Steve and Eric,
Eric wrote:
>> 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.
Doing this right is not technically trivial. Doing it with the scope you
envision (several locations and product categories) would cost a lot of
money. Suppose each sample costs about $100 to test (the actual amount
would depend on how many vitamins and minerals are analyzed). Suppose you
did 40 samples (this number is admittedly conservative) for each location x
product combination. This could cost over $100,000! It would be better to
bite off a smaller chunk, say fresh produce in one region, and do that well.
Steve wrote:
> This would be an excellent format to build on for this test.
> We can't get bogged down on little details.
The devil is in the details. If the work is not done well, no one will pay
attention to it.
> Now, who is going to pick up the ball and run with
> this??? Any ideas?
NAOS was formed by Kate Smith over a year ago as a spin-off of a previous
thread on this and related topics. One objective was to design and find
ways to perform studies like we are discussing. The attempt was somewhat
abortive. The real problem is who would fund it? If a grant was likely,
this would gel real quick.
The most to gain from such a study would be organic growers, so they should
fund it. It might be possible to get matching funds from the USDA. I
suggest that faculty member(s) of a land grant university, perhaps in the
Food Science and Agronomy department(s), write a proposal to the USDA and to
some organic growers association and try to arrange funding. Then, members
of this list could start writing letters saying how good and important the
research would be.
Dale
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