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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] ORGANIC NEWS - ROTATIONS RANT
  • Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:14:12 -0700



*ORGANIC NEWS - ROTATIONS RANT!!
http://nickykylegardening.com/recipesconsumer-news
Written by Nicky Kyle

I must tell you that I was recently contacted by someone who had just read an
article in a magazine written by a well known gardening presenter, and
thought I ought to know about it. "A (so-called) no-nonsense guide to
rotations" which said that rotations didn't really matter! It continued that
"you should get a minimum gap of three years between successive same-group
crops" and that "my own approach is not to be hide-bound by it - it is rarely
the end of the world if you grow your onions in the same place for two
consecutive years"! Well I agree it might not be the end of the world, but
it might be the end of onion growing in their particular garden if they
continued for very long with that potentially dangerous approach! This person
also includes potatoes in their root section and tomatoes (outdoor) in their
legume section! Interesting and quite novel to say the least!! They are
entitled to their opinion, and I have absolutely no problem with them
expressing that opinion, as long as it is made perfectly clear that it is
their personal opinion and not the accepted opinion or recommended practice
of the organisation which they purport to represent.

I do have a big problem though, when this opinion is expressed under the
headline banner of that internationally famous commercial organic
organisation. Perhaps this presenter was unaware, but ought not to be, that
that this professed approach is actually outlawed under EU organic standards
and also therefore against EU law! With very sound horticultural reason! I
know the magazine article was aimed at back gardeners, not at commercial
producers, but even so, back gardeners also need to follow certain essential
organic rules, which I explain, with the reasons behind them, in the Veg.
section of the Garden Diary. Nothing should ever be published by a
representative of any national organic organisation which could possibly call
that organisation's methods into question! Unfortunately, although we live
in a very media oriented, visual world these days, even exceptionally camera
friendly, confidant and authoritative TV presenting, however attractive, does
not make up for a lack of basic organic horticultural knowledge, or for years
of practical organic experience!

Is this the thin end of the wedge - maybe even perhaps the gradual 'dumbing
down' of organics by the media and others? That would really play into the
hands of the great many chemical/GM multinationals interests very nicely
wouldn't it?!! Us organic people have been a constant thorn in their side
for a great many years!

You may wonder why I am quite so angry? Well does this perhaps uninformed
presenter not understand the basic fact that if organic growing loses even
one iota of it's integrity then it is completely lost!! Organic farming
stands or falls on it's infallible and totally credible integrity. It must be
completely beyond reproach in every possible way. Every commercial organic
farmer understands that. They've often gone through years of difficulty and
loss of income in order to become registered and certified organic farmers.
Having myself been a certified organic commercial grower dealing with the
public and also a director of two national organic organisations in the past,
I am acutely aware of the interests of those farmers, and know just how
committed they have to be. And I've spent a great many years trying to defend
organic principles against those who would like to water them down or even
undermine them completely!

Many pioneers of organic farming now retiring from very prominent positions
are feeling an undercurrent of change. Is this change influenced by purely
commercial interests or is there something more? Do we have conventional
chemical 'moles' in our organic organisations? (Like the police 'mole' found
recently in a UK protest organisation?) Do some people just see organics as a
way of promoting their own career ambitions, rather than being genuinely
committed to long held organic ideals? Will we in future years see a 'Not
Quite so, but Almost Organic' certifying label alongside our ''Really and
Truly, Completely Organic' one?

Over the years a great many dedicated and totally committed people have spent
most of their lives promoting and protecting the integrity of organics, often
at very great personal cost. Now a new breed of 'soft organic' people seem
to be emerging, who think it's more important to be 'media friendly' than to
defend long held basic organic principles. They even consider some of us
people to be 'organic fascists or extremists' - (which I have often been
called!). Organic pioneers like Lawrence Hills, Lady Eve Balfour and many
others must be turning in their graves!






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