Do you feed corn?

[jhm47]

OKAY, here goes: I own a small farm (240 acres), which we now rent out to a neighbor. I lived through the GMO "revolution", and I can truthfully say that it has made our food and environment much safer than it used to be. Here is why:

20 years ago, our corn and soybeans were non-GMO. We had to spray with many toxic chemicals in order to raise a profitable crop. The corn herbicides were fairly toxic (Atrizine, Eradicane, Sutan, Banvel, and many others). The insecticides were much more toxic (Furadan, Counter, Warrior, and again many others), and these things were extremely toxic. Then came the advent of Bt corn. Bt stands for a bacteria family known as Bacillus Thuringiensis. This is a bacteria that occurs naturally in the soil, and if you have eaten vegetables, you have eaten Bt. Bt is legally used on organic fruits and vegetables, and it kills the larva of moths and butterflies known as the Lepidptera family. The way it kills these larva is by plugging up the pores in their stomachs, and they eventually die from starvation. Bt is not like the "old" insecticides, which acted much like nerve gases act on humans. The only difference between the "natural" Bt which is found in the bacteria, is that the scientists have isolated the gene that produces this protein, and spliced it into the DNA of corn plants. The protein is exactly the same, and it only affects the larva of Lepidoptera. Other organisms digest this protein just like they digest other proteins.

Now for the RR (roundup ready) gene: Roundup is a chemical (glyphosate) that kills almost every plant in existence, with the exception of the very few plants that have developed resistance to it, and those plants that are engineered to resist it. Roundup inhibits the production of an enzyme that plants need to live and grow. After an application of Roundup, the plants will utilize the enzyme that they have already produced, and then they eventually die. Humans and other animals have no need for this enzyme, so it does not affect us. As I stated before, the chemicals that we used to use were far more toxic than Roundup. Roundup is quickly neutralized when it strikes soil, and has no residual activity in soil. Atrazine (one of the "old" chemicals) is still present in soil and groundwater, and will be for decades.

Now, I know that some of you are totally convinced that any GMO is terrible. That's fine, you are certainly welcome to your opinions. I have seen with my own eyes that the GMO revolution has made our lives in rural America much safer than they were, and I totally support the use of them. Some may ask why chemicals or GMO's are even needed. The reason is that in order to survive financially, farmers must use them. Without controlling weeds and insects, farmers are lucky to produce even half a crop. I doubt that any of you would be willing to give up half your income without integrating every possible remedy to keep your present standard of living.

Now, I know that this is highly controversial to many of you. Before "killing the messenger", I would encourage you to actually visit a working commercial farm. Spend some time with the farmer, and see what he has to overcome each and every day. Organic farms are fine, but they rarely are financially viable. I have several friends who went organic, and quickly had to revert to the more traditional way of farming in order to survive.

As to Monsanto---I have lots of problems with their business practices. They are like most other large corporations, and the bottom line is what drives them. Their business practices are the place for another thread, not this one. Peace!

 

[CARS]

Well said!!!

 

[Organics North]

jhm47,
Thanks for the honest, intelligent, well thought out post...! You make many good points.

I was off the farm before the GMO revolution came into full swing. I sure do remember Atrazine, and all the old chemicals, also remember when they started to restrict their uses and how we thought that was horse pucky... Dang politicians messin with our business...
Yes, I think I think...things are much safer know..But I recall back then no one thought those old chemicals were bad or dangerous either... Are we really smarter know? OR have we yet to discover the dangers of our current tinkering with chemicals and genetics.. I sure as heck don't know!

I agree, everyone should visit a commercial farm and see how much risk people take and how hard they work. I do agree that "technology" makes us able to compete with foreign producers such as China, and the very worst thing that could happen is we as the United States of America start importing all of our food and become dependent on other nations..

With that said, I think corn is toooooo cheap! It is used as a sweetener in just about everything. We as a nation are FAT like hogs on all the corn we are fed.
See statistics: US and Mexico number one and two fattest in the world most likely the two biggest corn consumers.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_obe-health-obesity

You say "organic farms are fine" "but are rarely financially viable" Why is that? Could it be the $171 Billion in farm subsidies, which the vast majority goes to big cooperate farms? Could it be that we also subsidies energy prices, and roads so we can dry and ship that corn long distances?
Yes I am biased, I would like to see our nation make the transition to organic, sustainable agriculture, with locally produced goods produced by small to medium size entrepreneurial farmers.

I don't know how we get their, but thats my dream and I am sticken too it!!

ON

 

[bibliophile birds]

Quote:
i won't speak for anyone else, but i do appreciate the opinions of people who think differently than me and i WHOLE-HEARTEDLY agree that there is no point shooting the messenger. i live on a working commercial farm and find myself saying the same things over and over: to people who think i'm a barbarian because i want to slaughter my own animals, to people (often "intelligent agriculturalists," particularly those who work for the ag extension) who think i'm insane not to debeak my chickens, to people who keep telling me that there isn't money to be made in market gardening. when i said i wasn't going to vaccinate my birds or feed them medications, everyone told me i was going to loose the whole flock. i've not lost a single one to illness.

of course my methods aren't for everyone. i wouldn't try to force everyone to do things my way (even if i would like to). i don't make money hand over fist, but i do well. sometimes i have crops that fail. but i'm diversified enough that a failure doesn't usually effect me too heavily. to me, that is the real benefit of doing things my way. i'm not locked into the insanity that "traditional farming" (i still can't figure out what is traditional about it) brings with it.

for me, there is absolutely no room for GMO crops on my farm. that's a personal standard that i don't necessarily expect everyone to meet or understand. as you said, Monsanto's evil lay in it's unceasing drive for the bottom line. i'm choosing not to go that route and value, instead, the purity and sustainability of my land and livestock. those are lofty goals that i know can't be everyone's driving force. everyone's priority has to be keeping their family fed. i guess i'm lucky that doing what i'm doing is paying the bills.

 

[chookchick]

Thank you jhm, for your thoughtful rebuttal. I do agree that it is now difficult for most farmers to make a living without resorting to GMOs, petrochemical fertilizers and the like. Which is really a shame. One of the problems is that our food is really TOO CHEAP!--we've gotten used to getting really cheap food, and the bottom dollar rules everything. We can change that by supporting farmers that use more sustainable methods, even if it costs more, we have to vote with our pocketbook. Unfortunately in this economy, most won't choose that option. But having the knowledge to make a choice is the first step.

I have to agree with Organics North that we will probably pay the piper for these conveniences in the future. So many of the "safe" chemicals and products of yesterday have proven to be deadly in the long run. I just hope we can figure out the truth soon, so that many will not pay with long-term health consequences, IF the information in these studies proves to carry over to the human population.

 

[BlackBart]

Corn comes mixed in the Hen scratch I buy, not allot. Another brand of hen scratch has less corn and split peas but it is sprayed with soy oil.

To feed less corn or soy, I feed black oil sunflower seeds and soaked alfalfa cubes. I put a bit of whole flaxseed in their porridge too.
My chickens spend allot of their day digging in the rotted horse manure pile which is full of worms.

What is the source of protein in layer pellets? alfalfa? or do I want to know?

 

[jhm47]

We used to grow sunflowers. They are magnets for insects, and are routinely sprayed with insecticides. They also attract many birds that devastate them. The birds used to be controlled with a chemical called Avitrol. Nasty stuff. Sunflowers are non-GMO plants, so in order to control weeds, many farmers spray pre-plant herbicides on the soil. I'm not sure what chemicals are currently in favor, but we used to use the so-called "yellow" ones, like Treflan and Prowl. Treflan is fairly toxic, and has a long residual in soil. Alfalfa is also often sprayed with insecticides. Flea beetles, chinch bugs, aphids, and many other insects infest alfalfa. The insecticides used to kill them are often nasty. I haven't raised flax for decades, so am not sure what is used on it. I'm fairly sure that there are herbicides used on flax, and probably insecticides too.

The most common source of protein in layer pellets is soymeal. A few companies use other sources, like fishmeal, or meat by-products.

 

[jhm47]

Chookchick: As far as food being too cheap, I can see your point to some extent. However, I feel good about living in a country where a lot of our poor people are obese. Not many countries can say that. Another thing that I have noticed is that on the rare occasion when we go out to one of these "all you can eat buffets", is that many people load up plate after plate with very reasonably priced food, and then wash it down with diet soda. The diet industry is a several billion $ industry. How many of us are currently on diets? In my opinion, this is a tribute to the Americal farmer's efficiency. Granted, many of us make very poor choices in the food we eat, but that is not the fault of the farmer. I have also noticed that ever since the government came out with this "food pyramid" that obesity has increased dramatically. In my opinion, eating lots of carbohydrates and fruits, and cutting down on animal proteins has caused a lot of obesity. Case in point: My 93 year old father eats meat with every meal, rarely eats vegetables, and only eats bananas for fruit. He's healthy as a horse, and feeds corn to his cattle every day with 5 gallon buckets. That's in below 0 weather lately.

We also must remember that the American farmer is not just feeding our domestic population, but also a fairly large portion of the entire world. If the price were to increase very much on all the grain that we export, there would be widespread starvation in quite a few countries. Of course, the "ruling class" would still be well fed, but many of the poor would suffer. It also would be a very politically destabilizing factor if food were cut off to some countries, and I suspect that we would soon be engaged in war with people who would just be trying to survive.

I have never been hungry. I mean REALLY hungry, like millions have, and thank God that I never have. Hopefully you never will either. I do know this---if my family were starving, I would do most anything to secure food for them, even break the law.

This sure is a complicated subject isn't it?

 

[CARS]

Your really on to something there.

Years ago, I was unemployed. I signed up for food stamps (well, it was a visa card). They gave us more than we could eat a month. It was a "use it or lose it" program.

I bought alot of great steak cuts with that money.... I really hated to find employment. I had it pretty good for a couple months. But I do feel much better contributing to society than I did using society.

 

[CARS]

Oh ya. YES I feed corn. I am surrounded by corn fields and want to support my local economy!!!