Booze as Pesticide: The Latest in Organic Farming
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 08.10.06
We know that all organic wine isn't always all it's cracked up to be, though there are some good ones out there. For anyone whose organic wine experience has left them wanting, we're happy to bring you this interesting idea: if it's no good to drink, it can be an effective pesticide. Farmers in India say spraying liquor, instead of pesticides, is doubly beneficial: they do not get poisoned while spraying and the soil isn't contaminated. While skeptics wonder if the “organic treatment” of cocktails is good for the crop, local wine-shop owners are not complaining. “The sales of cheap liquor have more than doubled,” on the heels of this new realization, according to the owner of a local liquor shop. The best part: booze costing 100 rupees a dose worked comparably to professional grade toxic chemicals that cost 3000-4000 rupees. What will they think of next? ::Hindustan Times via ::Hippyshopper
interesting!
I wonder if anyone's ever been caught drinking on the job...
"A little for you"
"A little for me!"
*glug glug*
Oddly enough, it may be organic but it's not entirely vegeterian.
Wine is clarified, or cleared, after fermentation.
Some of the ingredients used include:
- edible gelatins (made from bones)
- isinglass (made from the swim bladders of fish)
- casein and potassium caseinate (milk proteins)
- animal albumin (egg albumin and dried blood powder)
What does using wine for pesticide have to do with being vegetarian?
In addition to being a good alternate to toxic pesticides for crops, it works for fruit flies in your kitchen too. Just leave a little red wine in the open bottle overnight and mutch of your problem will be gone by morning.
Hey Jilted: My thinking is that when someone hears the words "organic" pesticide, they probably don't expect the pesticide to consist of animal ingredients. Most toxic chemical and organic pesticides currently on the market don't have animal-based ingredients. So I thought I'd mention it.
The article says liquor not specifically wine. Which is it?