I wirte a weekly column on organic gardening and homesteading. This weeks Organic Grange is the first of a two part column on Pest Control and Companion Planting. and can be read at; http://www.homestead.com/theorganicgrange/theorganicgrange.html

-- Grant Eversoll (thegrange@earthlink.net), February 20, 2000

Answers

Hi!! Have you recently read all the publicty or seen on t-v the debate on organic gardening? Apparently John Stossels, the reporter slammed organic farming and ourtaged a lot of people. Supposduly his sources, mainly don Avery, representing the agribusinees community was his source. The jest of the report was that organic gardening was dangerous to health and a sham. He pointed out that manure caused the death of a little girl who ate lettuce tained with the e- coli bacteria. go to the 20/20 message board and find the messages fom the weekend of 2/4/00. Just wanted to let you know this.

Bernice PS, we are organic farmers too

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), February 20, 2000.

that TV segment was a biased piece of junk. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), February 20, 2000.

This was the column I wrote about the 20/20 spot Greetings from the Grange, Most of my columns appear in small town newspapers across the Midwest, and are read by (I would like to believe) people with common sense. Most of my readers have gardens, have had gardens or intend to have gardens and have at least eaten a fresh from the plant, vine ripened tomato. I also assume that most of you have brought one of those red things with a twelve week shelf life that the grocery stores try to pass off as tomatoes. If you are among the smart few that refuse to buy the red mystery vegetable from your grocer I would assume that you have at least tasted one on a burger from a fast food joint. Maybe taste is to harsh of a word, bitten into might better describe the sensation. I have said all of this to ask you this question. Which taste better, the real tomato, or the GMO tomato? Using this taste test and your common sense, which is better for you? The basis behind this weeks column is the burr that was placed under my saddle by Mr. John Stossel from the ABC news show 20/20. In a nut shell Mr. Stossel took his weekly fifteen minuets of fame to tell the American public that growing and eating organic food is bad for you and your environment. "According to an ABC NEWS poll, 45 percent of the public thinks organic foods are more nutritious than those that are not raised organically, while 57 percent think that producing organic foods is better for the environment." This quote was taken from the news show, this tells me that about half of the American public is right. Let me put this question out to all of my readers, where you polled? According to Dennis Avery, (their expert) a former researcher for the Agriculture Department and a leading critic of organic produce, "the products are more likely to be infested with bacteria. Manure can be a breeding ground for bacteria such as E. coli that may then make their way onto the produce." Look at that last paragraph, Mr. Avery is a former researcher (did he get a better offer?) and he is a leading critic of organic produce, (strike two) Notice also the words, likely, can, and may. He sounds real sure of himself doesn't he. Mr. Avery continues by saying,"They've got us worrying about exactly the wrong thing," he says. "If we've got no deaths from pesticides and 5,000 deaths from bacteria, it's pretty clear to me that we should be worrying now primarily about the nasty new bacteria." However, because bacteria can be found on both conventional and organic produce, experts recommend that you wash all your produce after you bring it home. No deaths from pesticides? Do the letters DDT mean nothing to Mr. Avery? What about deaths from cancers that have been linked to pesticides, I guess they don't count. According to Katherine Di Matteo of the Organic Trade Association growing organic is healthier for the environment. Why? Because growers don't use chemicals. Avery disputes the claim by arguing that organic farmers waste land and resources because they lose so much of their crop to weeds and insects. Avery says it's today's conventional farmers who have performed an environment-saving miracle by taking nitrogen to make chemical fertilizer, using pesticides and genetically engineered seeds to feed more people, using less land. If the powers that be would not insist on building Intrastate highways on prime farm land we might have more land to farm. (The farmers here in southern Indiana understand this statement...don't get me started) I believe (these are my thoughts, not backed up or confirmed by any former head of anything) All of this negativism toward organically grown produce stems from the fact that nearly half of America (or at least the = polled) believe that organic produce is better, therefore they are not buying the high priced cancer forming chemicals or the equally high priced red orbs from the grocer. This is also a ploy against our neighboring countries to the east who are questioning our GMO foods and threatening tariffs against American grown foods. But hey what do I know I'm just a dumb country boy who thinks a good old homegrown tomato is just about the best thing you can sink your teeth into. This weeks quote is from John Prime "There's two things in life that money can't buy, that's true love and home grown tomatoes"

-- Grant Eversoll (thegrange@earthlink.net), February 22, 2000.

I vote for organic! Been growing that way for years havnt droped dead yet.worked in landscape maintinance 12 years saw what happens to a yard when all you use is cemical fertilizer, If you dont have good soil [lots organic matter]you dont have healthy soil...used to take soil plugs from my neighbors yard [all cemical] and mine [all organic] to show healthy soil vs not and the difference was amazing.A great book which will change every ones perpective on soil and agriculture is SAVE THREE LIVES by the late robert rodale its a classic for any one interested in the land and in my top three reads of ALL books...

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), February 22, 2000.

Well...here goes, even though it won`t be a popular response, I can`t help myself. While I certainly don`t agree with everything Dennis Avery says or that John Stossel reports on, there is merit to many of their arguments for production agriculture. My comments will center mostly on the demand side of the organic trend. As a non-organic farmer who struggles along with most other farmers to make a reasonable standard of living, I need to avail myself of technologies that will keep me profitable, and at least for the present that means producing crops with commercial fertilizers and pesticides.

What I would encourage however is for every supporter of organic production to encourage more consumption of those products. Do not worry, if there is a profit to be made in producing organic only crops then the American farmer will meet the challenge. You would not believe the things I have done to make a buck. I need to maximize my efforts in time and money just like any other businessman.

When organic production offers the same or better returns to my labors, I am ready, willing and able to make the change. Other farmers would also follow suit. The prices offered for that production are just too low and the certainty of a market outlet is unsure. I can`t afford to raise organic corn, soybeans and wheat (my operation) and sell at regular commodity prices if no outlet exists for the organic products. The reason the outlets don`t exist in any large fashion is that either one of two conditions exist. Either there is not enough demand, or consumers are not ready to pay enough premium to encourage more organic production. Obviously, we would all like to buy Mercedes cars at Chevrolet prices, but it won`t likely happen even though the demand for a Mercedes at the Chevrolet price certainly does exist.

The other point I would make is that the average farmer is feeding or producing enough food for in excess of 100 other people today. A return to purely organic production will require a great number of Americans to return to the labors of food production. While many who may read this list might think this would be just fine, we must bear in mind that we are very few in number. Most Americans prefer to pay someone else to do their dirty work. (literally) Just look at all the people who won`t even mow their own lawn anymore! Heck, a lot of people are too darn lazy to even cook their own food, they buy prepared foods or eat in restaurants almost exclusively. I don`t think these folks are in any way interested in joining the ag work force, they would rather spend a small portion of their paycheck on food from a nice clean grocery store.

Please don`t take my remarks as anti-organic, as they are not. All I am saying is that until you can create a reliable, stable and profitable large market for organic production, we can`t ask the farmer to do more for less.

Please don`t respond with remarks like "I read where you can sell organic soybeans for X dollars" or "My health food store can`t get enough of these even though they charge me X for them" or "I grew this or that organically and made a ton of money". I`ve heard it all before, and if you really can then you`re doing better than me anyway.

My family is here to make a living from our labors, this is not a hobby or recreational pastime for me.

I once spoke at a local Sierra club chapter in my area and tried to convey my opinion on the organic/non-organic debate. Not whether it was better, but just the pure economics of the situation. I made this offer to anyone in attendance. I stated that I would prepare, till, fertilize and plant one acre of field corn at my expense. In exchange, anyone interested only had to keep the one acre field acceptably weed free by any method they so desired and they could have the proceeds of the production from that one acre. No takers....it just sort of backs up my arguments that most folks don`t want to really do it themselves....just instruct me how I must do it.

Keep up the faith and keep demanding organic products, when the price gets high enough, farmers will RUN not walk to adopt organic methods. I have confidence in the American farmers ability to do anything.

-- Bob T. (bternes@ix.netcom.com), February 26, 2000.

good point taken bob,I will keep hoping that some day we will be able to covert the farms to organic, In the mean time thanks for growing food and keeping a open mind to the future.

-- kathy h (saddlebronc@msn.com), February 26, 2000.

Bob, I appreciate your thoughts. I have decided not to be certified in my state due to the expense of applying and the cost and time needed for the necessary paperwork to track your products from seed to seller. I still use the orgainc methods, but cannot say my eggs, for example, are organic. Though I can say that I don't use chemicals, antibiotics, growth hormones, etc. The bottom line is the consumers need to be educated and deman good healthy food.

Have you read Acres USA? It is a very good supportive monthly for those farmers going sustainable. You can request a sample copy I believe.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@hotmail.com), February 26, 2000.