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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Dennis Avery article

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  • From: road's end farm <organic101 AT linkny.com>
  • To: avalonfarmshomegrown AT earthlink.net, Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Dennis Avery article
  • Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2007 23:13:05 -0400


On Sep 9, 2007, at 6:59 PM, Brigette Leach wrote:

Expressing ourselves on the list can be a therapeutic release, but does little to open the lines of communication between groups with differing perspectives. At some point, the conventional and organic communities need to start talking to each other with respect for the others position.

As there are both conventional and organic growers on this list, I think the list is a suitable place to be talking to each other; and I think a good deal of this has indeed been taking place, most often with respect for the others' position. Certainly I intended no disrespect to you when I answered your post about tillage on steep slopes; neither did I assume that you meant any disrespect to organic growers when you implied that this was normal organic practice. (I was very tired when I posted on this before, and didn't mean "take apart Avery" but "take apart his argument". Apologies for the careless phrasing. I agree that what's important isn't who says something, but whether it's so.)

You are entirely correct that letters to newspapers, etc., are better ways to reach the general public. But if someone on this list posts something containing misconceptions, about either organic or conventional growing techniques, I think it makes sense for both conventional and organic growers to respond.

Jim Riddle did a great job, I thought, of explaining the actual situation in Wisconsin and Minnesota, which he certainly knows a lot more about than I do; I would have had to research it, and now won't bother. I would add to his discussion only that the statement in Avery's article that:

The organic farms already lose about half of their crop potential because they refuse to use nitrogen fertilizer and the more effective synthetic pesticides.


is also inaccurate. A number of recent studies (I have some cites if you want them) have shown that, in the relatively long term, organic methods give crop yields as high as those on conventional farms. There's often a drop in production when farms first transition to organic agriculture, but yields generally rise again as beneficial organisms come back into balance. I address it here, not specifically because Avery said it, but because it is such a common misconception.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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