51�Թ�

Single-family homes started going up on what had been vast acres of cropland sprouting corn, tomatoes, melons and rice.

In September, UN agencies said 67.6% of cropland had been damaged by shelling, vehicle tracks and other "conflict-related pressures".

Suggesting that organic’s limited use of chemicals is equivalent to that of conventional growers — who apply 280 million pounds of glyphosate alone on nearly 300 million acres of U.S. cropland annually — is a deliberate distortion of the facts.

In the mid-1980s, when he managed cantaloupe fields, federal government pilots would fly small planes over the state’s cropland looking for large crews of workers, he recalled.

When cropland is watered, it can result in “pulsing events,” where soil bacteria are reactivated and release large amounts of pollution.