"ta" <ta33@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:ySswc.12974$Iu6.778@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> rick etter wrote:
> > And that means also not cruelty-free. Just what I've been saying...
> >
> > "...some organic pesticides have mammalian toxicities that are far
> > higher than many synthetic pesticides..."
> > http://www.cgfi.org/materials/key_pubs/Natures_Toxic_Tools.pdf
>
> Wow, I can't *believe* CFGI, which is funded by the right-wing think
tank
> Hudson Institute, could possibly be promoting information that sup****ts
> their big agribusiness clients like Monsanto, ConAgra, and Archer
Daniels
> Midland, who have everything to lose by the success of organic farming.
>
> But to be fair, I can't answer the specific charges as I'm not an
expert,
so
> I'm expanding the thread to get a wider range of input.
>
Does the messenger make the message any less correct? What Alex fails to
mention are the pest that organic pesticides won't touch. The boll weevil,
alfalfa aphid and corn root worm to name a few. In the last 100 years we
have made ever effort to make farming less invasive on the land and going
back to organic farming would not only reduce yields and increase erosion
but plunge the world into famine if it was the only way allowed as many
want.
He is overstating the use of oil and sulfur on organic crops as they are
used in conventional crops as well. He is not overstating the shortfall in
food that organic method produces or the soil erosion it causes.
The sponsors of the Hudson Institute are responsible for most of the
infrastructure in agriculture. Without them or comparable firms we would
be
SOL when it came to getting seeds, chemical or machinery and finding
markets. Just look at Africa with no infrastructure where the simple
http://www.approtec.org/
can make the difference between starving and
prosperity. That is the first step to mechanization and research but they
fortunately do not have to spend the 5 generation it took my family to get
the fruits of modern agriculture they can pick many of them today off the
rack as West Africa has done with GM cotton. Farmers say
http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1532463-6078-0,00.html.
With out the likes of the sup****ters of the Hudson Institute we would be
in
only slightly better shape than the third world countries in terms of
infrastructure. Private firms are the back bone of agriculture they keep
the
government run programs honest. Co ops and Government programs with out
private completion are extremely inefficient. Look at the price of wheat
in
Oklahoma.
"U.S. No 1 HARD RED WINTER WHEAT: 1 to 3 cents higher. 3.44-3.70
Davis, Shattuck 3.44, Buffalo 3.45, Alva, Clinton, Weatherford 3.49,
Cherokee, Manchester, Medford, Temple 3.51, Banner, El Reno, Geary,
Kingfisher, Okeene, Watonga, Yukon 3.52, Frederick, Hobart, Lawton 3.53,
Keyes, Ponca City 3.57, Perry, Stillwater 3.58, Eldorado 3.59, Afton,
Miami 3.70, Gulf 4.34."
Frederick, Hobart, Lawton 3.53, all having prices within pennies of
Ponca
City 3.57, Perry, Stillwater 3.58 While Frederick, Hobart, Lawton are 500
mile from a ****t and Ponca City 3.57, Perry, Stillwater are less than 100
mile from the barge ****t of Catoosa. and Miami is 167 from Kansas city a
terminal market. There is a very strong grain merchant in south west
Oklahoma that over comes nearly 400 miles of freight from in price of the
weak markets of the bankrupt coop system in central Oklahoma. And in the
price at Miami shows the influence of having a really solid thermal market
in a reasonable distance. Just an example of the value of a strong private
business in agriculture that runs efficiently. Anyone intersted in the
particulars of the value of private enterprise in farming communities
contact me direct. I don't feel like explaining the way that the price of
wheat is derived but it is based on the price set at Kansas City but
delivered to Houston and the freight deducted back from there. The ****t of
Catoosa is a barge ****t that put wheat on the Arkansas River and then the
Mississippi and ****ps it to New Orleans. Most of the rest of the wheat in
the state is ****pped via rail and truck to Ft Worth, TX and Houston Some
in
the North west goes though Enid and various points in Kansas. But all the
prices are based on Gulf pikes that I am failure with. In the mid west and
further north it change on the condition of the Mississippi river and
Great
Lakes depending on the route it is being ****pped.
For the first time in the 128 years my family has owned some of the land
we
have we see organic matter increasing in the soil using no till methods.
We
have land that ranges from one of the oldest ranches in the world under
continuous uninterrupted family management to the most modern irrigated
land
and preserving the land for the future is one of the top priorities.
I could see the possibilities the first time that genetic modification was
explained to me and my field is cattle and machinery. Although I have 50
years experience in raising crops, killing weeds, bugs and combating soil
erosion.
We threw out organic methods as soon as there were alternatives. My
grandfather was and engineer and nearly all the next generation had some
college education in agriculture some with masters in agronomy and my
generation all have degrees. My 95 year old father laughs at fools that
think the ways they used back when they had no better choices are of any
use
today. He remembers them all to well. He chopped 90 acres of cotton for
exercise 5 years ago by him self. And we still rotate that farm in Alfalfa
hay more than most organic rotations call for becuse it is the most
profitable crop we can grow on the land but it sure wouldn't be using
organic methods. The bugs and weeds would take in short order.
Having some association rule on the correctness of farming practices that
can change at a rate of twice a year or faster is the most foolish things
in agriculture today.
-
Gordon
Gordon Couger
Stillwater, OK
www.couger.com/gcouger
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