Proud of your product

[ado089]

I'm glad you've finally come around to agreeing with me Pourfarmer.

[pourfarmer]

huh? I'm saying you can look to yourself to answer the question you initially posted. Farmers do it for $$$$$$$$$$$$$... nothing more, nothing less.

[ado089]

There are plenty of ways to make money farming that align with your belief system.

[pourfarmer]

Exactly! So why are you producing food in for a system you don't believe in? Honest question.

[pourfarmer]

Suppose to be a / between in and for.

[ado089]

It was at the landowners request and I didn't mind the idea as a form of diversification.

[pourfarmer]

Oh so the landlord had a gun to your head, you couldn't have said "no thanks I'll find land that fits my belief system" and paid higher rent prices then the next guy to acquire said land?

[Hopalong]

Had some connection with on farm food safety programs.

Concerns with grains were pesticide and naturally occurring mycotoxins and heavy metals.

On own farm,have made major investments in grain drying and storage to reduce risk of ochratoxin A, a known carcinogen.

Try to use and follow guidelines on fungicides to reduce fusarium and resulting vomitoxin.

There are more examples of science based things we do to reduce toxins and produce safe food.

[hobbyfrmr]

I moved to organic farming as a viable business model for a small acre farm. Ergo: for the money.
Over time I see what "real people" are demanding, this reinforces what I am doing now. I dont look at conventional farmers as the enemy or killing others, I look at the rest of the conventional industry with contempt and disdain. The conventional farmer is making his living the best way he knows how. The retailers and line companies are truly milking the farmers for all they are worth. Once a person steps away from fertilizer and spray and seed patents it be ome crystal clear. I am more than happy to grow lower yeilds than my neighbours and sell for more. I think the end result is very similar.

[nibs1]

Freewheat you too make real good points,we have done the same with our kids when they were home, raising meat chickens,eggs, pork,beef. Now that they are grown and moved on they all want farm raised produce (as welll as their fiends) so we are back raising most of ours and their food.we are very proud of what we produce from meat to grains. We had the organic inspector out the other day and gave us some good complements on our crops and our raising our own food,but it took 14 years to get here, its is a different way to farm and not for everyone.I am enjoying farming way more now than when I was conventional.

[nibs1]

Hobby you said it exactly the way we feel about our conventional neighbors we each farm our own way and often talk and compare, no problems. Hobby we will have to get together for a coffee or beer sometime, i am from the south and your in the north i take it, maybe meet in Saskatoon?

[hobbyfrmr]

Nibs, i appreciate the offer. I would like to meet eventually. I could bs all day about organic. My biggest trouble is we have 4 young kids and literally, everyday, we are madly off in all directions. My trips to Saskatoon are scarce and usually for parts. This is just the way we live at this time. I will keep it in mind.

[cottonpicken]

Can't really blame a guy for using the tools in the toolbox. It's somebody else's job to figure out what is safe and what isint

[cottonpicken]

And you cant really blame a guy for not wanting to chase around a bunch of critters in his spare time when that stuff is so frickin cheap

[sumdumguy]

We have grown a lot of lentils since 1980 and never desiccated, only swathed. Why, you ask. Because if we could produce a good green sample without the pre-harvest spray, why would we spray them days before consumable product?We knew a fellow farmer who sprayed Decis on his lentil swaths to kill grasshoppers. Think the people who ate those lentils would have appreciated the kind gesture? Think they would appreciate the glyphosate? Life is precious.