now Tom's request for studies, was Supplements OT, probably

[Guest guest]

On 1/6/2012 8:18 PM, Tom Matuschak wrote:

Can

someone direct me to an independent study that states organic

foods are vastly superior to non organic.

You are barking up the wrong information tree. I haven't for 50

years read any such information that wasn't highly self-serving and

or politicized. The very definition of the word organic has morphed

into something it wasn't even a few years back....and that in itself

was done to facilitate sales and income. And the subject is too

broad, involving too many aspects, to be economically studied

without large infusions of cash, which comes of course, from those

with an already-vested interest these days.

And there is more just plain misinformation out there than one can

shake a stick at. This past summer I was reading the Scientific

American blog, the July 18, 2011 issue, which started out with "Ten

years ago, Certified Organic didn’t exist in the United States. "

Uhhh, dead wrong. Apparently this writer was thinking of the USDA

program which actual organic growers see as a joke; read it for

yourself to see why that is. Notice, too, that they claim the only

legal definition of the word "organic". Convenient. Therefore

you'll now see a lot of statements starting out something like

"According to the USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)....."

because of the USDA's (read 'agribiz' there) insistence on the use

of their new definition. So you can begin to see how contorted the

available information has become. There is some batting-about of

using the term agro-ecology instead but who knows where it will all

end. The destruction of the definition has been very deliberate and

systematic, signifying a will to confuse, and confused people are.

But certifications, actual ones, have been around for a while.

MOFGA's (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners) program was initiated

in 1972 and has been extremely active ever since, and they weren't

the first, in this country or others. So I don't know where these

writers hang out but apparently it's not doing research. Trouble is

that it happens with regularity.

So ask yourself instead: "What are the benefits to me and mine?"

and then begin reading. For one thing, it's sustainable (dead

soil=no nutrition). For another, flavor and textures are far more

enjoyable. Nutrients are put into produce from clean, healthy soil,

water, and air rather than from sprayed-on or drenched petroleum

products, most of which require respirators to apply "safely", good

organic practices produce superior results with far less of our

precious water supply (the only two places I know of that didn't

lose everything in the area of the current Texas drought are both

organic growers, neither irrigates). And on and on. Read MOFGA's

website (mofga.org) or NOFA's (Northeast Organic Farming

Association) site; http://www.nofamass.org/ is a good starter.

There are many more. Read Eliot , Wendell Berry,

Salatin (all good info and interesting, not boring).

Talk, talk, talk to your local organic producer/s. Do not rely on

someone else to tell you (including me) " all in one package".

Bear in mind, it ain't gonna happen overnight. I've been at it

nearly all my life (grew up in a horse-and-buggy community in the

midwest and never knew anything different as a child) and I'm hot

onto 70+ and I'm still learning new bits every day that goes by. As

an interesting aside, we had our 50th HS reunion this year and

except for those killed in the VietNam war and a train/auto

accident, were all there and are all well. That says something for

a good start, probably.

So it's a giant topic and current printed into is too diversely

self-serving to be of much use unless you already have a decent

background, so go for the background....have fun! And take a kiddo

or two along with so they learn along with you. Put out a small

organic garden this summer and begin to find the differences for

yourself. Seeds from FEDCO or any number of other places, some

decent containers or an otherwise un-busy corner of the

yard....clean soil if you can get it to start with speeds things up

but it can be "built" over time if need be, a local mentor. Nothing

like first-hand information!

SJ, where it's still snowing (happy me!)