Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

nafex - [NAFEX] inputs and out

nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] inputs and out
  • Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:46:52 -0400

Funny how so many responded to my smaller heads of lettuce remark and not at all to the actual point I was trying to make.  I grow my own vegetables organically and my heads of lettuce are quite large and flavorful.  I realize that when you pump up produce with a lot of quick release N you get larger cells that are a higher ratio of water than a less pumped up product.
 
The primary point was trying to make is that the organic produce is much more expensive, indicating to me that it may sometimes be a less efficient use of space and resources to grow organically.  Part of that cost is increased labor, but in humid climates I think that synthetic chemicals can up productivity in ways besides reducing the labor of weeding or thinning fruit.  There is no question this is true of fruit.  If an organic grower looses a substantial part of his peach crop to brown rot for example, he or she has wasted a lot of resources for less sustaining food.
 
Last year, Rivka and I went back and forth on the issue of yealds per acre- chemical versus organic, and it is a controversal subject with conflicting data.  To me, however, bottom line is the much greater expense of organic produce from small farms around here compared to small farms that use synthetics. 


  • [NAFEX] inputs and out, Alan Haigh, 06/17/2009

Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page