organic farming

[may]

Organic Farming - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site
Organic food is enjoying growing acceptance.

 

[Ryan2065]

And this is good why? There are many countries that will not allow genetically engineered crops to be grown there because they are afraid of things in the crops that are simply not there. These crops are genetically engineered to grow in environments that normally would not allow crops to grow and are overall cheaper than non-genetically engineered food (the yield is higher).

These countries won't buy the crops and then do not have enough food for everyone and then thousands of people die from starvation. It really is a shame...

Most of this is from a 20/20 news report I saw awhile ago... Here is a little more information on it:
http://www.africabiotech.com/news2/article.php?uid=123

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]According to the study, current biotech research has the potential to reduce the use of pesticides. In the future, biotech crops may increase drought tolerance and resistance to saline soils and improve the nutritional value of staple foods.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"Poor countries are often unwilling or unable to test commercial GM crops because of national policies or regulatory systems that are not prepared to grant approval for general use," Cohen explained. "Researchers in industrialized and developing countries need to work together to provide science-based information for decision makers, so that they can enhance the clarity of regulatory policies and procedures."[/FONT]

And here is another good article
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1114/p12s01-woaf.html

What also may be hard for this American crew to imagine is that other shipments of corn - genetically modified, just like the corn in countless US products - is rotting in storehouses in Zambia while the people there go hungry. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa has rejected US corn because he believes that it poses health risks to his people.
While science has yet to prove any health problems caused by GM corn, misinformation has clouded the debate. Now many hungry Africans don't know what to think of it.

 

[Booko]

And this is good why? There are many countries that will not allow genetically engineered crops to be grown there because they are afraid of things in the crops that are simply not there.

Sorry, but the law of unintended consequences shows up big time with GMOs.

Further, they cannot be contained but will become part of our biosphere, whether we want them or not.

This is why entire continents have banned them.

Were you aware of the deleterious effect on butterfly populations in the Midwest due to GMO corn? I gather not.

These countries won't buy the crops and then do not have enough food for everyone and then thousands of people die from starvation. It really is a shame...

The problem with food frequently has more to do with warfare and internal strife than a lack of ability to produce food. Oh, and unsustainable agricultural methods.

GMO foods are making agribusiness big money and taking away the independence of people. Ask farmers in Canada.

Oh, I forgot! They *can't* tell you, because companies like Monsanto have got them over a legal barrel to force their silence.

 

[Booko]

I'm increasingly eating organic foods, because my ill health is partially due to environmental toxins, and it seems silly to add even more when I'm trying to get them out of my system.

Besides, they taste better and often have greater nutritional value.

 

[Inky]

Another plus for organic: most non-organic commerical crops use fertilizer made from petroleum. If we're trying to reduce oil dependency, may as well not pour the stuff on our food.

As for GMO...it generally hurts small farmers. One of the main modifications made to crops is to make them sterile, so farmers can't reuse their seed and the businesses can sell them the same seeds year after year. This is especially prevalent in countries like India where the farmers have very little financial or political power and so companies can get away with stuff like that. Also, the pollen from these sterile crops gets carried into land where natural breeds are growing, causing them to produce sterile seeds as well.

U.S. organic farmers are having problems because of GMO crops. There is a certain kind of bacteria which was poisonous to certain harmful insects and was used to control them, and degraded completely into the soil when it was done. A gene from the bacteria was inserted into crops, where it kills helpful insects and where the harmful bugs grow resistant to it, meaning organic farmers can't use it in its natural state effectively.

Oh yeah, I agree with the suckiness of Monsanto. They're the ones who spearheaded the sterile grains in India, I believe.

If you can, it's always good to buy local. The food is tastier and more nutritious because the soil is under less stress. It's not always organic but you can always ask the growers what is. I got the best tomatoes of my life for $2 a pound yesterday, and some good green peppers 50 cents each, eggplant $1 a pound...sorry, I'm still excited. : )

 

[Booko]

Another plus for organic: most non-organic commerical crops use fertilizer made from petroleum. If we're trying to reduce oil dependency, may as well not pour the stuff on our food.

Excellent point, Inky!

As for GMO...it generally hurts small farmers. One of the main modifications made to crops is to make them sterile, so farmers can't reuse their seed and the businesses can sell them the same seeds year after year. This is especially prevalent in countries like India where the farmers have very little financial or political power and so companies can get away with stuff like that. Also, the pollen from these sterile crops gets carried into land where natural breeds are growing, causing them to produce sterile seeds as well.

There are farmers in Canada who have had to destroy their entire stock of seeds they have developed themselves, over a century or more, that are totally adapted to the local conditions of soil and weather.

But thanks to agribusiness and GMO crops, their ability to farm has been destroyed, and they have no practical legal recourse.

In one case, Monsanto sued a farm family for $100,000 for "stealing" their copyrighted seed. Well, there's a bend in the road where trucks carrying Monsanto seed get dumped a bit as they go around the corner. The dumped seeds have been created so that Roundup will not kill them. The farmers were forced to pay this outrageous fee for something they had nothing to do with, and on top of that were slapped with a legal order preventing them from saying anything.

There are lots of farmers who have been stifled from telling us the truth.

No wonder Africa told these companies to go stuff it. They're smarter than we North Americans have been.

U.S. organic farmers are having problems because of GMO crops. There is a certain kind of bacteria which was poisonous to certain harmful insects and was used to control them, and degraded completely into the soil when it was done. A gene from the bacteria was inserted into crops, where it kills helpful insects and where the harmful bugs grow resistant to it, meaning organic farmers can't use it in its natural state effectively.

And that's what's causing the decline in butterfly populations.

Oh yeah, I agree with the suckiness of Monsanto. They're the ones who spearheaded the sterile grains in India, I believe.

You are correct.

If you can, it's always good to buy local. The food is tastier and more nutritious because the soil is under less stress. It's not always organic but you can always ask the growers what is. I got the best tomatoes of my life for $2 a pound yesterday, and some good green peppers 50 cents each, eggplant $1 a pound...sorry, I'm still excited. : )

We have some markets here where they buy local whenever they can, and I buy what's grown as close as possible. Many foods lose their nutritive value the longer they sit around being shipped.

To give you the same amount of iron our grandparents would've gotten from a pound of spinach, you would now have to eat FIFTY pounds of spinach.

Just because it "looks good" doesn't mean it is good, and certainly doesn't mean its healthy.

News will not tell you any of this, though. Agribusiness is one of their advertisers. Individuals who just happen to eat food are not. And neither are family farms.

And you can guess who our gov't is going to listen to.

It won't be us.

 

[Scarlett Wampus]

Almost all the food I buy myself is organic now and there are more and more organic farms starting up near where I live in the UK.

In about 5 years time I'll be looking to take the step of living in an off-the-grid house with at least enough decent arable land to grow food to sustain 5-6 people. It'll be a lot of hard work but its something I really want to do.

 

[may]

Gardening the Organic Way