Re: formally educated farmers...

Anita Graf (agraf@agecon.uga.edu)
Tue, 9 Feb 1999 09:31:00 EST5EDT

Hi there,
I just wanted to modify something I posted earlier when I said,
> I think that wholly organic is at least a goal one should be
> aspiring to, even if one compromises with other practices in the meantime.
Sometimes, the fact that organic production methods are not viable is
due to fact that we are missing something in the equation. Sometimes
it's a sign that whatever we are trying to grow doesn't belong there.
An organic farmer has to be a lot more sensitive, creative, and
responsive than a farmer who is willing to bludgeon something into
reality with synthetic chemicals. Organic production does have it's
limits, but so does nature, and I believe they are parallel.
Officially, "sustainable" is not synonomous with organic, but I think
that is only because there is a difference in some people's time
horizons.

Rich Molini wrote:
> I won't budge on the price issue. We all have to accept the
> cost of production and budget accordingly. I am not a financially
> wealthy ( wealthy in other ways, however) person but I support organic
> through my most effective vote, dollar bills.

I couldn't agree more. Costs are costs whether they are captured in
the market price or not. Non-organic products are NOT a cheaper
alternative (I would suggest the contrary), they only appear to be so
through the failures of the market to internalize the costs of
non-organic production. For this and other reasons that Rich
elaborated on, we should continue to use organic as the bench mark of
success and of true "sustainablility."

Anita Graf
313-F Conner Hall
Dept. of Agricultural and Applied Economics
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-7509
(706) 542-1915 phone
(706) 542-0739 fax
agraf@agecon.uga.edu

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