I think Ted and Ann are both right. I think that the US could be
all-organic, (so did
Langley, see below), but I also think that time may be passed. I feel
that not only are
competent farmers required, but equally competent extension
agents/specialists are needed.
This is a woefully neglected area.
I think that even competent/good conventional farmers would be hesitant
to throw their hat
into the organic ring. It's a gamble. It's a complete unknown. And
they would go it
alone. . .There is no infrastructure dedicated to helping
organic/transitional farmers! If a
conventional farmer has a problem (with a disease or nutrient
deficiency) he could call up his
local Ext. Agent and he would be told what to spray to kill the bug, or
elevate the deficiency.
The other night on the new I saw something about "the Freedom to Farm"
Act. About how
everyone was going to move away from Federal subsidies, and produce
different
commodities. Well, growers in this Midwest area (not sure where
exactly) was still growing
corn, and soybeans, just like they (and their neighbors) always had.
Prices have dropped
through the floor, and more subsidies are being used. I think this is
another side to the
problem. It's a gamble to change what you know and grow. Maybe I'm way
off-base
(it's certainly happened before), but in these Midwestern areas, the
Ext. Agent/specialist may
not be comfortable with different commodities either. . .
But. . . back to organic vs. conventional. . . I think the yield
difference is more related to
soil management/micro-macro- nutrient content, the same way that food
quality is related to
these elements. When we apply organic amendments and synthetic
fertilizers to the same
fields (different plots, of course), we had no significant yield
differences, except in fields
where disease was present. In those fields/plots, soils with organic
amendments usually had
lower disease, and produced more tomatoes. Fertilizer plots had weights
of 236 lbs. in
surface mulched (SM) plots, while tilled plots with fertilizer yielded
only 67.7 lbs. per plot.
Plots with composted cotton gin trash yielded the highest overall
amounts, with 187.9 lbs. per
SM plot, and 135.4 lbs. per tilled plot. Plots containing hog waste
offered 156.6 lbs. per SM plot, and 108.3 lbs. per tilled plot. (BTW,
my dissertation will be published before any
of the three papers that will come from my diss.)
One of the amendments used came from livestock, one was a green manure,
the other was an
agricultural waste product, composted cotton gin trash (CGT). The CGT
gave the best disease suppression, highest overall yields (an average of
161.7 lbs/plot, while fertilizer gave
only 151.9 lbs/plot), was free, and reduced environmental pollution.
(What was the cotton
Gin going to do with it?)
The thing that's important is that this information has to make it into
the hands of those that
can use it! If we can convince growers that not only will organic
amendments grow food, but
they can reduce disease, and be sold at a higher price, then I think
even the most recalcitrant
grower will think twice about organic farming. . .
okay, I'm stepping off my soapbox, besides I'm preachin' to the choir
here. (I was trying
to think of another cliché I could throw in, but drew a blank. . . ) . .
.
Let me know if I'm wrong. . . Russ
Here are some references that I've used in a paper that is planning to
be published sometime
this (make that the next) millennium:
Klonsky, K. and L. Tourte 1998. Organic agricultural production in the
United States:
debates and directions. Amer. J. Agr. Econ. 80: 1119-1124.
Langley, J. A., E. O. Heady and K. D. Olson 1983. The macroimplications
of a complete
transformation of U.S. agricultural production to organic farming
practices. Agric. Ecos.
Environ. 10: 323-333.
Lohr, L. 1998. Implications of organic certification for market
structure and trade. Amer. J.
Agr. Econ. 80: 1125-1133.
Thompson 1998. Consumer demand for organic foods: What we know and what
we need
to know. Amer. J. Agr. Econ. 80: 1113-1118.
-- Russ Bulluck Ph.D. Candidate Department of Plant Pathology North Carolina State University PO Box 7616 Raleigh, NC 27695-7616http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plantpath/Personnel/Students/webpage.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The soil population is so complex that it manifestly cannot be dealt with as a whole with any detail by any one person, and at the same time it plays so important a part in the soil economy that it must be studied. --Sir E. John Russell The Micro-organisms of the Soil, 1923 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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