GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

Sacha[_1_] · 06-09-2006, 12:34 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

On 5/9/06 23:04, in article ,
"Martin" wrote:

On Tue, 05 Sep 2006 22:49:35 +0100, Sacha wrote:

On 5/9/06 17:29, in article
ws.net, "Sue"
wrote:

"Martin" wrote
On Tue, 5 Sep 2006 15:09:52 +0100, Janet Baraclough
wrote:
from "La Puce" contains these words:

Also - it does take 12 years for a farmer to switch to
organic farming because it takes that long for the soil to recover.
When I knew this

Please don't post sily misinformation. It takes up to 2 years, not
12. According to the Soil Association.
snip SA info
It says a MINIMUM of two years (three years for top fruit orchards)

You don't have to think too hard to realise that if it took 12 years to
convert, then certificated organic farming would be a non-starter as it
would be totally out of the question for any commercial farmer to even
try.

I mentioned this claim to our neighbouring farmer who converted most of his
land to organic farming a few years ago. He had tears of laughter........
;-)

The time needed in reality rather than legally, must depend on what is
in the soil prior to conversion.

The Soil Association gives the guidelines and the tests are based on the
reality of how long it takes to 'go organic' The claim above was that it
takes 'a farmer' 12 years etc. etc. If he's farming on nuclear waste I
suppose it might take a while - couple of aeons, perhaps. ;-)
The OMSCo site says

"How long does it take for a farm to convert to organic production?

It takes around two years for a dairy farm to convert to organic production
- and a lot of hard work! Until a farm is fully converted, the milk cannot
be sold as organic. "

Farmers who go organic have been farming on otherwise 'normally' farmed land
using normal non-organic practices. Our neighbour took two years to turn
most of his fields organic. But the reality is that if the soil doesn't
pass the tests it won't be accredited. And the SA's web site gives the
above guidelines for the time this takes normally. From talking to organic
farmers, we've learned that they're very thorough about how they do this and
take samples from many areas of a field. They don't just walk through the
gate and take away a clod of mud, which is reassuring, I suppose. I am a
little leery of some claims one sees for veg grown abroad where I would like
to be certain such stringent tests were carried out. I think I'm right that
if their dairy herds are not organic, they are not allowed to use the slurry
from those cows to spray onto organic fields. Cows are not treated with
routine medication and if they do have to be treated, they are withdrawn
from production for something in the region of three times longer than in
non-organic, IIRC.
And finally, you may not have heard that organic milk has been officially
declared better for you than non-organic. Organic milk contains 71% more
Omega 3 than non-organic milk.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/