The more we pour the big machines, the fuel, the pesticides, the herbicides, the fertilizer and chemicals into farming, the more we knock out the mechanism that made it all work in the first place.

Organic farming and other earlier methods can be effective, provided they can help us improve soil health and plant health. Plant pesticides like neem and tobacco need to be promoted.

We farm workers are closest to food production. We were the first to recognize the serious health hazards of agriculture pesticides to both consumers and ourselves.

I love judging food by its smell and feel and taste. The healthiest tomato isn't always the perfect one that's been covered in pesticides.

When people say they prefer organic food, what they often seem to mean is they don't want their food tainted with pesticides and their meat shot full of hormones or antibiotics. Many object to the way a few companies - Monsanto is the most famous of them - control so many of the seeds we grow.

I've always thought the main argument for organic was more environmental than a health argument. I just don't think spraying a lot of pesticides into the environment on a routine basis is a good thing.

Golf has an ambivalent relationship with the environment. On one hand it's a great preserver of open spaces. Golf doesn't pave the world - it helps to green the world. But the downside is it uses a lot of fertilizer pesticides and water.

When the farmer can sell directly to the consumer it is a more active process. There's more contact. The consumer can know who am I buying this from? What's their name? Do they have a face? Is the food they are selling coming out of Mexico with pesticides?