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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Now......GMO sweet corn

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Now......GMO sweet corn
  • Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:16:03 -0400

In addition to what Etienne said:

1) For anyone confused about it, organic systems do not use GMO's but may use hybrids, and many organic growers do. If the question has to do with the ability of a farmer with no money to save seed for the next year's planting, of course, then hybrid seed is also an issue.

2) A great deal of work has been done over the last century to increase yields. In corn in particular, almost all of this work has been done on hybrids. To compare yield from the results of this process to yields from heirloom varieties doesn't tell you much of anything.

3) What you've done is not a general comparison of open pollinated to hybrid varieties, but a specific variety trial. Kruggs Yellow, Boone County White, and Black Turtle are obviously not good varieties for your specific location. Heirloom varieties are often highly suited to specific locations, and may well do poorly elsewhere; they may, however, do better if grown in their correct location than varieties bred to be usable over a wide area.

4) There are people working with improved open pollinated corn varieties. I have flyers from open pollinated seed companies claiming equivalent yields for some of their varieties; as I don't grow field corn, I can't comment on the accuracy of this from my experience. Again, the varieties may be bred for specific areas, and may or may not do as well in your area.

5) You probably measured yield, as is commonly done, by weight of the harvested crop. Did you do any nutrition comparisons? Varieties bred for highest production by weight may have fewer nutrients than those bred for highest nutrition. If the question is actually feeding people, as opposed to getting the highest cash payment, then this becomes a critical issue. (Any given farmer, of course, may need to grow for the highest cash payment; I am in no way criticizing this. If the farmer goes out of business, that doesn't help anything: agricultural systems also need to be sustainable for the farmers.)



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



On Sep 20, 2011, at 8:09 AM, Richard Stewart wrote:

My experiences planting heirloom corn (Kruggs Yellow and Boone County white) and beans (Black Turtle) on three acres or more is that the yields are far less than conventional and much more highly prone to weather conditions, mainly because of weed and cultivation issues.  




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