Regina/ 14 miles South of Moose Jaw Saskatchewan | Always a bit scary to post on these topics:
1. We are a certified organic grain farm in Southern Saskatchewan - have been under some acres certified since 1997.
2. The food we produce is no safer, but neither is it less safe than that produced through the conventional channel. Food safety is determined by respective governments...
3. We believe the farming strategy we've adopted is one we are happy with - we are glad to share it with anyone interested - but we have no interest in "evangelizing" our viewpoint to anyone that is not interested.
4. We do attempt to sell into the organic food market - most years we can, some years we do not have the quality demanded by that industry - & that's fine In our case we would likely farm the way we are even if there was no organic market - personal choice.
5. First and foremost, we are members of our local farming area (same as everywhere, less farms around over time) - our first priority is to make sure we do not impact their farming methods by ours - we have in general been met by the same level of concern and cooperation in reverse - if our equipment is useful during a late harvest/etc - we help out & deal with the extra cleaning consequences ourselves.
6. The organic industry expends significant resources ensuring that what is marketed organically is grown to the stated organic standard - if you suspect or feel that either a product or a producer is not complying with what you think are organic rules/practices - please contact the listed certifying agency - they would be eager to hear real observations or concerns, rather than rumours & innuendo. (I don't like it when conventional farmers are unfairly slammed - but you can appreciate that some of the statements in this post are the same type of innuendo you're accusing organic zealots of....)
7. We grow less gross bushels per acre on our land base than our conventional neighbours on average. We on average have less input costs & most importantly for us, we have less exposure on a bad year - we also have less profit potential - again personal choice.
8. We consume a significant amount of fuel yes - but its worth note that fertilizer/chemical all consume significant amounts of fossil fuels in their production and/or transportation. I've learned by watching that there's little point in posting study links - I have seen refereed papers that show a slight advantage to organic systems in terms of total equivalent fuel - and some that show a slight disadvantage to organic systems - depending on the crops, number of tillage passes/ etc.
I believe it all comes down to the nature of business and people . Organic food and agriculture is a legitimate sector of the planet's food system - its not the only viable one - but I think it has the right to co-exist, and compete fairly for market share. There are honest marketers, and dishonest ones - there are honest farmers and ones you might be wary of dealing with. Please don't paint the entire industry with one brush - and if organic farmers are giving you a hard time, treat them as you would any other crazy neighbour.....
My $0.02
Doug W. |
What is wrong with Organic food?
