That is a heart-wrenching story, @abneagro. Without farmers, most of us would not eat. They are the silent heroes, unsung in society. Farming is hard, so I understand why people look for shortcuts, but nature doesn't understand.
When I was a child I remember on my grandfather's farm trucks used to go down the rows of fruit and spray them. It was routine. Today his granddaughter runs an organic farm. No chemicals of any kind. I hope that is the wave of the future, but it seems not to be the case.
Thank you for your comment and for sharing the story about your family. From a terrible event great good has come, because you educate all of us.
A big hug to you, my friend, @abneagro. Good health to you and your family.
@abneagro, @agmoore, you are absolutely right that it is unlikely that the farming of the future will be organic because there doesn't seem to be a simple solution. I have read that pesticides are used because many of the crops we grow today, especially grains, are too weak to be able to survive in the wild. Without pesticides, the amount of labor needed to produce enough food from those crops would be extreme. That is actually why we started using pesticides and synthetic fertilizers to begin with. The same is true for many of our livestock. Any pasture raised chickens either have their diet supplemented with grains, which is what most do, or they are forced to kill off all of the local predators.
Organic farming is basically pre-industrial agriculture. One reason I am skeptical that society will or even can switch to organic farming is because all farmers use shortcuts. Farming itself is a shortcut over hunting and gathering, and farming itself has lead to deforestation and pollution long before pesticides were ever invented. I am not against farming and I don't think we should go back to being hunter-gatherers like some cranks think though. I just don't see there being a simple solution like I thought there was growing up.