Organic Farming - A Dose Of Reality

[Guest guest]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070711134523.htm

[Guest guest]

--- Butch Owen <butchowen wrote:

> Howdy y'all,

>

> Once we get past the smoke and mirrors we can see

> that Organic Farming is a

> luxury for the privileged.

[snip]

 

Butch, You know I love ya. You know I love the

generosity of all your information and all the time

you give making it available. And you know I often

even agree with what you say, but this is just flat

totally and completely wrong! There is only ONE point

in the whole post with which I can agree at all and

that's that gardening can be therapeutic for the

gardner. The rest, each and every point made, is the

" industrial agriculture " point of view which only

serves likes of Monsanto/ADM/BigPharma corporate

interests.

 

I could write a book on what's wrong with the ideas

expressed in the " organic farming " post, but

fortunately I don't have to---several other folk have

already done so starting in, oh, around 1930ish.

 

BTW the first thing you have to do is to define

" organic " ... is it the USDA's fairly new legal

definition c. 1997ish (aiding only corporate and

industrial interests) or is it the intention as

understood by the folk who pioneered the INTENT of the

organic movement (sustainable agriculture methods in

addition to lack of chemicals added to soils and

plants.) Once again, the books have already been

written.

 

My recommendations begin with:

The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan

Organic, Inc., Fromartz

Blithe Tomato, Madison

The Contrary Farmer, Logsdon

 

Note: I consider the above 4 a set, each informs the

other and no picture is clear without all.

 

For further reading: Anything by Joel Salatin but

especially Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal (his

newest).

 

Anything by Sally Fallon but especially Nourishing

Traditions.

 

And anything carried by Acres USA,

http://www.acresusa.com/books/books.asp?pcid=2

 

Plus anything by the Weston A Price Foundation

http://www.westonaprice.org/splash_2.htm

 

I hope anyone who feels strongly either way about that

post will read at least those four recommended books

and educate themselves to a deep level about the

issues and the history involved. Even if you disagree

with me, those books are a good read and will give

plenty of ammunition for further discussion.

 

Anyone who wants even more recommendations, need only

ask.

 

KD

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

> Butch, You know I love ya. You know I love the

> generosity of all your information and all the time

> you give making it available. And you know I often

> even agree with what you say, but this is just flat

> totally and completely wrong!

 

[Dave]: THANK YOU!!! I didn't have the energy to jump into this one. You

are so right. For most of the 100,000 years, give or take an eon, that

we've been practicing agriculture, Monsanto didn't exist. Organic was the

only kind of farming that existed until less than a century ago. Chemical

fertilizers greatly increase yield, but at the expense of other factors such

as nutrition and soil quality. You don't get something for nothing.

 

The fertilizer industry is one of two major offshoots of military

technology. After the Civil War, the materials used to make explosives were

used to develop nitrocellulose lacquer, probably the best wood finish ever

developed. After WWII, the fertilizer industry arose from the same source.

There's a certain swords-to-plowshares thing, but as always when one set of

problems is solved, another is created.

 

 

 

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