Cost of organic grain

[cottonpicken]

The manipulation of science by governments and
corporations is very scary to me.

Tough to make good choices.

[cottonpicken]

Pars,whats going on with your blog,mees cant get in.

[gregpet]

Pars, you mentioned the quality of nutrition. I know you do your best to make sure the crop has all the nutrients required to produce a good crop. My question is about organics in general. If organic crops do not have sufficient nutrients to produce a healthy crop are those crop nutritional?

For example, cattle fed straw will survive but cattle fed hay will thrive. I feel conventionally grown crops are much more nutritious than organically grown crops that do not have all the nutrients needed to produce a nutritious end product.

If nutrition is the goal then I feel organics fall short in providing this to the consumers that are purchasing this product. Have you ever checked the brix(sugar) level of your product compared to conventionally grown crops? If so, what were the results.

[parsley]

Interesting questions, gregpet.

This farm practices a forage rotation following continuous cropping.

Each piece of land is continuously cropped until weeds abound and nutrients lack, at which time that field is sown down to sainfoin which reaches deep into the soil.

Sainfoin is a nitrogen-fixating legume that livestock are crazy about, and are also 100% bloat free, unlike alfalfa. We showed cattle for many years and really depended upon sainfoin for getting weaned show calves on feed in order to avoid "bloaters".

So, now, cow-neighbors hay the land (have for years)and/or we also combine the sainfoin seed. So while we are fertilizing, we are similtaneously harvesting.

Often the land is "down" for 8-10 years, but can be broken anytime. It's clean as the dickens when broken up.

I studied comparisons of organic vs non-organic vegetables in quite some detail when I had our market barn in operation. They were comparative studies done in the US by the university, and left zero doubt in my mind about nutritive value.

One of the interesting things I discovered was this:

A plant that is primed with fertilizer tucked in beside it acts lazy because all it has to do is lick away at the easily available fertilizer so kindly provided. The plant's only goal is to set seed. It doen't care about nutritional value, so it utilizes the nearest and easiest source to maintian enough growth to simply set seed.

On the other hand, organic plants often struggle, and reach deeper into the ground to draw up nutrients to develop and set seed. They are often the nutrients YOU need the most (and lack the most) and were surprisingly present in the vegetables I studied.

Note: Saskatchewan soil is particularly deficient in selinium and is one I try to source in my vitamin purchases.
The study actually noted Saskatchewan's selinium deficiency and that rather surprised me.

That veggie study also made me aware that maple trees draw up oddball nutrients from the deep deep depths that I have a difficult time sourcing in everyday food, and consequently I buy maple syrup instead of glucosedJemima because of the nutritional factor.

The University of Saskatchewan have been here testing both yield and some nutrients. Organics fared very well.

The U of S tests were arm's length and so was the comparative study I spent quite some time on. Pars

[parsley]

Tom, I don't believe Canadian farmers have a responsibility to "feed the world" ; rather, every country must become self sufficient in food. And NO, I do not want a fish gene in my BC peaches, even if it means they will ripen later into Novemeber.

Cott, what scares me, is this: If the government is Syngenta's and Monsanto's continuous "funding partner", and puts their money on the table with their best buds, they can hardly be depended upon to do the job they are supposed to do.....and that is to REGULATE!!!!!!

We do not have ANY reliable regulators in Canada who act soley in the interest of regulating. NONE.

Which brings us to your comment about trusting government.

And cott, I will be doing some things with Parsley's Notebook. There are changes ahead. Pars

[gregpet]

That's why I questioned organics in general and not your operation since I know how it is operated.

I do not think all organic operations are equal.

[hlg]

Given the choice would anyone knowingly choose to eat GMO foods rather than organic? And as for feeding the world, how`s that working out for the average farmer? Grow more for less return and people still starve.
Why should we produce a product that people don`t want and then be mad when they won`t buy it? Scientific and government proof do not have the best long term track record.
I`m not an organic producer but I don`t think monsanto has my, or any producers welfare as their first priority. Bottom line and shareholders will always be number one.
Tiffid proved who will pay the lion`s share.

[parsley]

cott,

ALL...each and every post I made in my blog concerning the University of Saskatchewan, Triffid flax, Triffid testing, Crop Development Centre, gentically modified or any farmers forming companies ...most of the entries have been hacked and purposefully corrupted.

Some never got completely demolished.
Last time, when I opened up my blog one night, next morning the dismantling started again. So I followed up the gremlins, toasted my hard drive, but got the job done, and re-installed my hard drive. Clean.

All the original posts were saved in a separate location, anyhow.

I know exactly who did it.

They went to a lot of effort to try and shut up a dull pissy housewife living in a bluff on a farm.

Interesting stuff.

[gregpet]

Also you can check out this article by Steve Diver, an organic advocate, finds that there is no nutritional advantage to organically grown food:

[URL="http://www.soilandhealth.org/06clipfile/Nutritional%20Quality%20of%20Organically-Grown%20Food.html"]Hope this works[/URL]

[parsley]

"Given the choice would anyone knowingly choose to eat GMO foods rather than organic"


That is exactly why biotech companies fight tooth and nail to stop the labelling: "THis product contains GM material!"

Consumers simply will not pick genetically modified food if they can choose organic.

No matter how much you try to "educate" the 'stupid slobs'. (TIC)Pars