perhaps it would help to clarify why the organic/conventional nutrition
question is being asked . . . i can think of two reasons . . .
first, if one wants to know whether the average consumer can expect to get
higher nutritional values from food labeled organic or from food not labeled
organic (and thus presumably conventionally produced), then eric kindberg's
research design will work very well . . . more samples in more outlets in
more locations will make the finding more robust, but basically the design
will work very well
on the other hand, if one wants to know whether using organic techniques to
produce food will result in higher nutritional values than using
conventional techniques, then one has to decide what are organic and
conventional techniques for the crops/commodities of interest, and one has
to implement those techniques in as comparable a way as possible . . . this
need not necessarily imply test plots on university campuses, but it does
imply some control of agroecological conditions -- soil type, weather, pest
pressure
cheers,
craig
craig k harris
department of sociology
center for integrated plant systems
michigan state university
429b berkey hall
east lansing michigan 48824-1111
tel: 517-355-5048
fax: 517-432-2856
-----Original Message-----
From: Erorganic@aol.com [mailto:Erorganic@aol.com]
Sent: Saturday 19 February 2000 3:45 PM
To: sanet-mg@shasta.ces.ncsu.edu
Subject: organic/conventional nutritional values ?
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
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