rouxshortorn
Well-known member
How many of you are organic?
Organic hay
- Thread starter rouxshortorn
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grannysoo
Well-known member
Not me. I've looked at it, but it's going to be almost impossible to do. Try to stay organic when the army worms come marching thru.....
I try to follow the standards. But I'm not certified organic, for two reasons. 1- I refuse to pay a fee because I choose to farm a certain way when my neighbor does not have to pay a fee for there chosen way of farming. 2- By direct marketing to the end user they see your operation and you can answer any concerns they may have.
A lot of us now use the term "sustainable". I expect that term will be regulated in the future. But not until we have built a sizable market for it. Then the big boys will regulate and change it so they can play in the sandbox with there own toys.
Look what just happened to the term "Grass fed". Now I'm trying to find a new term for my beef, I refuse to pay a fee for the right to use the grassfed word.
You'll find most of us that have been doing this "sustainable" thing for a while are an independent (ornery) bunch.
It'll be easier to beat me up if I get down off my soap box. So I'll get off it now.
A lot of us now use the term "sustainable". I expect that term will be regulated in the future. But not until we have built a sizable market for it. Then the big boys will regulate and change it so they can play in the sandbox with there own toys.
Look what just happened to the term "Grass fed". Now I'm trying to find a new term for my beef, I refuse to pay a fee for the right to use the grassfed word.
You'll find most of us that have been doing this "sustainable" thing for a while are an independent (ornery) bunch.
It'll be easier to beat me up if I get down off my soap box. So I'll get off it now.
No fair. You knocked me off my soap box.dun":22c4fn6c said:
My definition- sustainable= following the organic standards(not certified) Non-sustainable= everyone else.
With that said. When you get a group together (people playing in the sand box and those that want to, who are bigger) there are going to be compromises. There are those who are trying to go beyond so called organic. Going to the next step of sustainability if you will. With out going backwards (1800's).
Dun- look at the time of your post and the time of my reply. That's how fast I type, spell check and think, not in that order. so my answers are never as complete as I wish they were.
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
Planting crops that compliment one another will help. Clover adds nitrogen to the soil and I am doing that. Luckily my soils tests say N is all that is needed. If not, it would take more than clover.
To be totally organic, you would sacrafice production IMHO. But I will always be learning. I like the organic concept but conditions need to be perfect to get a LITTLE out of it. Droughts hit and all bets are off. Plus if you are irrigating out of the river there is no telling what chemicals you are pumping onto your fields.
To be totally organic, you would sacrafice production IMHO. But I will always be learning. I like the organic concept but conditions need to be perfect to get a LITTLE out of it. Droughts hit and all bets are off. Plus if you are irrigating out of the river there is no telling what chemicals you are pumping onto your fields.
rouxshortorn
Well-known member
I was just wondering how many where organic because it seems more and more states are limiting the amount of manure can be used on feilds. I know manure is slow release and their worried run-off , but if this has been going for thousands of years is this where the term river bottom land came from?I mean, would you have the term river bottom if there was'nt run-off?
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
rouxshortorn":25ymf6x7 said:
I think the concerns come out of the lakes municipalities use for water now. Just my opinion and nothing scientific. There used to be flowing wells in this area. Now people are drilling as much as 600 feet to get water. More and more areas are relying on lakes for water supplies. More and more lakes are being built and the floods no longer are capable of flushing out streams and rivers.
Outrigger2
Well-known member
grannysoo":2ps9hoau said:
couldn't have said it any better
badaxemoo
Well-known member
Bluestem":1fxxmnwz said:
That's pretty much where we're at. I'm not against certification, but we consider ourselves beyond organic because we also only sell locally. I don't really see the need at my scale to become certified. If you have a relationship with your customers and they trust you, you don't really need the nifty little seal.
However if you want to sell to a store or co-op, I suppose it could help. I buy my uncertified organic corn and barley from a local uncertified organic farmer for my uncertified organic hogs. I trust him and my buyers trust me. It's hard to do that if you're part industrial food system.
tytower
Well-known member
Just another way to rip off more tax -thats what the polies see and city people seem happy to express an opinion with no personal knowledge on the matter so the pollies get away with it . Today water, very soon they will be working on a tax for air quality.
They take the first excuse they can get, then put out a publicity campaign that makes you feel that its your fault we are all in this mess, so it should be you who pays to fix it up!
They take the first excuse they can get, then put out a publicity campaign that makes you feel that its your fault we are all in this mess, so it should be you who pays to fix it up!
BusterBrown
Well-known member
tytower":wu4s3dmv said:
Does this happen in Aus. ?? I wanted to relocate to a more person friendly place where big gov wasnn't in you're daily life and pocket..... I always pictured Aus. as the refuge. Can I stil come down there, down under and find no gov. picking my pocket?
cowtrek
Well-known member
Bluestem":1oeks5vo said:
I'll say "AMEN" to that! I don't use anything more than I absolutely have to use (fertilizer, pesticides, antibiotics, etc.) but I use what I need if I can afford it. I try to do the 'natural' thing in that nature managed to create and support healthy grasslands and livestock for a LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG time without human interference and most of what we do to 'increase productivity' is counterproductive to that balance of nature. In an age of breathtaking price increases on inputs, that makes the lower natural production with it's attendant lower costs much more attractive. Before humans came along, cattle (ok probably bison around here) grazed without grains and supplements, got pregnant without AI and EPD's, birthed without vets, born and thrived without vaccinations and shots or getting their nuts cut, grew and gained without artificial horomones and supplements, etc. That's the way God intended and that's good enough for me! I sure wouldn't jump through the hoops and fill out the papers and pay to get to use a 'label' that has been co-opted by big companies and promoted by them to regulate competition. I just sell at the sale barn, so it's not really in my interest to go totally 'organic' when I can use a few shots of basal bark Remedy to kill huisache and mesquite brush, the occassional shot of Penicillin to get a down cow back on her feet, and cheaper feed/mineral to keep the cows slick, and a shot of regular fertilizer to perk the pasture up (if I can afford it). If I was selling locally and getting the premiums, then I would by necessity change my paradigm to match the needs of my customers. But so long as they're going to the sale barn to end up in a feedlot and ultimately in the hamburger grinder, who cares?? I'm going to do what's best for ME.
Same thing goes for this stupid livestock ID thing... if God wanted them all to have a 'social security' number they'd be born with a barcode on thier @ss! Another moneymaking deal dreamed up by big companies and their big 'geniuses' and supported by spreading money around to their big buddies in big gov't to force me to buy something I don't want or need and would never buy on my own and that will be of no use to me whatsoever, to solve a problem I didn't create and don't have and that doesn't affect me, when the 'solution' is worse than the disease...
We used to have a word for that.... COMMUNISM!!!
OL JR
