Hello all,
I would suggest the question here should not revolve around what seeds are
used or even size or named farm operation. Simply, there should be a
comparative analysis of diversified selection of conventional and organically
produced vegetables/fruits/perishables, field crops like legumes, seeds and
grains, dairy products, eggs and meats selected from 3 or 4 locations
nationwide--Not even all from the same retail outlets. The question might
be: are there any substantial differences in vitamin, mineral, protein, fiber
content between organically produced and conventional products? Further
suggest all products should be selected from the raw agricultural product
category obtainable at retail outlets. Some milk products like cheese, etc
are in fact processed, but I think the rest of the products should be in
their so called "raw" state.
Best, Eric Kindberg
Ripplebrook Organic Growers, Inc.
Fairfield, Iowa
From: "Wilson, Dale" <WILSONDO@phibred.com>
Subject: RE: organic/conventional nutritional values ?
Wytze,
Hey, designing research by email is kind of fun!
> 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.
I wouldn't be surprised if cultivar had an effect, but controlling cultivar
a-priori would probably make it necessary to do the whole thing in small
plots, probably at an experiment station. I suspect it would end up more
expensive and less relevant.
It is hard to imagine how the seed source (organic versus conventional)
might have any effect on the nutrient content of the crop.
Ultimately this is a matter of design philosophy. My own preference is to
match the scope of an experiment or survey to the question asked. Since the
question concerns the nutrient content of organic versus conventional
produce in general, the scope of the study should be broad, and the error
terms for any statistical tests should encompass field-field variability.
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
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Mar 12 2000 - 14:00:27 EST