Agriculture: ban or educate?

In the wake of misinformation and political and ideological clashes disconnected from the country's agricultural reality, Brazil has been losing opportunities to occupy the prominent place it deserves on the global agribusiness scene. One of the reasons for this to happen is the lack of understanding of what modern agriculture is by the majority of the population.

Although everyone, without exception, is dependent on agriculture for the most basic aspects of survival (think of a Brazil without the food, clothing and energy produced by the countryside), only an insignificant minority of the population in large cities actually understands how it works. agribusiness. The basic education of the population lacks a realistic vision of what large-scale agriculture is, the one that actually feeds, clothes and energizes society in a country like Brazil. I am simplifying here as "basic education" the period from nursery to university diploma. Correcting this error later is not easy and is not always effective.

The lack of agricultural culture helps to spread myths and nonsense about the topic in traditional media and social networks. It's embarrassing to see opinions from "famous" people taking a position against or in favor of agricultural practices without at least understanding what they represent from a technical, social or economic point of view. And our society, so dependent on agriculture, but at the same time so ignorant of how it works, ends up being an easy maneuver for non-agronomic interests to politicize discussions that should be eminently technical. Just look at the festival of nonsense that the clash between organic and conventional agricultural production systems has become. Simply put, there shouldn't be a clash. What we need, as a society, is synergy.

An example that can be a synthesis of this process is the engagement of the urban population in proposals to ban inputs, pesticides and their application techniques. These are work tools developed, tested and approved in different regulatory bodies, within strict legislation. Therefore, these products and techniques are safe for society, as long as they are used correctly (good agricultural practices). An example is the herbicide 2,4-D, one of the most used tools for weed control in the world and which, periodically, is the target of unjustifiable ban proposals.

Trying to make up for losses, agribusiness is mobilizing to cover the gaps left by public policies that ignore the importance of basic education, training and workforce training in the agricultural sector. Private extension services have never been so important and valued. In all segments of agriculture, good practices assumed a prominent place in these training programs, seeking to offer society a real vision of agriculture that helps the country's growth and sustainability. Unfortunately, these actions are not as effective precisely because of the agricultural ignorance that plagues a large part of "urban" society in Brazil.