> I would have to disagree that the very basis of organic agriculture is
> environmental sustainability. The basis of organic agriculture is the
> avoidance of use of sythnesized fertilizers and pesticides. As a CCOF
> certified grower in California, noone ever asked me about my energy
> consumption, erosion control practices, how often I tilled to control weeds.
>
> <snip>
> You raise an interesting point, that organic is not necessarily environmental
> sustainability
>
> Does the consumer look for both ????
>
> Do producers promote both ???
>
> Is the consumer perception of organics , lead them to believe that organics
> is natural and thus sustainable.......
>
> Any surveys on this thought process......
>
> Will the use of Sustainable be regulated like organics.....
>
> DBS
It's refreshing to have a real farmer bringing some great perspective
and questions to the on going discussion!
There are "some" organic farms that are not sustainable and there are
many who are doing a great job of producing high quality food. Being
able to turn a profit is the very basis of long term sustainability. How
we choose to do this is determined by our farming "philosophy",
markets, and a lot of other factors. I suggest that there is no
"perfect" system, but we as farmers need to do the best we can with the
knowledge
and resourses we have under our control. We need to teach other farmers
as well as the public what we are doing in agriculture that is
environmentaly sound. Education is better than legislation!
Some other aspects to consider in sustainability:
-The cost and environmental impact of burning tremendous amounts of fuel
to plow, disc, harrow, and cultivate.
-Erosion. A healthy organic soil will absorb more water than
conventionally farmed land, but it is still very susceptible to the
needless loss of topsoil.
-Pesticides. How do they help and how do they hinder?
-Profitability. A farmer who doesn't "make" it, will not be able to be a
producer of either organic or sustainable food.
I have chosen to receive the benefits of not tilling my soil- very
limited erosion and increased soil quality and organic matter. I use a
few pesticides but
I don't pollute the atmosphere with the emmissions of a non-renewable
fuel. It's not perfect, but is a way that I believe is environmentaly
friendly and makes good business cents!
-- "New Generation Cropping Systems": the cutting edge of sustainable agriculture http://www2.epix.net/~cmfarm/ Steve Groff Cedar Meadow Farm 679 Hilldale Rd Holtwood PA 17532 USA Ph. 717-284-5152To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest".