On Wed, 29 Jul 2009, Martin Brown wrote
Kate Brown wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jul 2009, Martin Brown wrote
echinosum wrote:
Ben Short;858424 Wrote:
Does anyone know what the difference is between a organic seed and a
normal seed?
The same as the difference between an "organic" apple and another
apple, as found on the greengrocer's shelf, ie, the way in which it was
produced. Growing plants from an "organic" seed does not result in the
produce being organic unless the culture is also organic. On the other
hand, I expect that much "organic" produce may well be grown from seeds
whose culture was not "organic".

The amount of residue in the seeds is miniscule and may be important
to keeping the seeds viable for lng term storage.

I hate the term "organic" for this. Organic previously meant something
quite different, and is still used in that sense. The French term
"biodynamic" is more better.

That has connotations of lunacy - quite literally.

If you want a rational basis for agriculture then minimum inputs is
the way to go. Organic(TM) hair shirt growing may be OK for feeding
rich worried well but it cannot generate sufficient yields to feed
everyone.
We throw away two-thirds of the food we produce in the west. If we

You may do. I certainly don't. I occasionally fail to finish eating the
odd 40p reduced loaf before it goes mouldy in hot weather and that is
about it. Much of the fruit I buy from supermarkets is reduced and on
its sell by date (and as a result more or less ready to eat). I refuse
point blank to pay top whack for something that was harvested unripe
and chosen for its regular size and shelf life.

I generally support smaller local producers for veg that I cannot grow
but supermarkets are handy. My raspberries are just about finished.
Blueberries about to crop and far too many gooseberries to shake a
stick at. Looks like there will be a bumper crop of brambles this year
too.

solved the problem of waste we wouldn't need technological solutions
to grow more.

Yes we will. There are a very large number of people starving in the
third world and without sensible agricultural practices they will
continue to starve, subsist and wreck the land they try to live on.

Organic(TM) is a fad pandering to the "worried well" that allows
supermarkets to charge a super premium price for vastly overpackaged
produce with no convincing benefits whatsoever. Go look at the shelves.



I don't throw anything away if I can possibly help it. Below is the
blurb for something I heard and read about recently (OK, two thirds was
a bit exaggerated, I was remembering a bit askew. But add the waste from
North America and Europe to the waste of the developing world as
described below and it adds up to a shocking amount):

Waste

Uncovering the Global Food Scandal
by Tristram Stuart
(Penguin Paperback : 02 Jul 2009}

The world has a 'food problem' - rapidly rising prices, shortages, 100
million people starving, environmental depredation - or it thinks it
does. This book shows that farmers, manufacturers, supermarkets and
consumers in North America and Europe discard between 30 and 50 per cent
of their fresh produce - enough to feed the starving in the world six
times over. Additionally, while affluent nations throw away food through
neglect, up to 40 per cent of some crops in the developing world are
wasted because farmers lack the basic infrastructure to process and
store them before they rot.

Wasteis both a personal journey over the world's food waste mountain and
an objective investigation of this environmental and social problem.
During his travels from Yorkshire to western China, Pakistan to Japan,
Tristram Stuart encounters grotesque examples of profligacy, but also
inspiring and innovative solutions. Terrible though it may seem, the
global food waste problem is also a great opportunity - tackling it is
easy. Unlike giving up air travel for the sake of the planet, avoiding
food waste can be achieved without much sacrifice. Waste is essential
reading for anyone who seeks to remedy the current global food crisis
and how we live now.



--
Kate B

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