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Re: Round-up Ready Soybeans
Steve Groff wrote:
>
> Nathan,
> I've planted RR beans for 2 yrs. now. They have been the cleanest weed
> free fields I've ever had and at 2/3rds the cost of a normal herbicide
> program. Very flexible in timing of application and you only need to
> spray where the weeds are. I'm still not settled on the food safety
> issue of genetically engineered crops though.
> --
> "New Generation Cropping Systems": the cutting edge of sustainable
> agriculture
> http://www2.epix.net/~cmfarm/
> Steve Groff
> Cedar Meadow Farm
> 679 Hilldale Rd
> Holtwood PA 17532 USA
> Ph. 717-284-5152
Howdy Folks,
Yes, Steve the field may be clean and the cost is 2/3 of what
you had spent previously. The question we should ask is "what is the
real cost?". Real costs don't always show up on the farm balance sheet.
The cost of having toxic and persistent compounds in our surface waters
is not taken into consideration. We have a sampling station along the
White River in Indiana where quarterly monitoring has shown atrazine in
every sample for the last ten years. The cost of people having health
problems from eating fish with magnified levels of pesticides is not
taken into account. The cost of humans eating food with low levels of
toxic compounds is not added in. The cost of the possible long term
health effects of humans ingesting known carcinogens is not on the
ledger. The cost of the loss of family farms and all their assets is not
figured in when agribusiness forces the size of a farm to be 1200 acres
to break even. And now we have the new hidden cost of genetically
modified organisms. Where do we stop adding hidden costs and bring them
to the forefront. I can put up with some weeds in my beans to make the
cost accounting accurate.
Nathan tell your relatives about organic production. Give me their
address and I will send them info on some of our upcoming field days in
Indiana.
Thanks
Rich Molini, Atlanta,IN
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