this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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First you need a lot of land and some heavy farm equipment. Then a contract with Monsanto.....
You can grow corn without Roundup. You can even sell it for more money as "organic corn".
Not immediately, though. To make the conversion, a farmer must grow organic corn but without the premium price for seven years. All the while, thorough documentation & being open to inspection.
After 7 years, you can grow organic corn...and get the premium prices associated with growing organic corn.
It's a 3 year conversion in the U.S.. The easiest way to convert it is to plant alfalfa. Then when it comes out of hay it's certified organic.
Idk about your alfalfa/hay situation, but IIRC for corn it is 7 whole years. This is so virtually all of the inorganic pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, and all the other "stuff" that isn't organic works its way out of the soil. We just had a local farmer become organic certified for corn a couple years ago; it was a big deal.
Personally I think in the interim, a farmer could sell his "not quite organic certified" corn crop to a local cattle producer for feed. 😏 Charge more than GMO corn, but not as much as organic. Everybody wins, everybody's happy. There is a base practical reason for this: at least cows prefer organic & non-GMO corn. It tastes better to them, hell, it's probably marginally better for them. They happily eat more, which fattens them up, making for a better end product beef.
https://www.ams.usda.gov/services/organic-certification/transitioning-to-organic
Doesn't matter what crop it is. Organic certification is 3 years.
Huh, son of a bitch. Alright, then! Thanks for the info. 👍🏻
Wild! Per opinions of farmers you’ve heard?
I have a farmer that raises (mostly!) grass-fed Angus cows; he feeds them out for a little less than a year & sends them to slaughter "when they're right". Produces very tender, good beef & I buy 1/4 cow.
....anyway. This is what he said, he's seen things where GMO & non-GMO corn are poured into different troughs & the cows clearly want the non-GMO. They figure out they're not the same & the non-GMO is all they want to eat. Much like a cat with different cat foods, etc.
It makes a hell of a lot of sense; the GMO corn plant is made to push heavy yield. Be resistant to pests & all kinds of disease. Bigger kernels. Then on top of the GMO qualities, maybe a little of what's been sprayed onto the plants gets into the kernel. It's probably not super tasty when compared to just...regular-ass corn with not as potent chemical sprays.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing that. Would be great to see that tested under controlled conditions.
Palatability is not related to the GMO. It's genetics type that are used in the production.
Organically produced seed historically has been straight dent corn (older genetics in the public domain). These are softer kernals that are easier for he animals to chew. The don't need to be ground as fine.
GMO hybrids are mostly dent x flint crosses. These have a harder shell around the outside of the kernals. It needs to be ground up finer for the animals to digest it.
This is changing recently as Bayer and Corteva are licensing out their dent x flint varieties to the organic companies.
Guys, your standards are too low. Your situation with environmentally damaging and ecological is the same as ours with ecological and biological.
There's just a little bit of fraud in the organic market.
I mean one guy fraudulently sold 7% of the corn and 8% of soybeans. I am sure nobody else is doing the same.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndia/pr/field-schemes-fraud-results-over-decade-federal-prison-leader-largest-organic-fraud
I think they're more talking about seed supply than herbicides. But it's usually a combo deal depending on what you're doing.
You can sell organic for about 5-10% more, but your yield is typically 15-20% less than non organic, and it's more labour intensive.
Organic growing is really a niche subsector of agriculture which doesn't really thrive at a larger scale, but it's a decent option for people with smaller plots of land.
Right, but you don't need a contract with Monsanto to get seeds if you're not going to use chemicals. Monsanto holds the patent for Roundup resistant plants, which is why they can completely control all of the seeds. If you're not using chemicals or that GMO variant, then you don't need Monsanto at all.
They sell a lot more than just their round up ready seeds, they also have a lot of GMO for things like drought tolerance and some that can release a pesticide like protein. They also own/supply a lot of the organic/heirloom subsidiaries that people believe to be competition.
It's actually pretty hard to avoid using a product from Monsanto, there's actually websites that have list you can cross reference to avoid it if possible.
Monsanto doesn't exist anymore. It was purchased by Bayer in an all cash deal
Bayer of course is worse
TIL. Thanks for sharing
Np, really the only reason I know about it is because the side of my family that farms constantly talks about it.