Do you think that organic grain farming is a waiste of time?
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Question by Brugsta: Do you think that organic grain farming is a waiste of time?
im coming from a normal grain farmer, and i cant see that organic grain would be better than non organic. I dont think its helping the environment because organic farmers dont use most chemicals, so that creates a weed problem. And if u start a weed problem, than that wreaks the farm. I dont see a future in it at all. Anyway kive us ur thoughts, and tell us how long u have been farming for wether its organic or not
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3 Responses to Do you think that organic grain farming is a waiste of time?
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i do… its just planting stuff then waiting for it to grow then taking it out the waiting for some company to hopefully buy it… i think it’s for people who 1 want to be away from the city or its for people with no education
Jimmy V
January 25, 2012 at 10:53 pm
i honestly don’t believe that any organic farming is good (besides being somewhat good for the land, other than that, its useless in my opinion)
GM crops/seeds are healthier and withstand many different conditions found in many different environments. also GM (genetically modified) crops produce a higher yield so that means more profit for the farmer (but how much profit a farmer makes also depends on the acreage of the farm too)
organic farming wouldn’t be able to supply enough yield for how many people consume what crops produce. like say if my boyfriend switched to organic, him and his family (he farms with his uncle and grandpa) would go broke because chemicals control the weed population and if the weeds over run the field, it will “choke” out the cotton, also, they use RoundUp Ready Cotton seed too, so they get the benefit of being able to use RoundUp on the weeds and the cotton won’t be affected by it.
another thing that is big with cotton (besides boll weevils) is white-flies- they’ll ruin a cotton crop quickly and with out any chemicals, then again, his crop would suffer greatly.
also, using chemicals for weed control is more beneficial than plowing for weed control- plowing breaks the soil and ‘churns’ it, so the moist soil is put where the dry soil was and the dry soil is ‘put’ where the moist soil was- near the roots, so thus, the crop won’t be able to get as much water it needs
without chemicals- fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, etc..- farmers wouldn’t be able to produce enough to supply the growing number of people around the world, not just in the USA
Jimmy V– if you downing farmers so, get out of the Ag. section! simple-
a farmer has to be VERY smart to run his/her farm properly- you have to do a good bit of math also, like how much chemical do you need for a certian number of acres or how much disel fuel you’ll need to make it that day or how much seed you need to plant.
and with out farming- you’d be naked and broke and starving!! Farming is the BACKBONE of our nation! [i could go on about what you’ve said and probably will keep saying, but i’m not, this isn’t the place for it- with out farmers, you wouldn’t be here! you really need to go talk to a farmer and meet a farmer and get to know him/her very well before you go downing farmers by saying it’s for people who 1 want to be away from the city or its for people with no education- farmers are (probably more than likely) smarter than you, like you could run a farm by your self, you couldn’t]
* Got food and clothes? Thank a FARMER! *
Gunpowder And Lead
January 25, 2012 at 11:07 pm
I think it depends on whether you are buying fertilizer or not. If you can keep enough manure and straw on the land and possibly second crop with buckwheat or clover to smother the weeds then it starts to make sense.
If you are paying for manure and taking all the straw off as well as the grain it ceases to make a lot of sense.
If you are just monocropping without putting anything back you are just depleting your soil.
If you are putting all the chemicals in then all your soil is doing is letting the roots hold the plant upright and soil depletion is not part of the equation anymore.
Also a lot of land is already so bad that it could take 50 or 100 years to make it good enough to farm without chemicals again, if it was ever that good to start with..
Organic farming can be competitive, but it really has to be thought of as a business decision.
It is still something that you have to sit down with a calculator yourself and work out the balance between inputs, opportunity cost and yields for your land.
You might find you don’t want to grow wheat at all on a lot of the land and would be better growing pasture instead.
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Not a farmer, but some relatives are.
testpattern(raster effect)
January 25, 2012 at 11:08 pm