Jim Whitaker
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Here's Jim Whitaker on the TED stage.
Farming is a very capital-intensive business.
My dad couldn't help us.
He didn't have the finances.
He could not help us get started.
And let me tell you something about renting a farm when you're 22 years old.
No one rents you a farm unless no one else wants to rent it.
It was a big piece of land.
I mean, the states were set.
We were doomed to fail.
And we weren't focused on environmental sustainability back then.
We were focused on economic sustainability.
How do we make higher yield?
How do we use less fertilizer?
How do we get to the next year and feed our family?
Okay, so rice around the world is grown in a flooded environment.
This is for weed control purposes.
When they plant the rice in the water, grasses don't grow well in the water.
So that's why people use water all these thousands of years to grow rice is for weed control.