So how has everyone enjoyed living like they were in an actual movie from years ago? It was entitled ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. In the end the people survived and were given an admonition to use their God given gifts to help each other and live in peace. It is considered one of the Science Fiction Classics. As to living it in real life, everyone seems to have a different perspective. Kids who attend grade school, high school or college, not being in class was not a big deal. Not being able to socialize has to seem weird. For the farmer from near Fargo I visited with tonight, he said his closest neighbor lives three miles away so social distancing is big deal. For the business owner or motel with no customers walking thru the door, it causes lots of worry. For the medical people it creates lots of work and unknowns. We have not seen any crowds in the local hospitals.
One View Point
I have never had so much news and medical info deluging me from contacts in China, Australia, Argentina, military stations in the U.S. and specialists here. I know the U of IA and VA hospitals were busy, but how much has this been over blown? We also hear stories where 30ish people with no health issues have been infected.
The belief now is that the bug may have been here last Nov and Dec, but without proper test kits it was not diagnosed. Learning that a study group of over 1,000 people was assembled in a western location who tested positive and were found to have antibodies in their system but had shown no symptoms has caused medical people to scratch their heads.
On a good note our top Chinese contacts have been sending lots of info and stories. Perhaps the best ones were those dealing with ancient Chinse herbal medicine. Their health care professionals were finding their best results on infected people were coming when using herbal remedies and recipes, and at one fifteenth the cost of treatment of pharma products. Will we see exasperated American Health Care physicians experiment with less expensive and effective treatment regime? I visited with a DVM friend whose daughters with her MS in Biochemsty continued her studies in ancient Chinse medicine recently. She told me how when she was taking instructions over there they visited football sized warehouses where up to 2,000 different medicinal plants and plant parts were stored and processed. They consider it one of their national treasurers. She and the rest of the ten young health care professional health care specialists only had to pay for their flight costs. The Chinese doctors rolled out the red carpet for them and would love to entertain more U.S. health care people. They stayed in Hilton Inn type hotels and were treated royally.
If giving the best and most successful care to patients is the goal of the providers, they should at least investigate what is being done with botanicals in China. Read the story in Jerry Carlson’s Renewable Farming column. It includes pictures of gardens in the UK that have been maintained since the 1700s as sources of these plants. Could smaller farmers and ISU Master Gardeners be able to turn such crops into a profitable small farming operation? I can connect any interested health care professionals with her. Most large pharms companies got their start by sending ethno botanists, entomologists, mycologists and bacteriologists into the field and finding plants, insects and organisms that found products or ways to either attack or defend themselves from attack or defend themselves against all sorts of pests. Several also worked by digging up people that had died during plagues to find decomposing microbes. They would then identify the attack or defense product used, isolate and stabilize it, then compound or develop a synthetic analog.
In the 20 some years I have been writing this column I have had numerous people tell me they enjoy the truths they receive from it. Here goes. I know I will catch some grief from it. If I can help one person it will be worth it: First of all, people need to get accurate information. There are ways and affordable products that are known to be effective in avoiding contracting the virus. A good article by Dr. and PhD David Derry of Victoria, BC entitled ‘Iodine-The forgotten Weapon against Influenza Viruses. It tells how researchers dabbed mice snouts with Iodine to prevent them from misted virus spray.
Vladimir Zelenko, a NY doctor, treated over 350 patients using Hydroxychloroquine and Zinc. Their symptoms and breathing problems disappeared within 4 to 6 hours. The UK based company is no longer shipping the product to the U. S. as of Feb. What is the best alternative? Tonic water, made from the same tree bark as quinine. In malaria filled India, the British officials had to entice the soldiers to take their medicine daily, so during their afternoon break they downed a Gin and Tonic. The Tonic Water is available in most grocery stores at a low price.
A book that it fully available from the APS press that serves as a great resource guide is one that I mention often, ‘Mineral Nutrition and Plant Disease’. Authors Huber, Datnoff and Elmer describe what diseases and symptomology will occur in plants when certain minerals are deficient or in excess. The same applies to animals and humans. Dr. and Emeritus Prof Huber with his long history at Purdue and serving as the medical expert in military intelligence, as well as Dr. Arden Anderson, DO, PhD and MPH have penned and lectured about the disease increase in the U.S. population. Chenny I-Wan, former FEMA Director in China drafted a paper on 3/15/2020 entitled ‘Deteriorating U.S. Nation Health is a Key Cause of Tens of Thousands of Deaths from the Flu – An Archive of Toxicology Studies Related to Influenza and its Vaccines’. Their generals have recognized this decline and make sure their soldiers have proper nutrition. In the US over 66% of the recruits fail their physicals.
Has anyone heard of testing being done on CoVid-19 patients to determine their blood and urine levels for minerals, heavy metals and pesticides? Might it be a good thing to test so we can supply proper guidance when the next disease infection invades in an era of rapid international travel.
Back in 2013 or 14 Bill Gates was quoted that the U.S. spends 17.9% of GDP on health care. That was the highest percent of any country while the UK was the next worst at 8%. What might be the contributing factors is sometimes debated. Two grad students at major Universities, one from Turkey and one from Brazil, tested grain produced by GM crops. The first grad student checked only for Zn and Mn and found a 45% reduction in Zn and a 17% reduction in MN. The second student look at six minerals in various plant parts. Those reductions were only measuring declines due to the gene insertions, not from the application of the herbicide. If the plant and grain are deficient in those minerals, so will be the diet for the consuming animal or person. Now what about the burden from any pesticide load in the diet?
The Approaching Season
Back to the agronomy side of things. What is one sure thing for the upcoming season? That every farmer will do everything to be in the field as early as possible. It happened in 1992 after a rain delayed 1991 and in years since. Those years the planters were running until dark in late April. Now with RTK the planters could run even longer. Last year there were many fields in the Midwest that were planted in wetter than ideal soil conditions out of necessity. Parts of the Midwest endured dry conditions in late July thru August and shallow rooted crops suffered. With more of the high speed planters and larger planters it will likely be best to wait for good soil conditions to put in the majority of your acres.
The Farmer’s Shield
The interest remains high about the Famer’s Shield package of products that will remove harmful levels of heavy metals and pesticide residue from your body in about thirty days with no needles. Check our website for information on the testing lab in Fairfield, IA and about the products in that bundle.
A Newer Product for Crops OYS
One newer product we handle but have not fully explored yet to discover all of the ways it can help crops in an elicitor compound that goes by the name of O2YS. It is derived from processed shrimp shells and causes plants and soil micro-organisms to form an enzyme called Chitinase, which dissolves insects, insect eggs, insect parts, some nematode eggs and egg cases, as well as strands or mycelium of pathogenic fungi. These ideas are not actually new as these Chitinase producing products were documented and used in previous centuries by Chinese farmers. We have seen some miraculous results when soybeans plants when the stems were drooping and the leaves were already on the ground and the roots were brown. The recovery took only three days.
The company already has an EPA registered nematicide that is available and is used heavily in potato production in Wisconsin and MN where it is replacing a $300 to $400 Telone product.
The O2YS and its organic certified O1YS or Enhanced also work great as a seed applied insecticide and fungicide, but it needs to be the first product applied.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.