Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Mark Nagel <activism98201@verizon.net>]

Expect organic regulations to get warped to favor the big corporate outfits...

But before the big hammer comes down I suspect that many small farmers will 
have sold their soul to the biofuels sector (and it will be here where 
they'll ultimately meet their demise).


-Mark Nagel
Everett, WA

=====================
From: TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net>
Date: Thu May 04 11:05:34 CDT 2006
To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Livingontheland] Organic Food Goes Mass Market


For some time I've been warning that market growers and CSAs need to compete 
with stores on price, and now they stand to lose out to the big guys. Below 
article shows the threat.  Too long, organic growers and CSAs have smugly 
claimed their products ought to cost more, and besides they have to make a 
profit. We do have to make money by marketing our work, but we have to cut 
costs and labor. 

I began our predecessor list Soilmakers on the conviction that healthy, 
humus-intensive soil is the main key to profitable, local market growing with 
less labor and lower input costs, including less land and water.  Other 
factors include season extension techniques, marketing direct to regular 
customers, and selecting only varieties that work well in a particular 
climate and market. I've also argued that sustainable market growing must 
first of all sustain the farmer or family trying to stay in business and keep 
their land. 

The problem can only squeeze growers more viciously as fuel prices keep on 
driving up the cost of doing business. Yet those who can make a living by 
growing on small farms or plots without power machinery may well be the 
survivors.  

There's a wealth of knowledge and experience among those on this list, so 
fire away. But keep this in mind:  if this is not the key to growers' 
survival, then what is? This will bring out denial in some quarters. But the 
old adage applies:  deal with reality, or reality will deal with you. 

paul, tradingpost@riseup.net
---------------
The outstanding scientific discovery of the twentieth century is not 
television, or radio, but rather the complexity of the land organism. Only 
those who know the most about it can appreciate how little we know about it. 
   - Aldo Leopold in  Round River, 1933
-------------

Organic Food Goes Mass Market
Supermarket Chains Launch Less-Expensive House Brands;
Blue-Chip Special--$1.79
May 4, 2006; Page D1
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB114670795156643418.html#CHIP

It's getting cheaper to go organic.

In a bid to capture a slice of the fast-growing organic-foods market, 
mainstream supermarket chains are rushing out their own store-brand lines 
that can cost significantly less than comparable specialty brands often found 
at health-food and gourmet stores. The pricing could remove a big barrier for 
many Americans who have wanted to try organic rice, cookies or cans of soup 
but have been put off by the prices. Though the store brands are less 
expensive, the chains say they adhere to the same federal standards for what 
constitutes organic as other brands.

(see link  for whole article)