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[pourfarmer]

its basically impossible to grow certified
organic canola in western canada due to
possible gm contamination. There was/is a
guideline in place of no conventional
canola fields within 10km of a certified
organic canola field... good luck finding
a field like that in western canada
definitely not in my area anyway

[charliep]

Perhaps to help me, does Polish canola (open pollinated) out cross with Argentine (close polintated)? At what level?

[pourfarmer]

I can not tell you for sure but i believe
cross polination is possible to what level
i dont know, however I am thinking the 10k
separation is more in fear of gm seeds
being transplanted via wind and wildlife

[wd9]

If you put shit with E coli on your food
to grow it you have a much higher chance
of eating e coli then synthetic fert
which has no contamination.

But then common sense and organic rarely
meet.

Please post those links pourfarmer of
contamination on a conventional farm.
Always interested in a good read.

[pourfarmer]

I agree with you on that, chances are
definatly better getting e coli tainted
food when producers are using raw
sewage. A organic producer who uses raw
sewage as a top dressing fertilizer
deserves to be tar and feathered, these
kinds of operations do not stay in
business long i would imagine (or hope).
Again, common sense.

http://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/outbreaks.html

Take look at that list, out of 18 e coli
contaminations resulting in product
recalls I count only 1 organic
product... hmm?

[wd9]

Its really hard to determine the source
as it is hit and miss whether they list
the source - or even if found.

Multistate infections not at all.

Of the first five that list farms
however, they come from poop fertilized
farms and 3 being organic or gone broke
so unable to determine. Ugly.

Good link! Scary reading. Yikes.

[pourfarmer]

Just want to point out that only 1 is
certified organic, however the others
that were using manure based ferts may
have been farming on organic practices
but were not certified. I would like to
believe that if those other 4 farms were
certified organic it would have been
caught prior to marketplace. The
guidelines and regulations from my
certifier are extremely strict when it
comes to using manure based fertilizer
on field crops I can only imagine what
the process is like for vegetable crops.

I am sure I do not need to show you a
link to the xl foods (conventional) e
coli outbreak, as well as the peanut
butter (salmonella??) fiasco a couple
years ago (conventional). My point is,
there are just as many (if not more
simply due to market share) e coli,
salmonella, etc related recalls on
conventional foods as there is organic.

[wd9]

I would agree. There are - lots. My only
real point is just because its organic
doesn't mean its automatically super safe
and healthy.

[ado089]

This post goes to show how dense you
organic folks really are. Cargill's
growth has been organic,not in organics.
Meaning it's growing it's return per
customer and/or productivity on existing
capital. Cargill has long been in the IP
game, starting with the IMC canola
program (now CSO) a GM line of canola
with a healthier oil profile, thus
segregation is important to maintain
purity of the oil profile. Their IP
programs have also included Snowbird
wheat and more recently Polarstar
malting barley. Cargill and their
customers want consistency in their
product so they can produce a consistent
product to the consumer. While we're on
the topic of traceability, McDonalds
fries sold in the USA can be traced back
to the field they were grown. Organics
don't have a monopoly on traceability.

Also the claim that organic foods don't
contains pesticides is patently absurd,
some of the harshest pesticides known
are certified organic because they are
biological derived. These products are
heavily used on fleshy and leafy
produce...the only foods where reduced
pesticide use makes any sense
whatsoever. More so most organic food
come from countries where regulations
are closer to a recommendations than a
hard and fast rule...trust me I've been
to many of them. These are places where
slipping someone a $100 US will get
almost anyone to look the other way.

[pourfarmer]

ado, i did take a bit of offense to the comment about
'how dense organic people are' but then i remember I
was on a website where a guy can post whatever they
want anonymously and not claim any responsibility.
Since you are anonymous and I have no idea how old
you are, your comments (such as above) appear to be
the work of a 13-14 year old teenager, you know the
ones that THINK they know everything and will not
listen to anyone. So i will tell you, like I would
tell any other child, "ado, that wasnt very nice to
say. You should know better, now please apologize so
the grown ups can continue on with their discussion"

No one claimed organic has a patent on traceability,
however EVERY certified organic product can be traced
back to the farm it was grown. Whereas only a slight
portion of conventional food can be (mcdonalds
fries??? lol).... lets be realistic here you know how
much paper work you do when you sell a load of grain,
cause i sure do.

Using words like 'healthier oil profile' ahahahah you
are suggesting the oil profile of organic canola is
not as healthy??? You should be ashamed of yourself
using these scare tactics!!! Ruining peoples lives
and livelihood with your 'scare tactics'.

I've been in the organic industry only a few years,
but have never once seen a pesticide used in western
Canada. Dont know about vegetable or row crop
production but please provide some kind of
information to back your comment about the pesticides
being more dangerous then the ones used in
conventional ag. Please.

Also you should be aware that to be sold as certified
organic in Canada you have to meet OUR regulations
not the originating countries rules and
regulations... again trying to use your 'scare
tactics' on these poor uninformed consumers, shame on
you. Do you have any more assumptions I could clarify
for you?