On Thu, 3 Mar 2005, -- wrote:

>
> "johny b" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> I've recently been trying to eat mostly organic food for a healthier
>> diet. Here in NJ we have Wholefoods and health shoppe (i'm sure there
>> are many more, i just haven't found them out yet). Upon researching on
>> the internet, there seems to be many debates as to what is considered
>> and sold as organic at stores. Some claims have been made that the
>> USDA allows some pesticides to be used yet still be labled as organic.
>> I would just like to hear some opinions as to how much healthier the
>> food in these stores which claim to be organic really is. Is this a
>> hoax etc.? Any information regardling what to look for and what to
>> lookout for, or any valuable details is most appreciated. Thanks!
>>
>
> I remember an experiment done a few years back with two nearly adjacent
> fields of cabbages in California, if I remember the location correctly .
> One was grown "organically" - no pesticides, etc., and the other grown
> commercially - side-dressed fertilizer and 1/8 tsp/acre in one application
> of pesticide. The field test was done to check any differences in product or
> soil.
>
> When they tested the crops after harvest, the organically grown cabbages
> could not pass the import levels test for pesticides. Apparently they had
> been attacked by insects at least once, and created their own natural
> insecticides.
> The commercial ones passed without traces.
>
> (I remember from survival training as well as from my plant specialist
> father that most plants will make their own pesticides -as alkoids, if I
> remember right-
> The training noted that some plants will be poisonous when attacked by
> insects, so use caution around otherwise edible plants showing fair to heavy
> insect damage - for example, cherry leaves become poisonous to humans later
> in the year, and several varieties of trees when attacked by army worms will
> put out toxins that about ten days after the first attack will kill any
> worm.)
>
> However, if the organic cabbages had not been attacked by insects, then they
> would not have created their own insecticides.
>
> There are of course other reasons to chose organic - flavor, variation, etc.
> A lot of commercial agricultural products are sawdust flavored clones.
>
> Also, I would note that it is rare that much fertilizer or insecticide is
> washed off any more, and likely is less damaging than green fiber being put
> back from some organic farming techniques which lets deleterious soil
> leeching of fines and natural organic fertilizer salts occur (plant can't
> take up organics like animals - they have to have inorganic salt in solution
> to enter the hair roots. Undigested plant matter holds the soil open and
> lets water wash minerals out)
> Bottom line here is that fertilizer and insecticide washoff is that it is
> too expensive and the farming profit margins too low to throw gobs on a
> field and let it run off, wasted.
>
> Some organic farming is supposedly soil-sustainable, and uses limited
> pyrethrin-type pesticides on an as-needed basis. If I knew which categaory
> that was, I'd probably buy it.

try nutra-farmed foods. the only stuff i've seen advertising it is
Basmati rice, but I'll _walk_ to the store to buy it.

lena

nutrafarming is _intelligent_ farming. as little pesticides as necessary,
and _all_ the tricks in the book, organic/traditional/modern.