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De Forest, WI | chirpfarm - 10/27/2024 14:25 Blusteryknollfarm - 10/26/2024 12:09 David - 10/26/2024 11:41 There has always been freedom to do production like that if one wishes, no matter who holds office. Economics will drive it, not a political office. Largely true, but the current economics of organic production are influenced by the political powers that be. There's been some increase in scrutiny of imported organic products but the reality of organic production is like any process based distinction and the integrity of the label is dependent on the integrity of the documentation of the entire supply chain. Fraud is bad enough here, that there's no way that the vast majority of the organic corn and soy imported from Africa and Eastern Europe is all legitimate when a forged organic certificate on a bulk freighter of non GMO grain doubles the market value. ^^this x2 Import fraud is a massive issue. I'd hope that somebody has the guts to address it. We don't need new organic programs encouraging more organic production when the market is already flooded with likely-fraudulent foreign imports.
I am not organic, but I don't use herbicides and most other commercial pesticides. I do use fertilizer and select insecticides when needed. I market directly to local hospitals and restaurants. I am very upfront with how I grow. I have been able to get contracts by growing the way I do. These customers will not pay organic prices, but they will pay a small premium for the way I grow. It also gives me a somewhat exclusive market. I have zero waterhemp in my fields due to cultivation. I DO have problems with lambsquarter, pig weed and purslane. Grasses can also become a problem if you don't stay ahead of them. I would LOVE some new, precision cultivation equipment, but most of it comes from Europe and it is expensive. I don't do enough acres to afford a lot of it, but it would make life a LOT easier.
My wife is pretty picky when she buys non-gmo and organic. She checks labels to see where things are grown. USA grown fruit really does taste better. We have tested it MANY times. Blueberries are sweeter when grown in the USA. Most likely because they are more likely to actually be ripe. Beef and pork she only buys local or with some proof the animal was raised, slaughtered and packaged in the USA. I know too many people who try to skirt rules so we tend to be a lot pickier with what we buy and where. We grow as much as we can ourselves so we know exactly how it was raised. We buy some animals from people we trust. The rest we look for labels.
The hospitals have asked us, almost every year, why our potatoes taste so much better than what they buy on the market. We grow nothing special that isn't available to everyone, but we don't use herbicide, no desiccant and no sprout inhibitor. Flail chop the tops when potatoes are to size. It isn't always fun cultivating every 7-10 days until the crop canopies. We usually have some weed escapes, but we are getting paid near grocery store prices for our taters. The yield loss is more than made up with the price bump.
I personally don't buy that non-gmo can not yield as well or better than GMO. It just requires more skill and equipment. Cultivating crops is not something most modern farmers are familiar with. So it would seem natural to many that yields would go down without GMOs and chems. That is not true at all. Just requires a much different management strategy. | |
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Non gmo/Organic
