In my home town of North East, Pennsylvania the people of the town are completely dependent upon the grape crop. Some of the townspeople are grape farmers, some own wineries and the rest work at the Welch's factory It's easy to conclude that if the grapes are low in sugar content the whole town suffers. As one can only imagine, the town is completely engulfed in grape vines. Decades ago when the grapes were farmed with only the help of elbow grease the grapes were the sweetest they've ever been.
But as technology progressed, farmers started investing in bigger tractors, fertilizers, and pestisides to help produce more of their crop. The town was bombing, Welch's was prosperous and everyone was happy. That is until 5 years ago, when two 17 year old boys were diagnosed with testicular cancer. The one thing they had in common; the grapes. It was never officially announced that the pestisides were the cause of their illness, but parents are now wary about letting their children out when the grapes are being sprayed. We used to walk across the street and snag a bunch of grapes to eat right off the vine, but nowadays we have to wash them off first. Before the pestisides, the only harm from not washing the grapes was a little dirt - which is proven to help build ones immune system. Things just aren't the same as they used to be in North East.
No comments:
Post a Comment