Minnesota!

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Lol, you guys just continue to eat your poison then.

http://www.responsibletechnology.or...lergies-Genetically-Engineered-Corn-June-2007

 

[Minniechickmama]

There is a big difference between gene manipulation and selective breeding. When you speak of the Cornish Rock meat birds, that is years upon years of selective breeding. You may not agree with that approach to raising chickens, so you have to the choice to not order and raise them. However, the efficiency of raising those types of birds is what keeps the supply of chicken flowing to all the people who love their nuggest, and boneless, skinless breasts, and other plump and juicy chicken parts. Can you imagine how people would flip if they had to buy 6-month old cockerels from purebred stock? They would not be quite as plump, and their meat would be so much tougher than what our society is used to. They also take a bit more money to raise them when you have to feed until they are 6-months old.
I am not criticizing that people want to eat all-natural, but there is a reason the Frankenchickens were created, and it is part of the economics of growing food for our nation and the world. I like knowing where my food comes from, so I do raise a lot of our own food. I would find more fault with the monoculture of our country. I couldn't be more tired of seeing corn and soybeans. There are so many other crops that we could be growing to expand the diversity of our agriculture, but all we seem to grow are a corn, soybeans, a little wheat and oats, and alfalfa. The number of 'foods' made from corn are astounding, and they are mostly processed and reprocessed to a point that they are actually bad for us to consume. That bothers me a lot more than GMO.
What bothers me even more is the fact that companies like Monsanto drive small farmers out of business by contaminating fields and then turning the screws on the smaller farmers with claims they stole their patented formulated seed after the big corp corn pollinates neighboring fields.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Well said Minnie.

 

[ejb3810]

I don't own any stock in Monsanto, but I will say that most of the horror stories you hear about them are either contrived or very skewed.
People are able to do what they like, eat what they like & etc. Farmers and seed stock producers concentrate on those products which there is a ready market for. It is not logical to criticize that.
If there were viable markets for the other things referred to then they would be produced in greater quantities?

 

[duluthralphie]

Lol, you guys just continue to eat your poison then.

http://www.responsibletechnology.or...lergies-Genetically-Engineered-Corn-June-2007

These poisons are partially responsible for extending our life expectancy. They have made food cheaper and able to be stored longer. The same scientific advances are responsible for our life expectancy and the improved crops. I think it is unfair to tout science that brought the longer life expectancy and condemn the science that makes better food available to the world for millions.



Whether you use selective breeding, a carrier virus or a gene splicing on an organism the results are the same, the DNA has been changed from what nature intended. It is like deciding to walk, ride a horse or fly in plane from one coast to the other, the results are the same the time involved to get there is the only difference.



I do agree with Minnie in one respect, we have lost diversity in our foods. Apples is the prime example, I believe we had over 100 varieties of apples in the 1800 in Minnesota, now we have just a handful. Rye use to be plentiful in this area, now I seldom see it. I remember fields of flax, that too is nearly gone in this area.

Even our dairies are monolithic, most being Holsteins, when is the last time you saw a herd of Brown Swiss or Ayrshires?

I like that some of us keep the old breeds alive, I worry someday a disaster could strike and eliminate one variety from those we now produce, say corn. It would be a horrible thing for health and the economy. BUT that does not make corn poison.

The great thing is we are still free enough to raise and eat what want, even though our choices have been limited.

I do not find companies like Monsanto to be the "enemy". I do not blame them for the changing of the rural landscape. It is pure and simple economics. It is a factor of the longer life expectancy and scientific advancement.

If you look at farm families you can see life expectancy, technological advances and economics have changed the farms not Monsanto. Farmers live longer and work more efficiently producing more than ever before in history. In our family there were 3 boys, when my youngest brother graduated from High School my Dad was 48 years old. Dad was farming over a thousand acres then. There was no way the farm could have supported anyone of our young families at that time. We were all forced to learn different professions and unable to farm. When Dad retired the land he was farming went to another farmer to increase the size of his farm, none of us could afford or were willing to give up our careers to start farming at around 40.

This in my opinion changed farming not Monsanto or companies like it, it was companies like John Deere, International Harvester, Case, Minneapolis Moline that changed farming, and in the process even they caused their own demise in many cases.


Anyways to each his own, but I know I will happily go on eating my GMO corn.

 

[duluthralphie]

I don't own any stock in Monsanto, but I will say that most of the horror stories you hear about them are either contrived or very skewed.
People are able to do what they like, eat what they like & etc. Farmers and seed stock producers concentrate on those products which there is a ready market for. It is not logical to criticize that.
If there were viable markets for the other things referred to then they would be produced in greater quantities?

Pure Economics!! You are so right.

Supply and demand still rules no matter how much some groups try to demonize it. I can raise lots of gourds here on my land, BUT the world only needs so many gourds and the market is just not there for them.

 

[ejb3810]

On a different note, the warm up has been a welcome relief. I do look forward to some days of sunshine with no fog, although that weather is likely to come with significant temperature drop. With each passing day we get closer to those days when people are scanning their seed catalogs in preparation for garden planning. Early chick production is not in the cards for me, as I don't have the facilities for them until the warmer days of spring.

 

[duluthralphie]

SPRING IS HERE!!

The snow is nearly gone, the drive is mud, I hope this lasts until May.

48 degrees here right now.

 

[bantiesrule]

DITTO!!!!!!!

 

[cmom]

Not likely. What about a white Christmas... Do you have a January thaw? I have a friend who moved from Florida to Minnesota. She spent a few winters there but did recently move back south. I was born in northern Michigan. We moved to Florida when I was young but I do remember the snow even though it was around 60 years ago. My DH is originally from Massachusetts. His mother passed away about 10 years ago and wanted to be buried in her home town so we went up to Massachusetts in February. It had been the 2nd time in real snow since we moved to Florida. The first time was in the mid 70's when I spent a Christmas is Copenhagen. Denmark. Both times I got caught in snow storms. We have had snow a couple of times here in Florida but it was light. It covered the ground but melted fast. For a little over 20 years we did spend our summers in the Northeast US and back to Florida in the winter. I think Minnesota may get a little colder than I remember in Michigan. We did get a lot of lake affect snow from the great lakes. We lived on top of a hill and at the end of our road was a lake. I remember as a kid we used to get on the roof of the house and slide off it onto the bank of snow on the side of the house from my dad shoveling the roof off and down the road onto the lake... ***Memories***