Organic Farming Not So Sustainable?

"Organic" as a label is useless. Or worse than useless.

Know your farmer. Personally. Have their phone number on speed dial.

 

One more example of an excellent rule of thumb: if the title ends with a question mark but a question is not asked, the content is BS

 

if you're not buying your produce from a csa, it's really pointless. the water problem tho, is due more to explosive development than commercial organic farming.

 

Hydroponic produce (e.g. Maristone and Live Gourmet lettuce in the US) uses much less water than conventional methods but more energy. There's always trade-offs no matter how you do things.

 

I read the article yesterday - it struck me as a labeling issue - just because it is farmed organicaly does not mean that it is farmed in an environmentally responsible manner.

 

Bisco nailed it. 'organic' farming can be over-developed too.

Who wudda thunk ?

 

The article has convinced me. No more do I wish to purchase produce that hasn't been bombarded with pesticides or meat that hasn't been pumped full of growth hormones, or poultry crammed into cages the size of my thumb!


Do you have similar to the following in the US?

Organic food delivery. Organic vegetable boxes, fruit, meat & more - Abel & Cole

Organic food has taken off over here in the UK (to a point) and even McDonalds advertise some of their produce as organic and ethically produced. McDonald's

 

to get an organic certification requires more red tape than application. as corwyn said, 'know thy farmer'. if they are local, and you pick up your veggies there, and you go the the meetings and talk to the members, you can start to get a feeling for the philosophy and difficulties of organic farming. the downside? it ain't cheap. you can ship from south america cheaper than you can grow organically in the u.s.

 

You can buy a Kia for less than a Mercedes so why do people pay more for something that does the same job? They want quality.

Same applies to food. You are what you eat. Eat **** and... .

 

true, but unfortunately, the cost puts it outside realm of the lower middle class. both the mercedes and the organic food. in our area, it's mostly the well off buying organic and shopping at places like whole foods.

 

Good news is, the mystery meat at McDonald's is cheap.

 

However, and this is a big however, just because it costs more and has an organic label doesn't mean the food is any better. The whole concept of "organic" is highly suspect. The general idea is sound, at least with some agricultural products, but the system of regulation and labeling doesn't work.

Tom

 

List of permitted chemicals for USDA Organic labeling, June 2007:

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5068682

Indeed.

 

Dude, that is a load of horse feathers!!! How did your grandmother do it? She bought produce directly from the farmer who produced it, at a farmer's market!

My great-aunt moved to New York City in the 1920's. She was the most wonderful woman you ever met... Anyway, she told me how she used to buy her strawberries at a farmers market in Manhattan -- the farmers were from Long Island, and the strawberries were fresh, because they'd been picked that very morning. She said there's nothing like the taste, and now, they pick the strawberries while they're green, not ripe, and they ship them in trucks and they aren't fresh the way they used to be. So you see, this isn't a "new" way to buying food, it's the way we've always done it.

 

Organic food isn't better in that it might not look quite as good next to the super carrot or potato but at least you know it looks like it does because it hasn't been pumped full of ****. I hear you might get more nutrients out of non organic vegetables but you also get the pesticide residues too.

If you want your food as nature intended buy organic (it isn't much more expensive) or if you like your food to look great but be covered in pesticides then buy normal.

On a similar point wasn't there an article about growth hormones from beef cattle being passed on to those who consumed said beef? And then there are the dodgy chemicals used to line the inside of tins used in tinned food which cause children to develop too quickly or something. I think it might now have been banned - 50 years too late.

 

Not according to the USDA. Don't listen to what they say, look at their historic nutrient levels. They have been declining for many decades.

 

Organics have better taste, as for more nutritional content. With organics it takes microbes to breakdown the organic material into food for the plant. The plant actually excretes stuff through its root system. It can send signals through what it excretes to get what type of food it needs. Ever wonder how the rain forest doesn't need any fertilizers to stay green? The only deficiency in rain forest is usually calcium when your talking about lettuce but when you get into fruits you need to add the extra phosphorus and potassium needed to support fruits.

 

i don't think i said it was a 'new' way to buy food, i said it was expensive compared to commercial non organic farming and importing. i was comparing to grumpy's comment that people buy mercedes instead of kia's because they want quality. what is a load of horsefeathers?