Why I'm Against Organic (read all the way through before you flame)

[BrewedInNh]

A school kid soliciting information about a controversial agro industry practice... Any chance this "debate" is your way of collecting ammo and fodder for a Compare/Contrast assignment for class?

It's a fairly common tactic on forums these days.

 

[AllTheseCreatures]

If this doesn't specifically pertain to organic poultry methods, why is it in this category? EDIT: Never mind, it was moved

Eliot Coleman's book, The Winter Harvest Handbook, has some really interesting insight into the controversy as he's spent a large part of his adult life farming and doing research into the topic. Fascinating stuff. I would rather discuss the issue with a farmer who does organic farming and a farmer who doesn't do organic farming; who's opinion has some weight and merit rather than a random internet yahoo who's only tool is Google.

Personally, I make a distinction between shallow organic and deep organic. Commercial agriculture and organic methods usually result in the former.

 

[soap&eggs]

is it not funny every so often the new generation comes in trying to be the next new way of organics...for some of us its not being organic..its just the only way we know how to do it..my parents were "organic" before the word was coined !!! farmers never spraying crops..never chemicals in garden or apple trees..sure we had weeds & bugs..but they were raising 10 kids back in the "good ol' days " ..and their parents and grandparents were truely the organic farmers. i read books - magazines on going green..organics..and i scratch my head & laugh..but..what to do?? personally i dont go out of my way to buy organic ..i buy what i can afford..if its grown in USA i will buy first..chemicals & all ..before i will buy from other countries regardless of pkg stating thiers is organict or not. the demand world wide for cheap grains has hurt all small farmers regardless of what or how they farmed. if you look at all the big named producers of grains..meats.. they are under stric rules for chemical useage..but..what is poured onto top of soil has to go somewhere..and with rain & wind you know its gone somewhere..causing damages to human ..animals..water supplies plant life ect ect. funny is it not what people will do for a coin.?? & have no moral thought of what it cost everyone in the end.

 

[PineappleMama]

I agree with the majority here... these corporate farms are about as far from the hippie roots as you can possibly get. Actually, maybe I should say they ARE as far... this is a complete 180 from the beliefs that started the 'movement'. And thanks to friends in high places the corporate farms are having a field day running the little guys out of business (that's every industry, not just farming)... and while they're at it they aren't providing as 'clean' a product as that little guy... but they get to say their All Natural Organic, while the little dude who's only fertilizer is from his animals poo (now THAT is natural) will be sued if he even says the word organic without paying outrageous fees. It's yet one more area where politics has become more important than the product or the consumers.

As to Organic being better/worse for you... I don't know if one tomato is healthier than another tomato... but I do know that what gets sprayed on one tomato is designed to KILL LIVING BEINGS... so, yeah, tends to make me figure maybe I don't want to take a swig of the stuff. May be totally safe, I'm no chemist, but still think I'll pass on the Raid Salad Dressing.

Be interesting though... once someone starts spreading the rumor that this or that part of the organic way causes cancer, makes you lose your hair, gives you measles, summons a purple people eater, etc. you'll have a ton of people trashing their very pretty but oh so toxic produce.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I prefer to attempt to support the most sustainable form of agriculture that I can on any given day, regardless of the sticker or label. For me, that puts buying locally at the top of the hierarchy.

If I can get organic local food, certified or not, awesome. If I can only get non-organic food locally, I still go for it. The state of food security in Alaska is so fragile it's scary, I will do ANYTHING I can to support local food.

Certified organic vs. non-certified is irrelevant to me. I don't bother with "organic" produce in a national supermarket chain unless it is one of the few items they source locally. The nice thing about buying locally is that in many cases you can have a conversation with the person that grew the food to find out what their methods are and if it works for you. THAT is the next best thing to growing it yourself.

 

[michickenwrangler]

I try to get organic local produce, but barring that, I'd opt for local over organic. I read an article about a year or two ago that said that a lot of "organic" grocery store food like Kraft Organic Mac n'Cheese is actually produced in India (article never stated if it was the milk or preservatives or wheat for pasta or what). So, are organic standards to India or US standards? I would prefer to buy local than organic grown on the other side of the world (unless it's something like honeydew melons from the isolated Hunza Valley in Pakistan or organic goat cheese from a mountain meadow in Switzerland--some exotic once-in-a-lifetime delicacy). My garden is organic in all but certification.

 

[Olive Hill]

Quote:
Unfortunately, when you start a conversation with conflicted arguments, rampant fallacies and an elementary (at best) understanding of the industry at hand continuing it in an educated manner becomes very difficult.

Thank you, I never claimed to be an expert in this area, I'm just an opinionated high school kid with an interest in small scale agriculture.

Those can be both the best kind and the worst.

Being opinionated indicates that you have a passion for knowledge, now just channel it into the right avenues, feed it and you can have a very good thing going.

Quote:
I am not here to correct you. I believe the best conclusions anyone can come to are not those someone else hands over, but those that you can come to yourself after being questioned and forced to think about that which you already "know". I would strongly encourage you to educate yourself not just on organic agriculture, but conventional agriculture as well. You cannot even begin to understand the reason organics are handled the way they are today -- where that way is right and where it is wrong -- until you understand the system they branch from. Read books written by a number of authors from all different agricultural camps, those that work for big ag and those that work in small ag. Grow things. Really, get out in your backyard and grow things. After even one season you will come away with a whole new perspective. Watch movies, but don't take everything they say for granted, think about it, research it. Be critical. Really think about what you think you know, what you learn and always what you say.

There is a strong case to be made against USDA Organic certification, one that is already being made by many farmers and consumers alike, but you can't begin to mount a case when you don't understand the evidence.

 

[pdsavage]

Just the cost alone on organic keeps me away,so I grow my own.

 

[95yj]

Quote:
Not even in school, just interested in this kind of stuff, I'm actually kind of offended that you would say that, I have a genuine interest in this area and my goal in life is to one day own/operate a diversified sustainable farm. If i was trying to write an assignment i really wouldn't need the help of the internet.

 

[95yj]

Olive Hill: I do actually grow alot of stuff, i raise a batch of broilers on pasture every year for my family and i keep a sustainable quail flock which provides both meat and eggs, i also keep a small flock of layers, we also grow very large vegetable gardens which provide almost all of our vegetables for the summer, this year we harvested 1000 head of garlic. As well as growing food we also preserve it so we don't have to completely rely on store bought goods throughout the winter. I try to educate myself as much as possible, but it can be difficult to find books on these topics, I'm not going to lie, i have been heavily influenced by Joel Salatin, but I still disagree with some of his statements and any of the opinions stated on this forum are solely mine. I'v seen several posts saying that I'm wrong and don't know what i'm talking about, but no body wants to pinpoint it, so thank you for taking the time to fill in the blanks