CNN reports that consumers are becoming suspicious of the “Organic” label:
The percentage of consumers who believe organic products are good for them is down to 45%, while those who believe they’re good for the environment has fallen to 48%, according to the latest survey from consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail. Both measures stood at a 54% approval rating two years ago.
All I can say is it is about time. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma A Natural History of Four Meals
Michael Poulan did a masterful job of illustrating how corporate America has taken over the organic movement, corrupting government policy and regulation, and turning a healthy alternative into yet another way to create profit.
We have toyed with the idea of getting “organic certification” but so far have rejected it. There are multiple reasons for this.
- Cost
- Unnecessary restrictions
- Animal health and welfare
Some of the requirements for certification are simply over the top. Banning use of antibiotics and/or parsiticides can compromise herd health for little gain. Frankly, if an animal gets sick and needs veterinary intervention, we are going to provide that intervention. This is far different than routine use of medications!
Some requirements make little sense. Pressure treated posts are fine if they are installed at the time of certification, but no new one’s can be used after certification. Huh??
So, we have billed ourselves as “natural” and “free range” because that is what we are. We have not applied any chemicals on our property in almost 5 years. Our local eco-system is healthy and getting healthier, evidenced by the increase in bird and mammal species observed.
Now, if we can only figure out how to get rid of the knot weed on the corner of the property without resorting to poisons we will be OK…
I am not a real picture guy, but this is one worth keeping record of.
april-snow
April 20, 2008 - This is the latest, most significant snowfall I have seen in over 35 years in the Wllamette Valley. April often has unsettled weather, and freezes are not uncommon, but these kind of conditions are very unusual!
One week later…
april-sun
Exactly one week later, on April 27, 2008. This is much more like a normal spring.
One of the side effects of the odd weather this year is that the grass has remained dormant for a full month longer than usual. This is not a good thing for the hay bill.
Hopefully we will see the grass begin to grow now that the ground is warming up…
Better than half way through the month of April, and it is snowing in the Willamette Valley!
NWS says to expect “unseasonably cold” weather patterns. Well, I’d have to agree. About 1 PM we started getting dime sized hail and lightening. This transitioned into sleet, then snow, and we ended up with about 2 1/2 inches of the stuff on the ground, and a passing pickup in the ditch out on the highway.
Animals all were smart enough to head to the barn…
No telling what this will do for the fruit growers around these parts. Our apple and pear trees are in bloom, so a hard freeze will hardly be a good thing.
Luckily, no produce has been planted yet. Starts are still indoors under lights. I have seen snow in April once in the past 30 years, but not quite this late in the month.
An interesting weather year this has been.
Boy, I feel like I am beating a dead horse. BBC reports:
“US President George W Bush has ordered the release of $200m in emergency aid to alleviate food shortages in Africa and other parts of the world.”
Meanwhile, the farm bill languishes in Congress and is facing a Presidential veto.
Congress wants to include tax cuts for
- Biofuels
- Timber Companies
- Race Horses
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga, defended the latter, saying, “Horse racing is a huge agricultural industry.”
Now, I’m confused. We need to contribute $200 million to relieve world hunger while we give major domestic tax breaks to those growing fuel, paper and Christmas trees, and race horses!
What are we going to eat here in this country? I guess that doesn’t matter, since we will be able to drive to the race track where we can have paper race forms helping us decide which horse to put our money on.
“Let them eat cake,” were words famously spoken when the French populace was starving. Seems just as applicable now…
I have just watched (for about the third time now) the movie “Sicko”.
Not sure why I do this to myself, given how angry I get every time I watch it.
In my mind it is downright criminal that this country, the most prosperous in history, does not have universal health care. Perhaps this is because I have seen firsthand the impact that the lack of UHC has on real people. In the past 5 years I have seen our health care system (often called the best in the world) ignore several people in my near or distant family to the point that they died.
Our health care system is set up to deny treatment, since paying for treatment is detrimental to the bottom line of HMO’s and insurance companies.
We may have the best health care system, but it is inaccessible to many. And, to many more it is a source of bondage, chaining them to jobs that they dare not leave.
What does health care have to do with a farm blog?
It really is all part of an unsustainable system - the same system that supports a food supply controlled by a handful of multi-national corporations. It is part of a system that teaches and reinforces a “me first” and “right now” culture of acquisition, consumption and ultimately exploitation of our environment and our fellow man.
When “we” can think in terms of “us” we will empower ourselves. When we act to further our collective long term interests, we will see change.
Per Bloomberg - ” Further gains in food prices would be ‘terrible’ for the world’s poor and throw hundreds of thousands of them into starvation…Governments throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East are seeking to combat food inflation and avoid social unrest by curbing exports or lifting import duties on basic food staples such as rice. Global food prices surged 57 percent last month from a year earlier, according to the United Nations, and the World Bank warns civil disturbances may be triggered in 33 countries.”
The price increases are presumably triggered by worldwide shortages of cereal grains, especially rice, which in turn have led to export restrictions by major producers.
Or so it is reported…
A closer look ties it all back into the unstustainable system that has developed over the past 60 years.
Bettina Luescher, the chief North American spokeswoman for the U.N. World Food Program, cites several factors, including, “…a rise in oil and energy prices and an economic boom in developing countries like India and China that is increasing demand, as well as climate changes causing droughts and floods [and], some farmers are shifting their crops from food to those used for alternative fuels, like corn used for ethanol, because of rising demand.”
It is not a third world problem.
In the US there is a multi year drought taking its toll in the southeast. There are hay shortages over most of the country. Livestock and poultry producers are reducing production due to increased feed prices. Dairy production is down across the country, and some States (Missouri for instance) that used to export dairy products now import.
Things are changing, and the change is accelerating, even as the US and global economy enter the most significant slump in at least 25 years and the US dollar is at record lows against virtually all foreign currencies.
Reading the Capital Press and now even making it into mainstream media it appears we have a bit of a problem on our hands.
Call me a contrarian, but I find this kind of exciting. A core group of people have spoken about the unsustainable agricultural systems that have arisen over the past 50 years - one that has farmers starving even as they work their own land. One that enriches corporate megolyths like Cargill and ADM and Monsanto while leaving everyone else to starve.
Riots are no fun for anyone, but perhaps better than starvation!
They do signal change…
I suspect that the day of the CSA may be approaching. As food prices rise, it is quite possible that local growers with good business sense will once again be able to make a livable income.
So, one of our layers has moved on to hen heaven.
Now the wife wants to thin the rooster ranks. There are only three of those poor guys left. (One of the nice things about roosters is that they are usually the first to fall to things like hawks and other predators - doing their “man thing” defending the girls.)
Leave it to a woman to pass a death sentence for the ravages of testosterone!
I was going to put the hen on the burn pile, which will probably get torched this weekend given the improvement in weather.
Instead she got a “proper” funeral buried in her own little chicken grave.
Not sure what we are going to do when the property is filled with little animal graves. Between cats, dogs and now chickens we could fill up pretty quick!
The saying goes, “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.”
The wife has been selling eggs to a local ”fresh to you” produce store. Getting a whopping $1.50 a dozen, which by my calcuations is at least twenty-five cents less than it costs to produce them. The produce stand in turn sells for $3 a dozen, which is double what it cost to acquire them.
Of course, the local grocery is selling ”free range” eggs for closer to $4 a dozen.
So, who is getting the profit? Kind of the (hi)story of farming.
Never could figure out why people think they should be able to buy off the farm for less than in the
store. ”Cutting out the middle man,” shouldn’t mean shortchanging the producer, at least in my mind.
Next time you are looking at produce, beef, eggs or anything else straight off the farm, ask yourself
why that producer shouldn’t see a decent profit on their investment and work?
Watching various chat lines, newsletters and alpaca related websites, it appears that current economic conditions are having a pretty significant impact on the alpaca “industy”.
It’s about time!
For 6-8 years the alpaca industry has been based on marketing and hype. I hate “I Love Alpacas” which quite intentionally portrays alpacas as a quick road to riches.
When the wife and I bought alpacas many years ago there was a pioneering spirit largely missing today. Early owners and breeders had it in their mind that we were creating a new niche in US agriculture. Somehow those goals were lost and a model based on the show ring and “huggable investments” took over.
Now, as more and more people are having difficulty cashing in on their “investments” a new focus on fiber is emerging, and there is even open talk of a consumption market. Good stuff!
Perhaps we can get back to creating that new agricultural niche. Certainly groups such as the Alpaca Fiber Cooperative are trying.