May I suggest that in the case of such an experiment also the origin of the seeds
is considered. I hear that organic farmers sometimes use conventional seeds and
for some organic crops no organic seeds are available. But it may imo be a point
of influence.
wytze
Marcie Rosenzweig wrote:
> Dale et al,
>
> Perhaps Heinz or Gerber would fund this, I think both have organic baby
> food lines - or maybe Newman's own with Nell's interest in organics.
>
> I suggest both east and west coast samples though. If we agreed to start
> with larger organic growers, who use conventional tillage equipment (sorry,
> Steve no-till is still new is west cost veggies, as you've seen) this
> would eliminate the argument over boutique raised bed micro-cultures (like
> mine) and would no doubt have more "credibility" when published. Cal
> Organics, Natural Selections, Pavich, and Small Planet out this way all
> have large and comparable operations to conventional equipment, irrigation,
> row culture, harvesting, etc.
>
> Having said all that, Steve has a point. He uses a SYSTEMS that builds and
> protects soil. In my heart of hearts, I believe that is what will make the
> nutritional difference. Good organic culture should, in theory be that
> way, a systems approach, not a mere substitution of a "permitted" input for
> a "banned" one.
>
> Marcie
>
> >
> >I think all this is eminently do-able. IMO it would take four things:
> >1. Statistically sound sampling plan
> >2. Definition of relevant nutritional analysis targets
> >3. Someone to shepard the project and manage logistics
> >4. Money to do the testing
> >
> >I think it would be best to target a limited geographical area, one that has
> >a fairly high density of vegetable production. Samples could be taken at,
> >or just before harvest, to avoid post-harvest effects. Samples could be
> >sent to a commercial lab. It could probably be done for about $20,000.
> >Maybe some food scientist can get a grant. The support of this list
> >community might make the proposal more attractive.
> >
> >Dale
> >
> >
> >To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
> >"unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
> >"unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
> >To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
> >"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
> >
> >All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
> >http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/hypermail
>
> Marcie A. Rosenzweig
> Full Circle Organic Farm
> Auburn, CA
>
> To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
> "unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
> "unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
> To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
> "subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
>
> All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
> http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/hypermail
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/hypermail
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Mar 12 2000 - 14:00:26 EST