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Rob R
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 31902 Location: York
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Posted: Sun Aug 30, 15 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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Ty Gwyn wrote: |
Your looking for utopia Tav,
If all these chemicals were banned tomorrow and all veg production went organic,like it was in our Father`s day,all farms planting veg for the War Effort ,we`d have to import a lot more than we do now to feed the population that cannot afford organic prices,let alone the vast increase in population from then bye gone years.
I also have never used chemicals,on a 4 acre field that only had a few docks ,which i control on the farm by pulling and burning,i ploughed and planted stubble turnips for the Tir Gofal scheme i was in,the following year after the turnips were eaten,i had a forest of docks and Scottish thistles which i dug out with a fork,i filled a 3ton tipping trailer heaped,and 2 transport boxes with the livestock cage full,and burned the lot when dried,as you see,i`m a gluton for punishment,lol.
After that i bought a can of round-up in case the buggers came back as i could`nt put weight on my right foot for weeks from all that banging the fork into the ground,i still have the can,and do not intend ploughing that field again,lol. |
I've done a bit of dock digging over the years but never had to fill a three ton trailer.
I empathise.
Is it a Utopian daydream to want to live in a safe environment?
I would think that should be a basic human right.
I don't think banning anything works anymore.
We have just had a two year EU neonic ban & all that's happened is the agrochem industry have just released a new pesticide, similar to neonics, that from what I've read even has effects on mammalian life.
It's been approved for use by the EU.
All I ask for is transparency so those of us that do care can avoid the damaging & encourage the nurturing.
Something I have thought of that never occurred to me before is by buying registered 'organic' produce I'm also making a statement that will get noticed.
Despite all the industry induced anti organic propaganda in the press in recent years sales keep rising.
Because big food retail monitors the pound we spend they know how much is spent in which sectors.
& they publish those figures.
Rob has admitted he doesn't know how many of his near neighbours are as environmentally conscious as him. But a post code & a quick google will tell me how many organic registered farmers & growers there are in any area.
Mistress Rose wrote: |
Tavascarow, I am perhaps more hostile to the organic label than Rob. For instance, it is not really possible to get an organic label for British honey, so most comes from other countries where there standards of everything else, including labelling, may not be as high as ours. |
I know nothing about commercial forestry so have removed those parts of your post.
A lot of beekeepers, especially 'natural' ones & myself included have made the same conclusions.
But a bee is a free flying organism so unless you know all the land it forages over is organic there is no way of calling the honey organic, regardless of what practices the beekeeper follows.
My environment is fairly bee friendly but as I've said in this thread I have a neighbour who uses selective herbicide & as I haven't said another who grows forage maize which no doubt has seed treatments & copious fertilizer added.
There are very few places in the UK where it's possible to keep bees in an environment free from those effects.
On the other hand there are parts of the world like the forests of Queensland & Tasmania where there wont be anything but natural nectar bearing forest for thousands of square miles.
IMHO it's not the fault of the organic movement if the environment is contaminated. |
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Rob R
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 31902 Location: York
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Rob R
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 31902 Location: York
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Rob R
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 31902 Location: York
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Rob R
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 31902 Location: York
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Rob R
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 31902 Location: York
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Posted: Mon Aug 31, 15 12:39 pm Post subject: |
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I've been in conversation with the OF&G certification body, the one associated with the NFU, most recently. They were quite open to certification of longer term leases, but they weren't keen on anything without a long term commitment, which would mean that I'd have to get other people to convert grazing areas 2 or 3 years before I could use them, as an established organic farm.
Given that the vast majority of my sales are direct and people know how we farm through direct contact, it wouldn't add anything in financial terms, so it would be entirely an added cost. We wouldn't be able to sell anything as organic unless we transported it the extra 56 miles to slaughter, which I'm not prepared to do, as that would be a retrograde step, IMO. I could, perhaps, persuade the local abattoir to convert to organic, but that would place an extra cost burden onto them which, as the only organic producer, would mean they'd be forced to pass the cost onto me.
It is extremely difficult to balance the books as it is, without the added costs of registration plus the inflexibility of being able to make the best decisions for the land and animals. As it would only, really, be for my own satisfaction, it doesn't add up for me to pay someone else to tell me what I already know. I'd rather spend the money on some owl boxes, or cattle housing improvements.
I might well look it again if we come into some money and can afford a larger home base that would make it viable in it's own right & feasible to help the abattoir to convert. However, as the Soil Association admits, the conventional/organic premium is narrowing, so it might not make financial sense, even then. |
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Rob R
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 31902 Location: York
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15579
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Ty Gwyn
Joined: 22 Sep 2010 Posts: 4563 Location: Lampeter
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Tavascarow
Joined: 06 Aug 2006 Posts: 8407 Location: South Cornwall
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Ty Gwyn
Joined: 22 Sep 2010 Posts: 4563 Location: Lampeter
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Rob R
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 31902 Location: York
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