There's nothing wrong with wanting to get ahead and make money, but it's got to stop being the end all be all of business. It has to be moderated by a social conscience or it can become evil. To place the acquisition of money above and beyond the health of your customers is the pinnacle of foolishness. We've only been using synthetically produced chemicals on our food for a relatively short period of the 10,000+ years we've been using agriculture to feed ourselves. I don't think we have enough evidence to show that putting chemicals on everything we eat or drink will have no long term effects on humans as a species.

Oh, and Big Ag? You can go fark yourself.

Alacritous: There's nothing wrong with wanting to get ahead and make money, but it's got to stop being the end all be all of business. It has to be moderated by a social conscience or it can become evil. To place the acquisition of money above and beyond the health of your customers is the pinnacle of foolishness. We've only been using synthetically produced chemicals on our food for a relatively short period of the 10,000+ years we've been using agriculture to feed ourselves. I don't think we have enough evidence to show that putting chemicals on everything we eat or drink will have no long term effects on humans as a species.

You sound like an evil left-wing socialist commie collectivist.

Also...



AG AG! AG-AG AG! AG-AG!

I grow a garden. I use chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Bloody William: You sound like an evil left-wing socialist commie collectivist.

Am I wrong?

Alacritous: Bloody William: You sound like an evil left-wing socialist commie collectivist.

Am I wrong?

Oh, no, I completely agree. I was being a smartass. And it is a truly depressing aspect of Poe's law that I can throw out so many ridiculous political pseudo-insults in a row and still be given any credence in my argument.

What kills me is that Big Ag refers to chemical-driven farming as "conventional" agriculture. No, guys, conventional agriculture is what folks did before John Deere, ADM, and Dow Chemical.

I'm no organic Nazi -- and use pesticides in my own garden -- but calling pesticide-driven agriculture "conventional" is laughable. On another note, though, based on my own experience growing veggies in swampland, I would encourage Michelle Obama to use parathion, and lots of it. Hurricane Gustav didn't kill my corn, okra, peas, etc., but the leaf-footed plant bugs Gustav blew in from God-knows-where sure as shiat did.

God she's stupid. She can't possibly think that plants will just grow in the dirt w/o fertilizer and pesticides.

HR 875 & S 425 would ban Organic Farming & regulate home gardening. It's Democrats legislation.

borg: HR 875 & S 425 would ban Organic Farming & regulate home gardening. It's Democrats legislation.


HR 875 (new window)

Could you tell me where in that bill it bans organic farming?

Seems the organic trade association doesn't share your interpretation (new window)

Guy Innagorillasuit: God she's stupid. She can't possibly think that plants will just grow in the dirt w/o fertilizer and pesticides.

Do I need to check the batteries in my sarcasm meter or do you REALLY think that humanity never grew anything before ADM existed?

PoopStain: *sigh*

Democrats want us to starve. They're all too stupid to understand that without artificial help, any big farm will fail.

Organic is bullshiat. One, it's not organic. Two, it's not cheaper. Three, we'd all starve if we had to buy "organic".

Democrats want us to starve.

Of course they do. You can't go a single thread about global warming, war or disease without seeing a metric ton of Total Farker posts about how the world is overpopulated. They love to suggest that we should someone "allow" millions to die. They are also the first to whine about us not helping Africa enough.

Guy Innagorillasuit: God she's stupid. She can't possibly think that plants will just grow in the dirt w/o fertilizer and pesticides Brawndo.

FTFY

Also, I know it's just a DK blog post, but perhaps the writer should consider omitting "LOL"s from future contributions.

PoopStain: *sigh*

Democrats want us to starve. They're all too stupid to understand that without artificial help, any big farm will fail.

Organic is bullshiat. One, it's not organic. Two, it's not cheaper. Three, we'd all starve if we had to buy "organic".

Democrats want us to starve.

lol

Check those batteries.

Nemo's Brother: Of course they do.

I love it when trolls get troll'd.

I think she should invite all the Big Ag peoples to a dinner at the Whitehouse. Then spray their salads with pesticides.

Organic gardening is part of the grand Obama plan to institute his dictatorship and white slavery. Under organic gardening our nation will grow too weak to fight off the Muslin hordes who will ride in and kill off our white men and have their way w/ our women who will have to wear wool burkas.

OK skookdum, whatever you say...when's the new list coming out? ;)

Makes "we" shudder, no less.

PoopStain: Democrats want us to starve.

No everyone, just you.

Saddlebacking- the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities

They_no_kill_BakBak: Saddlebacking- the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities

um, ok

I really, really hope the garden gets infected with a fungus or pest of some kind.

It's funny that the "sustainable" lifestyle people prefer to eat organic because it doesn't use man-made chemicals to maximize farming efficiency. Are they aware that an organic farm puts out only about 60-70% the amount of yield per acre as a farm that utilizes chemicals?

ZachF81: I really, really hope the garden gets infected with a fungus or pest of some kind.

My, aren't you the compassionate one. Are you one of those idiots that want the Presidency to fail in a similar manner?

They_no_kill_BakBak: Saddlebacking- the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities

Sounds as plausible as "sexting."

/which thread were you looking for?

Here's the deal: You can sell organic produce at a premium to some consumers. It's as simple as that. They like it that way.

It's called "marketing". The idea is that you try to avoid the commoditization of your product by segmenting the market and charging a premium on a prduct tailored to that segment.

Republicans oppose agriculture marketing. They want to force producers to produce commodity goods only. Stupid people like the ones in this article -- who think that "I" can be the object of a verb -- shudder at the thought of market segmentation, even though it would increase their profits.

/Waiting for the Republicans to call for everyone to were Mao suits because fashion is "immoral".

Look, organic farming is fine- if you don't rely on what you grow to make sure your family eats.

My mom is a gardener. With three kids and very little money, she couldn't afford to be "organic". She didn't garden for fun or relaxation, or as Michelle Obama is, to make a national symbol. She gardened because we were poor.

If you want to grow some tomatoes or have a basil plant or something in your apartment, you can be organic. If you've got an acre of land or more you need to yield a crop, you don't have that luxury.

/mom used to shoot woodchucks that dug under her fence.
//my mom is baddass.

FTFA:
As a result, we sent a letter encouraging them to consider using crop protection products and to recognize the importance of agriculture to the entire U.S. economy.

crop protection products?

Google Image Search to the rescue:



/ I have no clue what it's selling/promoting.
/ accidentally posted one thread down

whidbey: My, aren't you the compassionate one. Are you one of those idiots that want the Presidency to fail in a similar manner?

I'm no fan of Big Ag, and I like to buy organic when I can afford it, but...

Why does the president's garden deserve compassion?

Frank N Stein: Why does the president's garden deserve compassion?

Just calling out mean-spirited BS when I see it.

to wear Mao suits

flannelled fool: FTFA:
As a result, we sent a letter encouraging them to consider using crop protection products and to recognize the importance of agriculture to the entire U.S. economy.

crop protection products?

Google Image Search to the rescue:



/ I have no clue what it's selling/promoting.
/ accidentally posted one thread down

there you go

whidbey: Just calling out mean-spirited BS when I see it.

Meh, It's Fark. We like when bad things happen to people

Frank N Stein: Why does the president's garden deserve compassion?

Because this is a symbol. They are trying to get Americans to grow the 21st century version of a Victory Garden, and rooting for that attempt is just.....dumb.

what_now: Because this is a symbol. They are trying to get Americans to grow the 21st century version of a Victory Garden, and rooting for that attempt TO FAIL is just.....dumb.

/FIFM
//dumbass

Frank N Stein: Meh, It's Fark. We like when bad things happen to people

Off topic, but I expected you to be a lot older than your p0rfile pic...

w00t a 'food should be covered in poison before you eat it' thread.

1. Organic yields just as much, and sometimes more, than 'conventional' monoculture techniques.
2. Natural pesticides/fertilizers do the trick just fine (chili powder, beer, all sorts of benign stuff)
3. 'Conventional' foods are cheaper than organic only because of huge subsidies.

So there.

BlippityBleep: 2. Natural pesticides/fertilizers do the trick just fine (chili powder, beer, all sorts of benign stuff)

You're out of your farking mind if you expect me to waste valuable beer.

whidbey: Off topic, but I expected you to be a lot older than your p0rfile pic...

I'm an ALT. I'm actually Rush Limbaugh.

Another brain dead Republican policy is to try to force foreigners to accept GM foods. Why would you want to do that?

Instead, you hould charge a premium for "garanteed non-GM foods" to those that want it.

Market segmentation is the key to profit.
Profit is the key to capitalism.
If you oppose organic farming you oppose market segmentation.
If you oppose market segmentation you oppose profit.
If you oppose profit you oppose capitalism.

Republicans oppose organic farming. Therefore they oppose capitalism.

In fact Republicans are a bunch of fascists -- nationalist, corporatist, racist, sexist, war-mongering lie worshipping fascists.

Frank N Stein: You're out of your farking mind if you expect me to waste valuable beer.

You don't use REAL beer, you get some Bud light.

One of the biggest political problems in South Korea in recent years is the bullying by the Bush administration to force them to accept American beef, despite the (somewhat irrational) Korean worries about mad cow disease.

This is a classic example of how to fail at marketing -- the Bush administration's idea of marketing was to force people to buy things they don't want.

Now nobody in Korea wants American beef, and all the political pressure in the world won't change that.

ZachF81: I really, really hope the garden gets infected with a fungus or pest of some kind.

It's funny that the "sustainable" lifestyle people prefer to eat organic because it doesn't use man-made chemicals to maximize farming efficiency. Are they aware that an organic farm puts out only about 60-70% the amount of yield per acre as a farm that utilizes chemicals?

Chemical runoff is a real problem. Going cold turkey to a non-pesticide farming system is silly, but so is claiming that pesticides and fertilizers are harmless...especially on the scale in which American farms use them.

brainiac-dumdum: there you go

Opps. I'm outta that thread now. Any discussion which includes the creepy guy on the right and colonic health, I'm outta:


/ still don't know if he was serious or not

what_now: You don't use REAL beer, you get some Bud light.

Those poor plants.

I hate big silver

I love my "pesticide" ladybugs, mantises and parasitic wasps. The kids even make a pet out of one of our praying mantises for a few weeks every season, and for three years running the mantises have laid their oothicae on my patio umbrella (was sitting under it the morning they hatched last year, imagine dozens of tiny little mantises dropping in your coffee and hair). RIP Sophie, Olivia, and Fluffy.

It's no coincidence that it was a Democratic President -- Jimmy Carter -- who got microbreweries legalized.

For Republicans, Miller Lite is what the masses should drink. (Or in McCain's case "Budweiser").

Commoditization results in competitive advantage to large companies. Large companies make for better donors to the Republican Party.

Like microbrewing, organic farming would be vastly more profitable for the individual producers. But it would be harder to find big donors.

what_now: Frank N Stein: You're out of your farking mind if you expect me to waste valuable beer.

You don't use REAL beer, you get some Bud light.

The cheaper and fouler the beer, the more slug-killing power it has. Nasty slimy little alcoholic bastards. Bet that hosta isn't looking so tasty NOW, is it, punk?

I would have thought "big" AG would love the idea!