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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Market-farming Digest, Vol 86, Issue 11

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  • From: STEVE GILMAN <stevegilman AT verizon.net>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Market-farming Digest, Vol 86, Issue 11
  • Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 12:37:25 -0500

Funny thing about the impending food safety regulations -- they are only addressing potential pathogenic contamination in the food production stream, while long-documented toxic health and environmental effects of agricultural chemicals and synthetic fertilizers are not even addressed.... and neither are the extensive industrial manufacturing processes that produce them.

Fertilizers are also often formulated with industrial waste products as carriers and these can build up in the soil creating toxic imbalances over time. And while sewage sludge is processed to remove pathogen contamination and is being pushed as a "safe" nutrient source -- it's not made up of sewage only -- the industrial waste stream is part of the product and there may be levels of heavy metals and other poisons that vary from batch to batch. In an effort to find a home for this waste steam -- on farmland, instead of dumping it out to sea -- conveniently the US allows much higher levels of metals and contaminants than the EU, for example.

At a GAPs session I attended the Cornell scientists pointed to the validity of organic rules which prohibit the use of raw manure and the strict guidelines for producing safe compost. If they do not produce their own, many farmers in NY State are using well-prepared commercial composts that are safe and effective.

Pure as the driven snow?? This may be a good analogy, actually. Pristine snow-white looks are deceiving -- but sooner or later there's the melting away of the covering and the reality of all the detritus that's been hidden away beneath all along becomes visible. But due to the power of the agribusiness lobby the safety of these toxic inputs is not even on the table. Neither is the broader CAFO/ feedlot production system that has been breeding up new, highly- virulent strains of E coli and salmonella and the non- therapeutic use of antibiotics for livestock and poultry weight gain which is rendering out disease protections useless.

Steve Gilman
Ruckytucks Farm




On Mar 3, 2010, at 10:14 AM, market-farming-request AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

Message: 8
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2010 06:58:57 -0800
From: <sunnfarm AT netscape.com>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] manures/GAP training
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <20100303065857.B5CD3AB4 AT resin13.mta.everyone.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

I use green manure (plant material)that is... And good old fashioned chemical fertilizer. Nice thing about CF is that its sterile, pure white as the driven snow and doesn't contain any E coli or even a b c or d coil either... Bob.
Sunny Meadow Farm
Bridgeton, NJ.





  • Re: [Market-farming] Market-farming Digest, Vol 86, Issue 11, STEVE GILMAN, 03/03/2010

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