Lit*tle did Willie Nel*son know when he recorded “Crazy” years ago just how crazy it would be*come for our cher*ished fam*ily farm*ers in Amer*ica. Nel*son, Pres*i*dent of Farm Aid, has re*cently called for the na*tional Oc*cupy move*ment to de*clare an “Oc*cupy the Food Sys*tem” ac*tion.
Nel*son states, “Cor*po*rate con*trol of our food sys*tem has led to the loss of mil*lions of fam*ily farm*ers, de*struc*tion of our soil…”
Hun*dreds of cit*i*zens, (even in*clud*ing NYC chefs in their white chef hats) joined Oc*cupy the Food Sys*tem groups, ie Food Democ*racy Now, gath*ered out*side the Fed*eral Courts in Man*hat*tan on Jan*u*ary 31st, to sup*port or*ganic fam*ily farm*ers in their land*mark law*suit against Big Agribusi*ness giant Mon*santo. (Or*ganic Seed Grow*ers & Trade As*so*ci*a*tion v. Mon*santo) Oral ar*gu*ments were heard that day con*cern*ing the law*suit by 83 plain*tiffs rep*re*sent*ing over 300,000 or*ganic farm*ers, or*ganic seed grow*ers, and or*ganic seed busi*nesses.
The law*suit ad*dresses the bizarre and shock*ing issue of Mon*santo ha*rass*ing and threat*en*ing or*ganic farm*ers with law*suits of “patent in*fringe*ment” if any or*ganic farmer ends up with any trace amount of GM seeds on their or*ganic farm*land.
For 1, organic farming is dumb, but I agree with these guys on a couple of issues.
Particularly IP infringement when the farmer wasn't actively or passively trying to infringe.
They didn't do it on purpose, Monsanto should back off.
I don't see why organic farming is "dumb".
It can't replicate the yields for staple foods, that is needed to supply the world.
We're talking about a reduction of 30%+/-.
A lot of it tends to be a marketing gimmick too.
The only issue I have is that hybrids and geneered crops don't reproduce naturally; you have to keep buying Monsanto seed every year.
For most bulk farming that's fine.
But I support keeping a minority of farming using "heirloom seeds" that can be reproduced by the farmer on site, if for no other reason than if something goes wrong and ALL seed were Monsanto patent seeds, we'd get one more good crop and then die off by the billions.
It can't replicate the yields for staple foods, that is needed to supply the world.
We're talking about a reduction of 30%+/-.
A lot of it tends to be a marketing gimmick too.
Who said anything about feeding the whole world, or replacing industrial agriculture completely?
Part of why I eat organic is because of how unregulated the agricultural sector has become. We have a few key corporations controlling the food supply and their factory practices are appalling. We could still eat non-organic food and not have to suffer lysteria poisoning or artificial hormones, but the FDA is staffed by some of the biggest players in the agricultural business so there's no point in trying to appeal to logic.
A head of lettuce that hasn't been sprayed with chemical pesticides and herbicides is a gimmick?
Nah it's regulated, it's just that regulation tends to breed cronyism and corruption of both the government and the private interests involved.
Many plants generate their own pesticides, that are just as dangerous as man made versions.
Why does it matter?
Yes, in some cases, the organic industry is playing to the ignorance of their consumers.
Harry Guerrilla said:There is lots of evidence to back this up too.
Around 99.99% of all carcinogenic pesticides that people eat, are all natural.
Meaning that the plants they eat, created these pesticides.
Not regulated enough if you ask me. Watch Food Inc.
Link?
Then it's the consumer's fault for being ignorant. It's not that difficult to find out which organic produce is real or not, and if the FDA would get off its butt we could have the term "organic" regulated so that people who shop under that label aren't being deceived.
Based on what studies? We are surrounded by carcinogens but those same plants also contain antioxidants which fight the very cancerous compounds they might contain. See, the problem with the kind of research you've obviously been reading, is that they extract and concentrate single chemical compounds, inject them into rats at levels that would never normally enter their body via digestion, and then declare that [insert food name] can cause cancer.
The body is way more dynamic than that, as are the chemical compositions of the plants we eat.
A large part of the organic movement is bound in myth and politics.
Science > than dramatizations of reality.
It is regulated.
Also, regulated organic farmers are still allowed to use pesticides.
That's exactly what they do with synthetic pesticides and that's exactly why people switch to organics.
It's hilarious stuff.
There is lots of evidence to back this up too.
Around 99.99% of all carcinogenic pesticides that people eat, are all natural.
Meaning that the plants they eat, created these pesticides.
A large part of the organic movement is bound in myth and politics.
Nice dodge.
My critique is the same as I already mentioned. Their method was to extract these natural pesticides, concentrate them at unnatural levels, and inject them into animals. Of course cancer will occur when that happens. Human diets are diverse and the more different kinds of foods you eat - especially fruits and veggies - the more that you will be protected. Everything you eat, regardless of what it is, has foreign material in it that your body doesn't want. That's what the waste channels are for.
At least the "pesticides" in plants are naturally occurring, which means our bodies have a biochemical basis for dealing with that. Compare that to petroleum pesticides which have guaranteed toxicity.
That's not why I eat organic food, but you are welcome to your assumptions. If I bite an apple, peach, carrot (with skin), or pear that is non-organic, my throat begins to swell up. My doctors tried telling me that this was a food allergy (which is true in many cases). I got allergy testing and it came up negative for all these things. I always had to skin my fruit, until I tried eating organic fruit with the peel.
There is a difference. If you're relying on studies alone to make that determination for you instead of paying attention to what your body is telling you, then you are not getting the full picture. But maybe your body is not as sensitive as mine and can deal with the various chemicals in food.
All these do is reveal bad practices in certain organic farming companies. Not all of them are subject to this. Also, to be fair, I am currently living in western Canada where admittedly the organic food is better. California is not too bad though.
If you don't believe in organics then that's your business... but calling me stupid for listening to my own body is sheer presumptive arrogance on your part.
So is a large part of every other business in the world throughout all of time.
That's all true, but some people are willing to pay the premium price for the label, someone will supply it.
Certainly not saying that regular farming should be illegal...just that if someone's gonna buy it, someone's gonna sell it.
I agree.
But this is about organic stuff.
A lot of it is just consumer ignorance.
Nope.
Documentaries don't have the solid scientific foundation behind them, like science research papers.
"Naturally occurring" is meaningless.
Is naturally occurring cyanide, less dangerous than synthetic cyanide?
You have no idea what chemicals were causing this.
A lot of times our brain tricks our bodies into thinking something is wrong, when it isn't.
No, it's not arrogance, it science.
The organic food movement is largely bound in idiocy.
Some of it is legit, but a lot of it, is just plain out stupidity.
That's not why I eat organic food, but you are welcome to your assumptions. If I bite an apple, peach, carrot (with skin), or pear that is non-organic, my throat begins to swell up. My doctors tried telling me that this was a food allergy (which is true in many cases). I got allergy testing and it came up negative for all these things. I always had to skin my fruit, until I tried eating organic fruit with the peel.·If you don't believe in organics then that's your business... but calling me stupid for listening to my own body is sheer presumptive arrogance on your part.
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You have no idea what chemicals were causing this.
A lot of times our brain tricks our bodies into thinking something is wrong, when it isn't.
Oh right, the old "mind over matter" placebo effect routine. That's what people say when they are too lazy to find the real reason. I didn't give two ****s about organic food before I had the bad reactions. You can give me a non-organic apple that comes from anywhere. If it has been sprayed with pesticide I will have the same reaction. No, I don't have a scientific laboratory working on my personal behalf to give you a chemical analysis, but don't ****ing tell me that it's all in my head. If I have no idea, then you certainly don't.
This seems to me like something that cries out for a properly-conducted double-blind test.
I bet that if Temporal was given examples of “organic” and “non-organic” fruits, without knowing which is which, I bet no correlation would be found between the claimed effect, and the “organic” or “non-organic” fruits.
A pet peeve of mine is the misuse of the word “organic”. All food is organic. There is no such thing as “non-organic” food, at least not for us humans. Our bodies are not capable of deriving nutrients from any inorganic sources. The distinction between “organic” and “non-organic” foods has nothing whatsoever to do with anything that the word “organic” actually means.
When I see "organic" I pass it up personally. What that means to me is "Gonna cost more, and the benefit is suspect at best".
Organic to me is what I grow with my own two hands.
Now you're just being semantic. You know full well that THIS use of the term "organic" refers to products that don't contain toxic chemicals…
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