Posts tagged ‘agriculture’

WHERE’S THE INORGANIC?

WHERE’S THE INORGANIC?

The next time you’re at the grocery store and you see a clerk near a product advertised as ‘organic’ ask where you can find the inorganic version of that product.

Say an apple. To answer your question, he would have to take you to a display of plastic apples. You see, all food is organic. Now if they said the product was grown under organic principles, that would be a valid designation and give it

I feel a great deal of food labeled as ‘organic’ is a scam just to make you think that the product is a healthier choice than other like products. When in effect, there is no difference.

I know something about how difficult it is to grow food in a truly organic manner.

I have a daughter who is a farmer. She once worked for Rodale, a well-known publisher of literature concerned with organic methods of growing produce. The nine-acre farm she managed was owned by St. Luck’s hospital systema and her job was to provide fresh produce for six hospitals.

The aim was to have the property designated as growing organically produced food. After three years, I don’t think it made the grade. For I discovered, from her, how difficult it is to gain that designation.

The most difficult challenge is to try to get an organic designation using land which was once used as a farm using standard growing methods. That is fertilizers, pesticides and other products which are inorganic- chemicals. I’m not sure what is involved in getting such property the designation as a farm producing organically grown produce.

Another problem is neighboring property. If the farm next door is using inorganic methods the property for an organic farm must fallow land next to that farm. If the farm you want to get an organic designation is next to an orchard you must leave an ever-greater amount of land barren dure to the arial spraying of the trees.

I’m sure some produce labeled organic is grown using organic methods. But I think that is what should be stated. Just to say something is organic is meaningless.

May 12, 2026 at 7:58 pm Leave a comment

WHAT IF ALL ACTIVISTS HAD THEIR WAY?

What if all activists, all those that are sure their vision of how things should be would make the world a better place, had their desires made reality?  I find nothing wrong with people having strong feelings about the way things should be done and how, who believe if only society would listen to them, the world would be a better place.

Here is where I may get into trouble.

The problem I have with many activists, please note that I did not say all it’s ‘save my ass time’, is that their narrow-mindedness and unwillingness to listen to reason, at times, or do their homework.  In some instances some have already won, but do they know it?  I’ll get to this latter, in a rather nebulous manner, in a future project.

Here’s one example about not listening to reason, I can think of more.  I can recall listening to an NPR show where a guest was discussing the latest methods in farming to improve crop production when a young woman called.  She thought all farming should return to the way it once was, a more natural process with nothing artificial.  The guest understood her viewpoint but said that if that was done, with the amount those methods would cause yields to diminish, that people would starve.  Nothing would deter her in her opinion no matter what the guest said.  She just went on saying how things should be more natural.  Tell me, in this instance, who was right?

I’ll now talk about what started me on this train of thought.

I’m now in the process of a major rewrite of my novel, Sweet Depression, hoping to God that someday you will have a chance to read it.  At the same time I’m also toying with the plot for a sequel.  Now I know the accepted rule is not to write a sequel until the first book in the series is published, but at times it’s difficult to control the production of my brain, the direction my mind chooses to take.  I just take notes and hope something worthwhile results.  That is the reason this piece came into being.  In the sequel to Sweet Depression activists have their way.  Guess whether the results are beneficial or have a horrible conclusion.

I’m not the first to come up with a plot centered on activists.  I suggest you read Michael Crichton’s novel, State of Fear, to see how an excellent writer handles the subject.

May 12, 2014 at 6:58 pm Leave a comment

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