O Dear...There's a fair bit of everything in anything

[oneoff]

Just how well is everyone sleeping tonight....now that the last 2% (and growing) have been told that the majority of that supposedly pesticide free organic food isn't the least bit less contaminated than most of any other foodstuffs.

As has been pointed out before; and is now admitted by even organic producers and marketers

PESTICIDE CONTAMINATION IS UNAVOIDABLE DUE TO THESE COMPOUNDS PRESENCE IN AIR; WATER; SOIL AND THE ENVIRONMENT at large.

"And who wouldn't a Thunk it"

The good news is that absolutely everyone agrees that none of the levels in either organic food or any other foods are present at levels that are dangerous to anyone's health. Lets just try to remember that thought two minutes from now.

What would piss me off as an organic consumer; is the rational " while not perfectly pure; the organic is still the healthier choice".

Sort of like being pregnant.... Not so much you'd notice in the early stages... but still it bothered the daughter's father.

You sell something as being quite distinct and different and it turns out to be exactly the same as everything else on the shelf (most of the time).

I'll note that this suspicion and the reasoning behind it has been provided in this forum....months and years ago.

[Hopperbin]

I don't believe it that spray drift could be the result that, although it is an excuse for the reason that chemical is on organic food. In excess of the limit. In order to be in excess of the limit would you not have had to like stumble and trip with the bucket and spill it over the produce.

[oneoff]

No its not all spray drift. And 50% isn't good enough if you demand zero.

Its a combination of all the possibilities that consumers and producers and marketers and anyone and everyone chooses not to see.

Its about openness and honesty and facing reality. Zero is an unattainable goal. The best one can attain is to minimize risks and admit that that is as good as it gets.

But lets just put all the spin on it we can; and never admit that its always just a matter of time before everything happens. Its never a matter of something never happening.

[parsley]

Oneoff,

Why don't you manufacture litre glass jars of
canola oil with "Made with GMO Canola" stickers
on each jar. With your money.

I'll manufacture the same sized jars with "Made
with Certified Organic Canola" stickers.
With my money.

And let consumers choose.

In Carlyle,on Monday, I purchased a jar of
Hellman's mayonnaise. Not organic. Made with
olive oil. Ask yourself this:
Why would Hellman's go to the expense of
making mayo with olive oil when so many other
oils are available?
Safflower, canola, peanut, soy, etc. all cheaper
oils.

Why?

You slam organics for filling a need; a need that
was not there when I was growing up. Different
methods of production today, has prompted the
need.

Consumers are people who make choices. If you
are proud of GM labels, insist on them. Let people
know how many tanks of spray you use each
year. Tell them. My crop was blah blah blah. I
used one desiccant. I sold it to my flour miller who
uses insecticides to destroy bugs.

While,I don't endorse your production methods in
my way of thinking,( hey, that's fair in a free
society), don't tiptoe about your production
methods, oneoff; advertise them! Brag them up!

It will be more beneficial to you to talk about how
you grow, rather than always be talking about how
you don't grow. Pars

[bobofthenorth]

Organic production doesn't "fill a need". It panders to a perception.

The science is clear - there is ZERO health advantage to so-called organic production. If a small percentage of the public is stupid enough to pay a higher price for a demonstrably inferior product then my hat is off to organic producers for filling that demand. But don't pretend there's anything more to it than pandering to a misinformed public.

[nibs1]

Bobofthenorth, your remark about the "misinformed public" cannot be further from the truth,this summer we spent a week in Montreal doing a lot of walking and sight seeing.Everywhere you went it was Organic,Restaurants or Grocery stores,with long line ups in both.Then we flew across county to Vancouver and it was the same thing there.I guess the moral of the story is "The consumer is always right". Pars makes a excellent point about labeling the GM products.Then let the consumer decide

[jcv]

If it was actually free of residues, then yes. How many
people would go out of their way for organic products,
pay more for the product? if what they are purchasing
is essentially the same as conventionally grown
product? At least with conventional product you expect
reasonable levels of residues.

[AllisWD45]

Some days it makes you wonder. If people want
organic grain Then someone should grow it. If
people want grass fed, free range, hormone free
whatever then someone should provide it. If
someone wants intensively grown product and you
use all the latest technology and inputs great you
are filling a need. The rest of the chatter about who
is right is just noise and pointless
Whatever you do as a producer to make a living get
at it and don't waste your time standing there
determining who can piss higher and better. There
is room for absolutely everyone and everything in
this world. Geez already cut the whining and grow
up. The food eating public will decide what they
want and producers should make a business of
providing it.

[oneoff]

We've already got a food system that has accepted standards that mainstream agriculture must meet; and even organic production apparently can't come uch closer to doing much better than their competitors . A minority would go much further; as long as their products weren't held to hose standards.

As an example; I would say that 50% of
organic food would have had to be withdrawn in the last two years; and 75% of all other produce.. if there was zero tolerance for those tested pesticides. I'm not laughing and I just can see a call from an insignificant segment to do just that. That would impact just about every nation around the globe; if their foodstuffs were to stay on Canadian store shelves. All in the goal to eliminate every pesticide known to man. We all need to be careful what we wish for.
Thats a fact; and there isn't much proof that any other fad, diet or organic based eating program offers any additional benefit or has offered any benefit. Manual labor, gluttony and addictions to other than staple diets just might be factors overlooked. But you can't/don't confront your consumers when they are always right; do we.
Now while consumers would always claim to prefer (and rightly should desire) a healthy diet; there is nothing to differentiate organic produce with 50% pesticide residues from arguably cheaper, more plentiful food with not much different percentages.....and with neither source of food seldom outside levels deemed to be harmful to anyone's health.

Lets just say that Canadian farmers could be proud to be a part of a world that has never had so large a population. I would eat any of the fedstocks I would ofer for human consumption.
There is way to much credit given to a small minority of smart affluent consumers. That support apparently comes only from developed countries and a slice of the most influential and wealthy thinking they just found the key to perpetual life and absence of sickness and suffering.

[oneoff]

For Themselves

[parsley]

Raving anti-organic farmers might better ignore
the rich-niche-market, quit whining like an old
woman in full blown menopause, and stamp your
GMO bags with your phone number so you'll be
acknowledged with consumer feeback praise and
thanks. Twill improve your day. Pars

[parsley]

bobofthenorth, Given a choice, people will buy
non-GMO over GMO, has been my experience.

But what do I know about food? So take your
science supporting pamphlets, stamp your
product GMO, and market full steam, if you are
confident in your product.

Go ahead. Stamp the product. You shouldn't
have one reservation. Not one. Pars

[farmaholic]

AllisWD45, you're right on the money.
To each their own. We all are serving a
need to some extent.

[cottonpicken]

Lol,"full blowen menopause"seen that once dont want
to see it again.

Oneoff,didnt you see you walked into an un
defendable argument?

15-20% growth cant remember how many billions but
thats a doubling time of 4-3 years.

Even if the consumer is wrong the producer isnt by
giving them what they want,and if you think that their
perception will change,good luck with that.

Hopefully the foreign import organics burns at the
stake.

[bobofthenorth]

Actually Parsley I agree wholeheartedly with you. Labelling is key. So I assume you will be willing to disclose the number of e-coli related deaths from organic produce on everything you wish to claim organic status for?

Nobody - not one single person - has ever died from GMO but the organic industry most certainly can not make that claim.