Subject: Re: Organic Food
From: [email-masked] (A. Michael Piper)
Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 23:29:57 -0700
Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Lowell
Zelinski) wrote:

> 
> Aren't we being a little pretentious here.  I'm sure most of the people in
> Rwanda and Somilia eat "organic" food and don't care about that fact at
> all.
> 
> "Organic" food (what kind of food isn't organic?) is a luxury for the well
> off people of Europe and America.  Most of the world has to eat organic
> food with all the attendant risks of spoilage and contamination by
> "organic" microorganisms.  
> 
> 
> Those who preach "organic" food production are uniformed and misguided, and
> as I've said before, if they are so found of 18th century science why not
> spend time trying to convert lead into gold. It would be much more
> profitable.
>Dear Mr. Lowell
Organic food production is agriculture without the dependence on chemical
additives to the soil.
The reasons for doing this are so much more than 18th century revivalisms. 
Life is an interdependent and dynamic process that, to be maximized, must
be respected.  The addition of green revolution soil amendments  have
proven to create life threatening conditions like salinification and
erosion, as well as toxic reactions amoung the communities of farmers that
apply them.  These hyper growth practices are pushed on third world farmers
with the greed of potential new markets drooling from the corners of the
agrichemical producers mouths.  There is no to little regard for the
evolutionary implications of altering the ecological balance of the
environments where they're applied.  
With these realizations it becomes a middle & upper class obligation to
support research and development of "Permaculture" practices in food
production.  The United States has a role to play in supporting independent
and indigenous agricultural practices.  Most of the worlds agricultural
lands are "owned" by western agribusiness, with little regard for local
health conditions,  my primary experience is south of the border, where
agrichemicals rule, as goverments are always pushing to hype national
production.  Once again these are short sighted solutions with unknown long
range ramifications.    
> (Mr London - If you want to flame me, please do it public this time so the
> rest of the internet can partake of your putative wit)
> 
> -- 
> Lowell
> 
> What a long strange trip its been

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