Very well said Lloyd. Peter. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lloyd Charles" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 1:12 PM Subject: Re: Spring news
> > >From: The Korrows > Christy wrote > > our latest revelation is that the small percentage of organic farms (8000 > certified >farms in the US- 90,000 farms in Kentucky alone) is not going to > turn around >agriculture, > Its a shame more people in organic and biodynamic agriculture dont realise > this - certification is the problem! It infers an all or nothing situation - > either you go organic and become certified or you remain (in the eyes of the > certified) a chemical farmer. The greatest benefit to agriculture will come > from integration of biodynamic and organic practices on conventional > (chemical) farms, after all if you eliminate entirely the use of chemicals > on a small area say ten or twenty acres of certified land, in the overall > scheme of things thats not much chemical. A reduction in the rate applied on > one normal scale commercial farm would make a far more significant reduction > in amount of chemical used and it is easy to do. We just have to get the > farmers attention and show that these things work on normal commercial > farms. Greg Willis is doing this, Glen Atkinson in new Zealand has trial > results supporting his use of bdpreps on chemical farms replacing toxic > chemical applications with potentised preps, we are seeing these things, and > other non toxic tactics working on our own farm. There is a huge opportunity > here for serious reductions in toxic chemical usage without the attendant > reductions in crop yield and financial pain. But I still cop a fair amount > of flack along the lines of ' when are you going to do things properly and > get certified' from some people within the bd movement - I admit its got > more friendly as time goes on (or am I less sensitive to it). > I realise we need some of the purist approach or the whole thing will > get watered down to mediocrity but I also think that many people dont > consider the first step because they are under the impression that they have > to go the whole way or there will be no result. Painless transition should > be our aim! > Cheers > Lloyd Charles >
