permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 3:40 AM, Chris Wardle <cjwardle@gmail.com> wrote:

> Respected teachers,
> The following article, appeared in this morning’s edition of The Kathmandu
> Post.
> In addition to your reactions, links to evidence upon which a rebuttal
> could be made, would be greatly appreciated.
> Namaste from Kathmandu,
> Chris Wardle.
>

<>

That below is such a pitiful attempt at propagandizing to uninformed,
gullible people, those the author wants to exploit for one reason or
another: increased consumer base for non organic products, farmers using
non organic methods and materials, landowners who would like to invest is
such types of farming, etc. His article is old hat
and his contentions have been disproved over and over again. Articles like
that always target new audiences as the legion of old, informed and wise
ones grow.
It is east to refute that article point by point, it is full of lies and
disinformation, targeted at simple, uninformed folks, useful to greedy,
corrupt investors.

It is a symptom of an evil and dangerous trend, all facets of multinational
vertically integrated agribusiness making a move on new territory
throughout the globe. Wherever they can, they will,
because they can get away with it because in so many cases people are
powerless to resist or become fooled and willing accomplices to
exploitation of their country's natural resources.
Methods include, in extreme cases,  starting a civil war then installing a
corrupt ruling class with their puppet dictators to run the country who cut
deals with global investors and multinational agribusiness corporations who
bring their methods and materials for a new class of chemical/gmo/non
natural farmers to use to produce agricultural goods for export at great
profit for those limited corrupt few who benefit. The traditional farmer
base in those countries lose market access and gradually lose their skills,
becoming consumers of mass produced substandard food products (possibly
buying products exported by some other exploited country). Does this
describe Nepal and many other countries you read about in the news? It
certainly does describe Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam and many other places.
Eastern European countries are now being targeted by global investors
looking at new agricultural opportunities. You have point man consultants
like Henry I Miller or whoever that is on the staff of some agribusiness
corporation's propaganda department and Karlheinz Kunkel in the sanet-mg
archives, a servile [emphasis on the vile part] whore of agribusiness
investors who described opportunities ripe for exploitation as "all those
millions of subsistence farmers in Eastern Europe" (I'll try to find the
article he posted about this and include it in a followup to this post),
who who try to make inroads in new territory, new countries to exploit for
the big money interests behind them, new worlds to conquer, new countries
to exploit, huge profits to be made. The traditional farmer base is usually
in the way from their point of view as they seek to replace them with
modern automated, large scale, chemical and gmo-based farming technology,
methods, materials and equipment, robotic machines designed to prepare,
plant and harvest on vast acreage. They want to put to use wherever
profitable this new new, cutting edge technology; all they need is land and
cooperative governments and business communities. Did you know that some
Catalonian businessmen were heavily invested in Cuba's sugar industry
making vast windfall profits for many years? That was in the past. Read the
sanet-mg archives for information to use to rebut all points in that
article: http://sanet.sare.org/archives/sanet-mg.html; see especially
articles by Joe Cummins.

On a lighter note here is one of his posts:

ode to the blackberry
jcummins
1/30/2012

Blackberries are so good for us it may not be much longer before we need
a Prescription for a piece of pie.
.Lydia Kaume, Luke R. Howard, and Latha Devareddy J. Agric. Food
Chem.2011, Article ASAP
DOI: 10.1021/jf203318p
Blackberry (Rubus sp.) fruit contains high levels of anthocyanins and
other phenolic compounds, mainly flavonols and ellagitannins, which
contribute to its high antioxidant capacity and other biological
activities. Blackberry phenolic composition and concentrations are known
to be influenced by genetics, growing conditions, and maturation.
Despite the current knowledge of their chemistry, research specific to
blackberry phenolic compounds’ health benefits, metabolism,
bioavailability, and mechanism by which they confer health benefits is
scarce. Blackberry phenolic compounds have protective effects on
age-related neurodegenerative diseases and bone loss in vivo and can
inhibit low-density lipoprotein and liposomal oxidation in vitro.
Blackberry extracts have also exerted antimutagenic effects in vitro and
in vivo by modifying cell signaling pathways and suppressing tumor
promotion factors. However, the antiobesity, antidiabetic,
antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties of blackberry phenolic
compounds need investigation. Similarly, studies that elucidate the in
vivo physiologically effective concentrations of blackberry phenolic
compounds are necessary.


> ===
>
> Source:
>
> http://epaper.ekantipur.com/ktpost/showtext.aspx?boxid=153350234&parentid=26361&issuedate=18112013
>
> ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
>
> Myth of Organic Agriculture
>
> Henry I. Miller
>
>
> STANFORD — Organic products — from food to skincare nostrums to cigarettes
> — are very much in vogue, with the global market for organic food alone now
> reportedly exceeding $60 billion annually. The views of organic devotees
> seem to be shared by the European Commission, whose official view of
> organic farming and foods is, “Good for nature, good for you.” But there is
> no persuasive evidence of either.
>
> <...>
>


> Many people purchase organic foods in order to avoid exposure to harmful
> levels of pesticides. But that is a poor rationale. While nonorganic fruits
> and vegetables had more pesticide residue, the levels in more than 99% of
> cases did not cross the conservative safety thresholds set by regulators.
>
> Moreover, the vast majority of the pesticidal substances found on produce
> occur “naturally” in people’s diets, through organic and conventional
> foods. The biochemist Bruce Ames and his colleagues have found that “99.99%
> (by weight) of the pesticides in the American diet are chemicals that
> plants produce to defend themselves. Only 52 natural pesticides have been
> tested in high-dose animal cancer tests, and about half (27) are rodent
> carcinogens; these 27 are shown to be present in many common foods.”
>
>