Feeding Organic?

[ChickieBooBoo]

Quote:
I have talked to some farmers around me and all they care about is getting the highest yield out of the field. They think GMO is great stuff and organic is just a waste of time.

I am a farmer, we do it for a living. We don't have seperate jobs in the city that provide an extra income if the crops don't grow. If we don't grow a crop, we don't make a living.

Chemical and fertilizer is expensive, we don't spray it if we don't have to. Round Up (which is technically a chemical called glyphosate) is actually one of the safer chemicals out there. It neutralizes as soon as it hits the ground. There are MANY other chemicals that farmers could be using that are much more dangerous then Round Up.

We grow GMO crops, not everything we grow is GMO, but some of it. GMOs provide better yeilds in a shorter growing season (which is very important here as we live in a colder climate)

It all comes down to money really. Organic farming doesn't bring in the money nessesary to support a large farm.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
I have talked to some farmers around me and all they care about is getting the highest yield out of the field. They think GMO is great stuff and organic is just a waste of time.

I am a farmer, we do it for a living. We don't have seperate jobs in the city that provide an extra income if the crops don't grow. If we don't grow a crop, we don't make a living.

Chemical and fertilizer is expensive, we don't spray it if we don't have to. Round Up (which is technically a chemical called glyphosate) is actually one of the safer chemicals out there. It neutralizes as soon as it hits the ground. There are MANY other chemicals that farmers could be using that are much more dangerous then Round Up.

We grow GMO crops, not everything we grow is GMO, but some of it. GMOs provide better yeilds in a shorter growing season (which is very important here as we live in a colder climate)

It all comes down to money really. Organic farming doesn't bring in the money nessesary to support a large farm.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/31/us-glyphosate-pollution-idUSTRE77U61720110831
I adore farmers, because I would starve without you. Thank you for your service to our wonderful country!!!

But they have found that Roundup does not go away as advertised.

 

[Tracydr]

Quote:
Can you post the mix or mixes that you make? Or if not, I'd love it you could pm me with them.

 

[AlienChick]

I've been feeding organic Blue Seal because it happens to be the same price as the non-organic.

However, now that I'm moving, there are no Blue Seal dealers within 100 miles.

I'll look into whether or not any organic feed is available in the new location; but if it's way more expensive, I'll just feed a good feed at a reasonable price.

 

[Tracydr]

Among other bad things that GMO soy and corn have caused, it is causing a loss of milkweed which is decimating the Monarch population. It's small things like this that will begin to bite us in the next 20 years. How many animal species will we lose due to round-ready crops?

 

[Illia]

Quote:
Actually, you don't have to go GMO just for better yield in a shorter climate. We have around the shortest, lamest climate there is for growing things and no GMO variety can beat the non-GMO varieties when it comes to that. In fact, the corn we grow that does best here is actually an ancient Mexican variety originating from Oaxaca. Our other heat-demanding things we don't grow in a greenhouse, or even ones in a greenhouse - Not modified.

GMO's were mainly built for resistance (chemicals, insects, fungi, viruses), not climate. Climate is where the breeding varieties comes into play.

If we grew GMO corn here, it would hate our short climate, lack of heat, and excess cloudy, rainy days. If we grew GMO Bananas like in Africa instead of our own, they would hate the high humidity and less sun provided in the greenhouse, plus, the modification done to them is for a disease we don't get here.

ETA - The decimation of Monarchs is not all

That's only told in the news because it is all people care about. I wouldn't doubt thousands of species of beetles, moths, sawflies, etc already disappearing now but sadly people don't care. It's not a pretty butterfly.

 

[Cindy in PA]

Quote:
If you buy a feed from a company that tests their grain, there will be very little GMO. Can't say none since the pollen blows around. It all depends what you want.

 

[Cindy in PA]

The field next to me is full of Roundup ready soybeans and a huge crop of weeds. As usual, by the end of the season the weeds are going to seed. Round up just makes for more & bigger weeds.

 

[Illia]

Quote:
If you buy a feed from a company that tests their grain, there will be very little GMO. Can't say none since the pollen blows around. It all depends what you want.

Exactly. I'd like to see some feed suppliers that show that they do.

 

[ChickieBooBoo]

Quote:
I am a farmer, we do it for a living. We don't have seperate jobs in the city that provide an extra income if the crops don't grow. If we don't grow a crop, we don't make a living.

Chemical and fertilizer is expensive, we don't spray it if we don't have to. Round Up (which is technically a chemical called glyphosate) is actually one of the safer chemicals out there. It neutralizes as soon as it hits the ground. There are MANY other chemicals that farmers could be using that are much more dangerous then Round Up.

We grow GMO crops, not everything we grow is GMO, but some of it. GMOs provide better yeilds in a shorter growing season (which is very important here as we live in a colder climate)

It all comes down to money really. Organic farming doesn't bring in the money nessesary to support a large farm.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/31/us-glyphosate-pollution-idUSTRE77U61720110831
I adore farmers, because I would starve without you. Thank you for your service to our wonderful country!!!

But they have found that Roundup does not go away as advertised.

Of course not every product is perfect, super weeds though aren't always the fault of Monsanto and Round Up. Many farmers get lazy and wait until the weeds are older before they spray, that way they might only have to spray once instead of maybe two times. Round Up is meant to kill weeds in fields when they are younger, not older. The older the plant, the more chance it has to develop a resistance to a chemical.