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  • From: "maureen bostock" <maureenbostock AT hotmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] RE: GMO Contamination of Organic Seed
  • Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2004 12:19:49 -0800

Certified organic growers are required to document all potential sources of contamination or comingling with genetically modified crops - from ensuring they are not planting within the pollen travel zone of neighbouring crops to keeping transportation logs and clean-out records. If there is any question of contamination, the inspector will require tissue/seed sampling to verify that the seed is gmo-free. It would be interesting to see a study comparing contamination in conventional vs. organic seed to see how effective the monitoring is on organic field crop farms. Maureen


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Subject: Market-farming Digest, Vol 14, Issue 1
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 12:06:24 -0500 (EST)

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Today's Topics:

1. wasabi root (Blue Moon Farm)
2. Wasabi (adriana)
3. wasabi (Trish and Joe Useldinger)
4. Re:wasabi (Tom at Limerock)
5. Re: Re:wasabi (Willa C)
6. Fwd: Keeping Seeds Safe - NYT Editorial (Allan Balliett)
7. Re: Keeping Seeds Safe - NYT Editorial (Allan Balliett)
8. Re: Re:wasabi (Allan Balliett)
9. Peg Cook (Marie Kamphefner)


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Message: 1
Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 14:31:47 -0500
From: "Blue Moon Farm" <bluemoon AT iclub.org>
Subject: [Market-farming] wasabi root
To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <00a701c3fefa$bce35500$985ed844@bluemoon>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

You should google wasabi production ...I recently read an article, sorry I have no recollection where, about a company that was producing authentic wasabi root in, I believe, Washington State. Points that stand out in my memory are 1] that the entire facility was surrounded by inpenetrable fences and armed guards, and 2] anyone working there has to sign an iron-clad confidentiality agreement.
Not to discourage you, but my impression was that wasabi is extremely finicky, reqiring much technological assistance to mimic "natural" conditions, and that those in possession of "how to" information are playing their cards close to their vests.
Leo Keene
Blue Moon Farm
Sustainably Grown Garlic
3585 Poosey Ridge Road
Richmond, KY 40475
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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 15:08:22 -0600
From: "adriana" <gutierrez-lagatta AT charter.net>
Subject: [Market-farming] Wasabi
To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <000c01c3ff08$2a448260$0c02a8c0@yoursz6x6sefxo>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Yes,
Wasabi can be grown hydroponically but yes, the cultural requirements are
very particular. Those who are growing it commercially in the US (in
Washington state) are keeping a tight lid on the growing methods due to
piracy attempts by Japanese "tourists". There is a New Zealand grower will
franchise his system but it will cost you at least $150,000 to get into it
and 18 months+ to get the first crop. On top of that it would be good to
have a greenhouse to grow it in. I can get you the information for the NZ
grower if you want.
\> I am having a discussion on another list about availablity of wasabi
root.
> The question is it possible to grow it in large amounts for processing
(for
> a non-food use)?
> I thought this would be a good place to ask if it can be successfully
> cultivated in large amounts. If anyone here is actually growing it
> commerically, that info would be great too. How large is large? I'm not
> sure but it would probably be several acres at least.

Adriana




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Message: 3
Date: Sun, 29 Feb 2004 15:50:32 -0000
From: "Trish and Joe Useldinger" <jeusel AT ix.netcom.com>
Subject: [Market-farming] wasabi
To: <Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <017201c3fedb$c46174c0$191256d1@mooch>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hi all, I am a lurker on this list who appreciates all the good info you people gladly share. A few months ago I saw that the dept of Ag had Wasabi on it's list of alternative crops. Interested, I began research and found the two trains of thought; grow it near running water as it is done in Japan and or Hydroponicaly, and regular cultivation in soil. Either way I read that the plant is the same and only the wasabi purist who knows the source might be qualified to debate quality. I say this as it seems there are few sources of real wasabi in the U.S. to base a standard against. What the bulk of the restaurants serve is horseradish with a dye that they pass off as wasabi to the public who know no difference. I have had some of this before and I remember trying to suppress the urge to scream and bounce off the walls like a cartoon charachter from the burn [real wasabi is said to have a intense burn that quickly goes away to a pleasant flavor]. I visited a large asian mark
et and spoke with the produce worker stocking a nicely sized fresh produce dept. when I asked about fresh wasabi I got a look from him as if I had asked for something wildly funny. he pointed me towards an aisle that had powdered wasabi. He did tell me it would be too expensive to bring in fresh. As Adriana said "the cultural requirements are particular" , but if the people in the pacific north west have managed to do it, then others can too, although They are fortunate to have ideal weather and growing conditions. You mention a non food source? Are you to use it in a cosmetic or such and not as a condiment? I see that the people now cultivating it dont really have large facilities. As this is to regulate demand and price or just a logistics issue related to propagation and leangth to maturity I realy dont know. As I said before, I am just a no body lurker, looking for a niche to enter into for growing a product as a one man operation. Wasabi looks like it has poten
tial for a nice upside, unless it is turned into an equivilant of the Jojoba or ginseng frenzies of the past. There are no magic beans outside of the Jack and the beanstalk story, and I will keep up further research until such a time as I am sure that I will not be throwing hard earned money into a bad venture. I found a site for bulk foods that sells wasabi powder in bulk, asian stores sell powder, I have yet to hear of a fresh source, perhaps the time is come to venture into this market? please keep us apprised of what you find out!

Joe
No farm
No Website
Nobody!
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Message: 4
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 07:22:19 -0500
From: "Tom at Limerock" <limerock AT thirdplanet.net>
Subject: [Market-farming] Re:wasabi
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <016d01c3ff9c$1b307f10$f526ced8@limerock>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Okay, after reading the past few posts on wasabi, you folks really got my curiosity up now! Just what are the growing conditions required for wasabi? We have been looking for a new challenge.

Tom Anslow
Limerock Orchards and Roadside Market
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Message: 5
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 07:17:18 -0800
From: "Willa C" <wilc AT farmers-market.com>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Re:wasabi
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <007b01c3ffa0$4e4faac0$7d443f0a@g2h>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

see http://www.freshwasabi.com/
They maybe able to help
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom at Limerock
To: Market Farming
Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 4:22 AM
Subject: [Market-farming] Re:wasabi


Okay, after reading the past few posts on wasabi, you folks really got my curiosity up now! Just what are the growing conditions required for wasabi? We have been looking for a new challenge.

Tom Anslow
Limerock Orchards and Roadside Market



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Message: 6
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 10:54:27 -0500
From: Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>
Subject: [Market-farming] Fwd: Keeping Seeds Safe - NYT Editorial
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <a06010201bc690cfff95d@[192.168.123.143]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

>Richard Kalin posted this to BD Now!



>List-Subscribe: <http://lists.envirolink.org/mailman/listinfo/bdnow>,
>
>Keeping Seeds SafeNew York Times Editorial
>
>March 1, 2004
>
>Keeping Seeds Safe
>
>hen an American farmer gets ready to plant a crop like corn or soybeans, he
>has two basic choices. Traditional seeds are the kind farmers have planted
>throughout history, developed by crossing parents with desirable traits to
>get a superior variety. Genetically modified seeds, first widely planted in
>1996, contain trangenes from other organisms that convey specific advantages
>to mature plants - the ability to resist herbicides, for instance. The
>acreage planted with genetically modified crops has exploded: a third of
>this country's corn by 2002 and three-quarters of its soybeans. Whatever you
>make of this trend - and there are strong arguments on both sides - one
>question it raises is whether genes from modified plants might somehow drift
>into unmodified ones. The answer is yes.
>
>In a pioneering study released last week, the Union of Concerned Scientists
>asked two independent labs to examine samples of traditional corn, soybean
>and canola seeds. The labs found contamination in half the corn, half the
>soybean and more than 80 percent of the canola varieties. The study draws no
>conclusions about when the mingling took place. It could have happened
>during field tests, after modified crops were widely planted or during
>shipping and storage. But the genetic purity of at least some traditional
>seed varieties has been compromised.
>
>This is a serious finding. Though the acreage planted with modified crops is
>enormous, the number of varieties is still very small. But many more
>modified varieties - many of them for industrial and pharmaceutical crops -
>are being tested. The risk posed to the food supply by contamination from
>pharmaceutical crops will almost certainly be much greater than it is from
>genes that have migrated from, say, Roundup Ready corn. But there is a
>broader point. To contaminate traditional varieties of crops is to
>contaminate the genetic reservoir of plants on which humanity has depended
>for most of its history. In 2001, for instance, scientists discovered
>modified genes in traditional varieties of corn in Mexico, the ancestral
>home of the crop and the site of its greatest diversity.
>
>The need now is for more extensive study, best undertaken by the Department
>of Agriculture. It's also time to subject genetically modified crops to more
>rigorous and more coherent testing. The scale of the experiment this country
>is engaged in - and its potential effect on the environment, the food supply
>and the purity of traditional seed stocks - demands vigilance on the same
>scale.
>
>Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>BDNow mailing list
>BDNow AT envirolink.org
>You can unsubscribe or change your options at:
>http://lists.envirolink.org/mailman/listinfo/bdnow



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Message: 7
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 10:56:50 -0500
From: Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>
Subject: [Market-farming] Re: Keeping Seeds Safe - NYT Editorial
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <a06010202bc690d3706a0@[192.168.123.143]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

Which brings up the question in my mind - - and I hope Rob and Shep
will chime in here: how do we know that our organically certified
seeds or our non-organic seed from non-GMO seed companies is free of
GMOs in reality?

Do organic or non-GMO seed merchants conduct any testing of the sort
that Concerned Scientist's study was based on?

Just asking, since, of course, we advertise our CSA as GMO-free.

Thanks

-Allan Balliett


------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 11:01:26 -0500
From: Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Re:wasabi
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <a06010204bc690eb5607b@[192.168.123.143]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"

There was an article on hydroponic wasabi in GROWERS EDGE an issue
(or so) back. I never got a chance to read it. _Allan


------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 10:09:49 -0600
From: "Marie Kamphefner" <kampy AT grm.net>
Subject: [Market-farming] Peg Cook
To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <001001c3ffa7$a32ccf30$0f688bd8@your7x1ttcs5lk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Regards to the list:

Peg, if you see this, will you please contact me privately? I want to
ask you about your soil testing service.

Marie in Missouri






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