A must read for farmers

[LWeber]

Listening to what consumers tell you. Hmm...


How's that attitude working for you in flax - Fran?

[Fransisco]

As far as I can tell it's bureaucrats that have a problem with flax. Not consumers.

Non-tariff trade barriers are not exactly unheard of. Especially coming from the EU.

[checking]

Tolerances need to be established. Look hard enough Larry, and there probably is a little bit of CWB support in all of us!!!!

[parsley]

E.U. GMO Page 17 graph


http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_244b_en.pdf

[parsley]

p.22 graph

[Fransisco]

Why parsley I'm surprised at you. An opinion poll? What people say and what they actually do are usually two very different things.

And there is of course the qualifier on page 20,

" It is important to note that these proportions are based only on those 50 per cent or so of respondents who give one of the three common logics as a response: those giving a different combination, including any containing one or more ‘don’t know’ response, are excluded. <b>So it would not be valid to say that, for example, 58 per cent of Europeans are opposed to GM food;</b>"

But okay, for the sake of argument lets pretend that this really is the opinion of all Europeans. What of the 42% in this poll who are not opposed to GMO's? Their choice is somehow invalid because they are not part of the "majority". I don't think so.

Funny, when the wheat board comes out with an opinion poll like this in favour of the monopoly. You argue that there should be a choice. Yet here it's absolute majority rule.

[parsley]

I was wearing dark glasses, (you know me well enough to pick up that nuance), so I only have to quote Sam in Cheers, "Lighten up Rebecca." LOL

I usually try not to quote polls. But, you know that, fran.lol

[Fransisco]

Here's the kind of thing I like to quote. It's from the German Central Committee on Biological Safety regarding the ban on Bt corn.

"Considering all scientific information available and keeping the precautionary principle in mind, <b>the ZKBS concludes that the cultivation of the maize line MON810 poses no danger to the environment</b>. The risk assessment contained in the statement of the ZKBS of 2007 is thus confirmed, taking the current publications into account."

"A scientific assessment of the study results has revealed that none of them confirm potential adverse effect on non-target organisms by MON810 under cultivation conditions. The assessment is also considering the fact that some of the studies are of scientifically lower quality. <b>The conclusion of the ZKBS is in line with the expert assessment of a French author group (Ricroch et al., 2009) and the opinion of the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) on the request for renewal MON810 (EFSA, 2009). Both documents regard the German ban as scientifically not justified.</b>"



<a href="http://www.bvl.bund.de/cln_027/nn_1209020/EN/06__Genetic__Engineering/ZKBS/01__Allg__Stellungnahmen/05__plants/zkbs__mon810__engl.html">link</a> Creates a hyperlink

[Fransisco]

But things like science and free trade don't seem to matter to the Eurocrats.

[Fransisco]

Speaking of those good ol local farmers markets. There was an interesting behind the scenes kind of article in a recent Macleans about them.

[URL="http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/08/20/fresh-fruit-veg-and-paranoia/"]Fresh fruit, veg and paranoia[/URL]

[parsley]

&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class=&quot;EC_style8ptBK&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;[URL="http://www.stay-a-stay-at-home-mom.com/wholesale-organic-foods.html"](Do you buy the very very cheapest food you can find?)[/URL]&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&quot;Eating organic foods, while more expensive in the short term, may actually benefit your family in the long term, on reduced medical expenses.&quot;

[mcfarms]

Parsley-- you may be talking about something like Boston Market in the states I've liked the concept for years.

[wedino]

&quot;Eating organic foods, while more expensive in the short term, may actually benefit your family in the long term, on reduced medical expenses.&quot;

Maybe not in this case.
[URL="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g19nTkAij7LHBBBTptHn8Vl5gRRAD9AGNVI80"][/URL]

[Fransisco]

[Fransisco]

BTW- Larry, it's definitely not working for me when it comes to wheat and barley. For some reason my consumers all live on 423 main street in Winnipeg.