New idea

[cottonpicken]

Go ahead and punch this out of my brain,its been driving me nuts for years,i;ve mentioned it a few times on here.

Basically its a semi-organic label.

Consumers want something and most of us are not giving it to them.You can't ignore the tidal shift underway.

It doesn't really matter who is right or who is wrong and all the political b.s. at this point.

Anyway you cut we are losing.

And all the farmers here know straight organic is not really an option.

Small concessions from both sides.

You guys know the things we maybe shouldn't be doing and conversely we need to explain the things we HAVE to do.

[freewheat]

We are doing this with our animals already. Animals are easier to be semi-organic with.

I think you are on the right track, but not so much with larger scale grain so much as maybe smaller scale grain and animal ag.

I have been thinking along the gluten free craze, and what to grow and mill, or clean and bag at exhorbitant prices.

Make a living on a thousand acres rather than 10 000.

Different ways to do things.

[sumdumguy]

The organic store that I went to this morning is booming. Guess the consumer knows what he wants.

[hedgehog]

you guys have the perfect climate for organic farming, frost to kill bugs and a dry winter that doesnt wash the nitrogen out. i did it for 15yrs on unsuitable heavy soils.

[pourfarmer]

There are things I would like to change within the organic system, but unfortunately its a take it or leave it scenario with certification.

I've always thought "middle ground" would be best, maybe less herb/fung/pesticides on food grade products... maybe limit fert used, I don't know exactly... I think we ****ed it up bad when we decided to treat food as fuel (nothing wrong with growing fuel), the farm practices should differ. I couldn't care less if I'm pumping GMO fuel laced with preharvest desiccant into my truck tank, but into my body or my family that's a different story.

The thing of it is though, most people would have to pay more for their food and have less money for 60" TV's and "branded" clothing..

Thanks for opening dialogue on this Cotton!

[tweety]

CFIA will say the same thing as with PFP.

Too confusing for the incredibly uninformed and naive consumer.

[malleefarmer]

in Sweden a few years back on a farm for 10 days canola rye a little wheat and catlle and sheep. drenches used some selected chemicals mostly knock down prior to sowing cattle got a drench but was all organic but had to be within
'guidelines" and all recorded and inspectors came out at each operation. So was a bit like cotton said semi organic but labelled organic

[sumdumguy]

What would it take to entice farmers to turn the clock back on some acres? Continuos chemical application has become commonplace in today's Ag world. Between the practice of no-til and fall desiccation, I wonder if over-production and production for fuel substitution has taken precedence over production for human consumption. Gotta wonder.

[pourfarmer]

What would it take? It would take $$$. Many farmers cant afford 3 years fallow or 3 years alfalfa or 3 years decreased production. The treadmill they're on is speeding up and they have to make every acre pay just to keep pace.

Guys like ADO have it made, lax rules by certification bodies allowing parallel production with no (or not following) a transition plan. Its definitely a different world then when I started down this path...

[cottonpicken]

The marketing campaign would/could kick the **** out of the David sussukis of the world and the soccer moms in the cities. Even "pesticide free" would go along way.

It be like-look guys we have to have zero till and fertilizer and some chemical,it's just that simple.

Animals i wouldn't know about but the angle is there.

Maybe the space isn't there i dont know.

[rockpile]

To me this whole use of the term "organic" made no sense. Organic refers to anything capable of cellular reproduction. The opposite is inorganic. Rocks are inorganic! Seems like a very warm and fuzzy and successful marketing ploy by some vested interests. Or am I missing something here?

[farmaholic]

Today, I hate it all...

[Braveheart]

I just haven't been able to figure why organic and conventional farming systems can't co exist without bashing the other.

Why can't the suppliers of organic especially, be happy with the market niche they have? The higher values they enjoy comes partly from demand that exceeds supply. If more of us transitioned to organic supply increases and prices drop.

Likewise, if organic acres converted to conventional and yields quadrupled supplies of commodity grains sees yet another increase.

[Braveheart]

If China allows more than one child per family, in 30 years no new ideas will be needed. Just balls to the wall production.

[hobbyfrmr]

Genuinely, organic farming is not for everybody.
Most farmers would never make it without a sprayer and I can respect that.
If more people transition into organic farming, more grain volume supplies the market. Prices drop, everybody loses. Something else that is making me nervous is the financial condition of Canada/US. If these economies crash, and mathematically they have to, less people will be able to afford to spend on more expensive organic food items. I lived it first hand in 2007/2008. No bid on organic barley for 14 months. It gets pretty weird trying to pay for decent machinery when you don't know which month the grain is leaving the yard. The best thing that happened here, canola went to $14.00/bushel. One 3000 acre organic farmer rented out to a very big farm for huge money. The second 5000 acre organic farm bought a sprayer went back to conventional and planted canola.
This proves to me that conventional farming is working, there is all kinds of cash flow out there.
My neighbors are very big, very good high volume producers and they are living well. They run up to date machinery and technology, they use best management practices, grow terrific crops pay crazy to buy land, and pay high cash rents. They employ lots of locals who like to live in small towns, they provide housing for some, buy vehicles or recreation toys for others.
When the two organic farms changed back to conventional farming, they left an organic grain void of about 150,000 bushels of milling oats and 80,000 bushels of feed barley for the organic losers to fill. I really do appreciate that.
You have to ask yourself, do you really want to piss around doing paperwork, summer fallow, not fertilizing, not spraying, fall tillage? Can you really survive a half a crop cash flow year after year? Everybody says, if more farmers went organic people would starve.
Do you really want to grow a half a crop with weeds visible from the road on your land the rest of your farming career? Really?.....