Shocking: DDT found to be deadly to farmstead crops due to a pre-exodus conspiracy, mass panic ensues.

Submitted to C-08 Frontier Satire

Many in the scientific community have long been working on ways to improve agricultural output.

One such research team funded by startup DELI spent the past month researching the application of DDT on farmsteads, only to reveal what they describe as a spiraling conspiracy surrounding its use in agriculture.

An impetus

Key agricultural planets with farmsteads which host many Benten-headquartered companies such as Nemesis, Poseidon, and Proxion are often warmer than the average agricultural planet. As such, they are often plagued by native pests, invasive species, and plant diseases, drastically cutting into agricultural yields whenever a locust swarm or blight culls a large monoculture plot.

One particularly severe incident on Proxion highlights such a case, involving a terrorist cell linked to the renegade FOXV corporation during their takeover of Promitor, which unleashed a plague that wiped out large plots of maize before being contained by Proxion Chamber of Global Commerce (CoGC) with the terrorists executed in a shootout involving planetary security drones.

Prior to the Exodus Project, use of DDT was heavily regulated on Earth due to environmental concerns, limiting its use to specific niches, notably within orchards for the production of high-maintenance fruits and vegetables. However, the scientific community and commercial sector have begun to question its continued regulation, especially on what they refer to as "green hells."

Conducting their research on the vibrant planet of Nemesis, the warmest of the three, the team of researchers bounced between DELI's agricultural base and Nemesis Wildlife Park's research and testing lab, where they studied the effects of DDT and other pesticides on a comprehensive selection of pest species affecting commonly grown grains, maize, beans, and vegetables.

Unfortunate findings

After a long research process, the team of experienced researchers have unexpectedly come up short. While highly effective on many arthropod pest species, DDT was found to be cytotoxic to plant cells, resulting in wilting and death in under a day.

In an interview, Sarah Kloos said that it was completely unexpected, given how differently farmstead crops, except for the notable exception of herbs, react compared to orchard crops.

"It's not possible to use DDT on farmsteads. At all. I've never seen plants look this bad, and I've seen the locusts on Pyrgos."

After genetically sequencing multiple species of farmstead crops, and cross-referencing with pre-Exodus data on genetic sequences of corresponding plants, transgenes were found that were not present in any common pre-Exodus plant; i.e. almost every single farmstead crop was genetically modified.

The transgene enables DDT to bind to plant cells, initiating a signaling cascade that prematurely triggers the intrinsic apoptosis pathway through the generation of Bcl-2.

In the same interview, Yang Yueming, the principal investigator, called upon Castillo-Ito Mercantile leadership to launch an investigation into the reasons behind the sudden appearance of the transgenic sequence after the Exodus ships departed the Solar System.

Deep probe

Upon request, Castillo-Ito's legal team scoured pre-Exodus and post-Exodus archives held by the governments and CoGCs of agricultural worlds for information. While details are scarce, the information presented paints a harrowing picture.

Prior to the Exodus, a major South American political party developed a splinter faction of ecofascist tendencies. Rejected by the mainstream establishment, radicalized by lack of action in Earth's climate crisis, and hatred over the handling of the economic depression by major corporations within the pre-Exodus economy, they utilised a complex network of agents to, among other things, sabotage fuel refineries, chemical plants, and agricultural produce.

Using a shell corporation in Europe, they engineered a virus used for the transfection of plant seeds with the anti-DDT transgene, tampering with the genetic code of seeds designated for the Exodus Project. Unfortunately, this action flew under the radar due to the hasty nature of the Exodus, alongside the heavily regulated use of DDT, especially on farmstead crops.

In a press statement, the Castillo-Ito Director of Coordination revealed the recent finding to business leaders and reporters, reiterating Old Earth's regulation that DDT absolutely should not be allowed near farmstead crops, with the noted exception of spicy herbs.

Backlash and fallout

Following this revelation, panic spread as many companies owning farmsteads rushed to seal off DDT within their warehouses, citing concerns that it may affect crops.

Many implemented revised standard operating procedures dictating the screening and segregation of soil to ensure that soil used to grow herbs does not come near soil used to grow other farmstead crops.

Public backlash was intense, with various voices both advocating for and against the regulation of DDT. One such firebrand interrupted the middle of a debate held by the Government of Kaffee, demanding that no trace of DDT be present in rations, or she would "hang every member of government, and burn every single food processor down."

An angry mob, furious at DELI's funding of such "heretical research," stormed its recently built food processing and fermentation plant on Milliways. Thankfully, security drones contained the situation and prevented any financial losses for the company, albeit at the cost of eight lives.

Following public pressure, 277 government workers across Benten space were fired, with the Benten S&P GSCI Agriculture Index falling 14 points in a single day.

In an unprecedented move, the former CEO, delissaious, was kicked out of DELI's Katoa headquarters and promptly replaced by her clone, delissaious, as the newly elected CEO.

Katoa CoGC sided with the employees, saying they "never liked delissaious much anyways," and that she "got it coming to her for creating a chemical company on Katoa for some bizarre reason."

[OFEC] delissaious, Guest Contributor
C-08 Frontier Satire | Benten Regional Dispatch
Interstellar Commerce Review