer to cultivate certain crops, there is not much diversity in the farms, is there? There is not much diversity in the plant life on the slopes of that mountain either, is there?

So, where do we start the new consciousness on biodiversity?

The obvious answer is: The mountains.
The immediately visible and more intelligent answer is: The farms.

What do I mean by biodiversity on the farms?
Multiple cropping.
Intercropping.
Three-Sister planting.
Trap cropping.
Agroforestry.

If we leave no bare patch of ground unplanted, we will see biodiversity like we have never seen before – and the wildlife will thank us, including the flowers and the bees!@517

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[1] https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/04/26/2009890/biodiversity-protection-needed-prevent-future-pandemics

[2] https://theconversation.com/food-vs-fauna-can-we-have-our-biodiversity-and-eat-too-3178

SOLVE As A Way Of Speech & Blogging As A Way Of Write

Searca Tuesday, 28 April 2020, 10:00 AM, embarks on a Southeast Asian voyage of discovering and/or uncovering pieces & sets of knowledge on food security given the global coronavirus outbreak. 

It is a webinar series to “highlight concrete actions in agriculture and rural development in Southeast Asia.” The series to be launched is called “Searca Online Learning & Virtual Engagement,” acronym SOLVE, which is Searca’s “effort to break boundaries, both physical and conceptual, to strategically disseminate just-in-time solutions.” It is ambitious, but the times call for it.

Searca Director Glenn B Gregorio says of it:

The new normal brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic has firmed up Searca’s resolve to embark on new modalities and use technology-mediated platforms of interactions to effectively deliver context-relevant and valuable services to its stakeholders, including farmers and the public.

SOLVE is virtual but the learnings are real. Mr Gregorio said:

SOLVE particularly highlights specific concrete and practical actions being implemented on the ground as a way to disseminate and promote these to the wider sector possible.

Why is Searca doing this? Mr Gregorio said:

Ultimately, as a leading enabler and champion of excellence in ARD in Southeast Asia, SEARCA now further consolidates its efforts in making sure that all the necessary actions will indeed directly reach and would significantly benefit the Farmers and Farming Families.

With that, I must say that Searca is suddenly the development-consciousSoutheast Asian institution of science that it has never been in its 54 years of existence, founded in 1966, setting up headquarters at the campus of UP Los Baños.

The public is invited to participate via Zoom and Facebook. Again, let me note that Searca is a pioneer in the use of social media to address its clientele, which is Southeast Asia-wide.

Food security for the people is insurance against hunger and malnutrition via production and purchase, an interplay of export and import.

There are 3 speakers for 28 April 2020: Secretary of Agriculture William Dar; Searca Director Glenn B Gregorio, and General Manager of Farmer’s Factory Gerry Hidalgo. The major theme is “Food & Nutrition Security” and “Eco-Health/One-Health Applications to ARD.” The sponsoring partners for the day are Searca, the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, and Farmer’s Factory.

At the same time, Searca is keen to partner with any institution or individual who sees the potential in SOLVE and may like to, say, serve as a resource speaker. That is why I wrote this essay.

I am now going to offer myself as a webinar speaker-demonstrator in the field of blogging for development. Certainly, blogging can offer just-in-time solutions. Live, I will demonstrate digitally how people can think creatively and write and blog by themselves.

I am 79; my thousands of blog posts are digital proofs that neither age nor media is a hindrance to communication.

If time is short, we continue the tutorials online afterwards, first 10 clients free, email to email. Writers should be free, and blogging is a way to go!@517

IRRI, PhilRice, The Rotavator & Lorenzo’s Secret

“The New Thinking For Agriculture” espoused by Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie has yet to consider what the rotavator can do to enrich the farmers’ pockets by first enriching their soils!

I have a 55-year direct experience with the Howard rotavator in my hometown Asingan in eastern Pangasinan. That 1965, I was instructing the driver of the big tractor not to set the blades to any depth but just drive through the field, and because the Howard rotavator was heavy, it cut into the soil anyway, about 2-3 inches, which is what I wanted. My brother-in-law Lorenzo Casasus, was there at that time; in later years he copied the shallow cultivation with his Kuliglig hand tractor and rototiller. The results? His neighbors could not match his yields even if they tried to copy all his methods – he did not tell them about the magic that his rototiller was doing.

What was Lorenzo’s Secret? Because the rotary blades had their tines set against each other, they cut the ground and weeds finely and mixed them in the same rotating motion. When that big Howard rotavator was finished, it actually had created & distributed a mulch of soil & weeds throughout the field. As fine an organic fertilizer as you could get – cheaper too!

I got the idea of what I now call Lorenzo’s Secret from the books of Edward H Faulkner, Plowman’s Folly (published 1943) and Soil Development (1952), the books I discovered in the open shelves of the UP College of Agriculture library when I was already an instructor mid-1960. Mr Faulkner called what he did trash farming.

Has either PhilRice or IRRI discovered Lorenzo’s Secret? None of the webpages of IRRI[1] give a hint. The above image shows a rotavator being used – but not as a mulch maker as I have described.

In May 2018, PhilRice had this report: “PhilRice Develops Cost-Effective Farm Machines With Multiple Applications[2].” This is the PhilRice rototiller, which is “a multi-purpose machine that can be used as a rotavator, transplanter, seeder, and a multi-seeder…”

Now, IRRI describes the rototiller for rice primary tillage, which is land preparation. The IRRI Rice Knowledge Bank says:

Primary tillage is the first soil tillage after the last harvest. It is normally conducted when the soil is wet enough to allow plowing and strong enough to give reasonable levels of traction.

Unfortunately, as the above image shows, the rototiller is used as if it were the ordinary hand tractor cultivator – digging deep into the soil to bring out the clods of soil and later to level them. Too late the hero!

How come I have not come across studies by PhilRice and IRRI about the rotavator?

The IRRI webpage says one of the objectives of primary tillage is to “kill weeds by burying or cutting and exposing the roots.” If you use the rotavator properly, it will kill weeds by cutting them to pieces, mixing them with the soil, creating a rich topsoil.

That is what PhilRice and IRRI have not discovered yet – Lorenzo’s Secret!@517

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[1] http://www.knowledgebank.irri.org/images/docs/landpreparation-irri-farm-machinery.pdf

[2] https://www.philrice.gov.ph/philrice-develops-cost-effective-farm-machines-multiple-applications/

Nicky Perlas – Health Or Wealth Is A Cruel Choice!

We need a Balance, and the continuing Luzon Lockdown is cruelty against Reason.

Canada One says of its own image (above)[1]:

Covid-19: Saving Lives vs Saving the Economy:
Getting This Wrong Could Be Devastating.

Health vs Wealth. I say Canada One is either short-sighted or cross-eyed.

Canada One fails to realize a 3^rd choice –
the one it itself constructed for all to see!

Looking at the balance it built, Canada One sees only an apocalyptic vision.

Wake up, Canada One!
You do not know you constructed a balance – literally!
Meaning? Both sides equal.
Which means we can choose both.
If we are using our head!

Which is exactly what Filipino genius Nicky Perlas sees that I see in his  
Open Letter To Rodrigo R Duterte, President, Republic Of The Philippines.

And so on one side, Nicky tells President Rodrigo Roa Duterte:

Mr President: Given the incomplete and sketchy scientific and global information available to you then, you understandably had no real choice but to lock down the entire country in an attempt to control Covid-19 infections and deaths. Your quick and decisive action gave the nation some breathing space in the face of the unknown.

That was one month ago; Nicky’s letter is dated 18 April 2020.

As you acknowledged from your recent addresses to the nation, you are now caught in the middle of a cruel choice: Saving lives or saving the economy?

Not a balanced proposition, I say.

What if… a second wave will hit the nation, a side-effect of the lockdown and flattening the curve approach? We are already beginning to witness this in China.

Second wave – getting this wrong could be devastating!

Meanwhile, Mr President, our own Department of Health, DoH, is IV-feeding media into frenzy!

The figures from DoH, which then (get) press coverage, overstate the number of infections… (including test results with) large numbers of false positives. (Those) inaccurate test results create unnecessary panic and hysteria among our citizens.

I say, there are 2 culprits in there: DoH and Media. The DoH hyper-ventilates and, without counterchecking with experts, the Media shows its toothy grin as it disseminates those inaccurate numbers. Mr President, “In fact, in your televised Cabinet Meeting on April 9, the Secretary of (Health) acknowledged the declining figures of infection.” Facts.

The declining rate of new cases and low death rates… indicate that the virus behind Covid-19 is not a virulent as feared. At most, it is a stronger version of the flu as scientists from all over the world are discovering. 

Well, Mr President, we all fear it because the media wants us to. There’s media agenda.

The Philippines has suffered more deaths from pneumonia and flu (than) from Covid-19 for the same (length) of time. Yet we never locked down our society every time there was pneumonia or flu epidemic… Continued lockdown and social distancing will predispose the country to another epidemic wave of the Covid-19.

Wake up, Mr President!
We have constructed a bad balance.
The continuing lockdown is healthy
neither for our people nor economy!@517

Let’s Redefine Beauty. But I Would Not Like To Redefine Patriotism

First, there is a hugely important word not found in Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie’s “The New Thinking For Agriculture” and its accompanying “Eight Paradigms,” but it is there: Patriotism. (Patriotism image from CooINSmart[1]) About it, beloved American novelist & wit Mark Twain says of it:

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time
and your government when it deserves it.

I say patriotic is Manong Willie’s New Thinking, his all-out support for his country in the wide field of Agriculture; and being an obedient cabinet member to President Du30.

Senator Bong Go has proposed a nationwide program called “Balik Probinsya[2]” (Living & Loving in the Villages, my free translation). Manong Willie publicly supports it.

The are no details about Balik Probinsya, but surfing I found that in the time of Noynoy Aquino, already there was a “Balik-Probinsya Program” (BPP) [3].” For the BPP, the DA is the first in the list of government institutions coming up with the “National Convergence Initiative For Sustainable Rural Development.” The Initiative, says the proposed Executive Order, EO, “is a strategic development approach that can contribute to sustainable rural development through complementation of efforts with the local government units (LGUs) and other stakeholders.” For the LGUs, the EO says: “The convergence approach is a major strategy for meeting the informal settler’s shelter requirements while at the same time addressing livelihood, other household, and community needs.”

I say that if you are a patriot in the true sense of the word:

You are beautiful.

I will also say that in patriotism, there is the beauty of intentions.

The Covid-19 Lockdown made us all forget about physical “beauty” brought about by penciled eyebrows, rose-colored cheeks, red & lustrous lips, padded eyelashes, and beauty-salon hair and makeup. Thank God!

Above, Kulin Fernandez, once-upon-a-time our next-door apartment dweller, does not mention her source of the image, but I found it: Energising Souls[4]. Here is more from there:

Let’s Redefine Beauty
(27 April 2019)

Women, Girls, Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Friends, Aunties,
Calling all females…………
Let’s redefine beauty.
It’s not the outward appearance.
It’s what’s on the inside that makes you beautiful.
It’s your very essence that is beautiful.
When your heart & soul shines, that’s where your real beauty radiates from.

I accept all that. But I want more of Beauty!
Like:

Beauty of ideas. The 2^nd month into his headship of the Department of Agriculture, Manong Willie launched “Kadiwa ni Ani at Kita” at the Food & Development Center in Taguig City[5]. Today, Kadiwa is welcome here and sought there, especially in the cities. It is borrowed; it is beautiful.

Beauty of Intentions – My intention as a writer for the new PH Agriculture is? Cultivate the beauty of people and places in the countryside. So, after everything I have said and done in the last 13 years, I am not perfect. I accept that. I accept what Amy Bloom says of it:

You are imperfect, permanently and inevitably flawed.
And you are beautiful.@517

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[1] https://www.coolnsmart.com/patriotism_quotes/?cfilter=images

[2] https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1100982

[3] http://nci.da.gov.ph/images/DownloadableFiles/3_ProgsandProjs/3.4_BPP/3.4 BPP.pdf

[4] https://energisingsouls.com.au/2019/04/27/lets-redefine-beauty/

[5] https://www.facebook.com/secretarywilliamdar/posts/125159192184147

Lockdown Thinking Of Agriculture 4.0, My Journalism 4.0 And Ani & Kita

You are looking at my PC setup in my bedroom/workroom somewhere in Luzon in this lockdown. With it, I can look out & into so many universes even as I am ensconced in my little room and not allowed to go out. 

Did I say I’m enjoying being held up in a room? With my Core i7 14-inch Lenovo laptop and an external 20-inch ViewSonic monitor, yes. When I was being taught, initially, digital writing during the Niños Inocentes Day in 1985, with WordStar 1, I was only thinking it made my writing & editing sessions so much easier, but it was still work. I never thought I would enjoy working in the digital world – in a few weeks, work became play.

You may know that I am already 79, thank God. Question: How can a senior citizen enjoy writing nonfiction, even if there is payment? Isn’t it a burden on the eyes and memory? Answer: On the eyes, yes. On the memory, yes! But that is why you can adjust the text size and clarity in Windows 10. And no, you don’t have to memorize grammatical rules or names etcetera – you can always surf the Web.

So, here I am enjoying myself blogging away! (Note the clock.) My latest blog is called Journalism 4.0 – deliberately, I took the name after Agriculture 4.0, of which everyone says is “The Future Of Farming Technology.” That is to say, the emphasis is on technology. Of it, Oliver Wyman says[1]:

The World Government Summit launched a report called Agriculture 4.0 – The Future Of Farming Technology, in collaboration with Oliver Wyman for the 2018 edition of the international event. The report addresses the four main developments placing pressure on agriculture to meeting the demands of the future: Demographics, Scarcity of natural resources, Climate change, and Food waste.

So, Agriculture 4.0 is dedicated to:
(1) satisfying the world’s billions of human mouths,
(2) conserving natural resources,
(3) adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change, and
(4) avoiding food waste.

High goals for the World Government Summit!
But not high enough.

Given all that, Agriculture 4.0 does not give equal attention to the poverty of the world’s billions of people. Even if all the technologies generated under Agriculture 4.0 fit the criteria of appropriate technology articulated by Ernest F Schumacher in the early 1960s, poverty is not in the agenda. I must say:

Agriculture 4.0 is poor!
In the Philippines, Ani & Kita should make it rich!

How? Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie’s Masaganang Ani at Mataas na Kita (bounteous harvest & bountiful income, my translation) will make it a dream come true.

I remember what I now call the UN 4.0, which is it’s strategy for Sustainable Development: technical feasibility, economic viability, environmental soundness, and social acceptability.

No matter how advanced your farming technology is, how sophisticated, how ingenious and how accurate, if it is not acceptable by the poor, it is not acceptable.

And yes, Journalism 4.0, we must not forget the trees!@517

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[1] https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/insights/2018/feb/agriculture-4-0--the-future-of-farming-technology.html

Information Vs Knowledge Vs Wisdom – Science & The Application Of It

With “The New Thinking For Agriculture” for PH Agriculture under Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, along with “The 8 Paradigms” that comprise it, and being a BSA graduate, you already know my cup of tea. It intrigues me that Bruce Tolentino, a friend of Agriculture, UP Economics, is sharing on Facebook Richard Feynman’s Information Knowledge thesis (above).(wisdom image from Ubiquity University[1])

As it happens, my ultimate measure of knowledge is its usefulness to society – against the 4 elements of sustainability proclaimed by FAO: technical feasibility, economic viability, environmental soundness, and social acceptability. Then, knowledge must be transformed into wisdom!

The ways I see them:

Information is any piece of report of what has or have been observed.

Knowledge is bits & pieces of information that have been related together to make one sense or another. Sorry, but what is depicted in Mr Feynman’s expression via text, lines and balloons as “knowledge” is too complicated to be explained by ordinary mortals – only a supercomputer can interpret the knowledge contained therein!

Now, what is the application of Feynman’s view of knowledge? Not pieces or sets of knowledge that may be expressed as a technology or a system.

Beyond Technology or System, what can you construct out of Knowledge? Knowledge sets that can be elevated into Wisdom. This can happen of course backwards – you arrive at the Wisdom first, by insight, and then find an explanation by way of known knowledge bits & pieces. The whole came before the parts!

How do I apply such thinking to the New PH Agriculture that is in the mind of Manong Willie?

Information vs Knowledge – If you want to criticize the “New Thinking For Agriculture,” you have to understand first how those 8 paradigms make up the whole PH Agriculture, then you may say the whole set still lacks one or two things.

I, as a creative writer, am now going to employ Mr Feynman’s Information vs Knowledge construct for others to understand what is creative writing:

(1)   I start with bits & pieces of Information. I collect them via research.

(2)   Then I construct new or improved knowledge from those bits & pieces of information I have gathered, or thought.

(3)   My handling of knowledge sets may not be as sophisticated as Mr Feynman illustrates it, but I certainly hope that the knowledge constructed is usable enough in society.

Applying now: Is land ownership wisdom? It certainly is composed of sets of knowledge: piece of land, necessity for working it with tools & equipment etc.

Question: How do you elevate land ownership into wisdom, so that it may serve a bigger whole than simply the landowner? 

Answer: You elevate it by destroying it – or, rather, not insisting on it but insisting on consolidating the function of each piece of land – into an organizational, operational whole, where say 100 hectares of 200 owners are managed and operated by a single group that represents the interests of the land owners. Land ownership is private good; land consolidation is social good.@517

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[1] https://www.facebook.com/WisdomUniversity/

Organic Farming With Healthy Results Without Unhealthy Expenses! Via Companion Planting

This is a beautiful sharing by a beautiful lady of the communications office of the Department of Agriculture, DA – Rheeda Abrantes-Cabrera. She knows her Agriculture! Thereby, I can see she is an asset to the leadership of Secretary of Agriculture William Dar/Manong Willie, because nobody else has mentioned companion planting by anyone from inside the DA or outside. No, “companion planting” is not her original idea; but it is her original idea to include it as an important part of Manong Willie’s “New Thinking For Agriculture.” 

Of the “8 Paradigms” that comprise the New Thinking, I must say companion planting belongs to Modernization, improving on the planting of any farm or garden crops along with the main crop or crops. Ms Rheeda shares on Facebook the article “28 Companion Planting Combinations To Grow The Tastiest, Most Bountiful Food & Beautiful Flowers” (30 September 2019, Editorial Team, Natural Living Ideas).

The E Team says, “Companion planting is one of the best things you can do in your garden.” Why is that?

Some plant companions can help to improve the flavor and yield of homegrown fruits and vegetables, others help to repel pests and parasites, others improve soil health, regulate shade or aid pollination and so much more.

That’s what I call a “loaded sentence;” let’s count the items now: 

(1) Improve flavor – basil would improve the flavor of tomato[1].

(2) Improve yield – ampalaya with corn, the standing stalks become the climbing posts and your vegetable will yield more.

(3)   Repel pests & parasites – potatoes and marigolds repel Mexican bean beetles.

(4)   Improve soil health – beans enrich the soil with nitrogen as they grow.

(5)   Regulate shade – I have seen coffee trees planted under coconut trees for the shade. You get good coconuts; you get better coffee.

(6)   Aid pollination – If you plant flowering plants, you attract the butterflies and the bees, the pollinators of the Earth.

“Beans are the best companions of cauliflower.” The blooms of celery and onions attract ladybugs that keep the population of cauliflower pests in check.

“You can grow beans, peas, carrots, beets and radishes with cucumbers.” Plant sunflowers with cucumbers to repel cucumber beetles.

Squash prefers the same companions as cucumbers. Planting beans in the same mound will give nitrogen to the squash.

Corn can be planted with any member of the legume and squash families. This is known as “Three Sisters” planting.

How about perennial herbs? Here are some you can plant and enjoy for years:

Tomatoes can be planted with onions and parsley. Marigolds will ward off insects and nematodes.

Potatoes grow well with beans, peas and vegetables from the cabbage family.

Peppers – Grow spinach, lettuce or radish around the peppers. They enjoy the light shade and return the favor by suppressing weeds.

Eggplants benefit from beans planted near them.

Did I say anything about a Huge License Fee? No. About Spraying? No. Companion planting is the best thing you can do in your farm or garden. It is your healthful and most inexpensive way to Organic Agriculture!@517

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[1] https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/companion-planting-guide-zmaz81mjzraw