Government Takeover of Your Garden

[seedcorn]

Nice article, its hard to know who to believe. I plan to put in as big an order with Baker Creek this year as I can afford, then really seriously learn about seed saving and implement it. Before "the man" gets his fat fingers in the businesses we still trust.

There is an article somewhere that shows the fat fingers are already in the pie... and they hold almost 90% of it! Monsanto pretty much is connected in one way or another to almost EVER seed company out there.

Maybe Hoodat shared the article over the summer? Its here somewhere.

Monsanto sent DH some literature a few weeks ago. He's a corn/wheat farmer. I made him burn it and promise not to do business with them. Its hard to get seed for commercial grain growth without getting GMO...it sucks.

IF you want conventional corn (non GMO) contact an AgReliant company as they breed their corn inbreds w/out traits. They put the trait in after the inbreds prove themselves and the demand is found.

 

[Collector]

"Monsantos use of such patented crops. Growing previous Roundup Ready crops such as soy, cotton, and corn have led to greater use of herbicides. It also has led to the spread of herbicide resistant weeds on millions of acres throughout the United States and other countries where such crops are grown, and contamination of conventional and organic crops, which has been costly to U.S. farmers. There is also evidence that such herbicide-resistant crops may be more susceptible to serious plant diseases."
http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/...in-against-the-illegal-planting-of-gmo-beets/

If anything it's led to MUCH less herbicides. greater use would only be true if the only herbicide was glysophate.

Anyone that understands weed cycles and pesticide usage would understand the fallacy of the second highlighted phrase.

I get it that some of you HATE Monsanto & modern agriculture. Just remember because of these things you hate, the world has a full stomache and Americans pay about 20% on food compared to the rest of the world.

That might be true, but im not so sure all this geneticley altered food is really all that good for any of us. In fact it is my opinion that is the opposite of healthy.

 

[wifezilla]

Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant supergerms, American farmers near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious new superweeds.

To fight them, Mr. Anderson and farmers throughout the East, Midwest and South are being forced to spray fields with more toxic herbicides, pull weeds by hand and return to more labor-intensive methods like regular plowing.

Were back to where we were 20 years ago, said Mr. Anderson, who will plow about one-third of his 3,000 acres of soybean fields this spring, more than he has in years. Were trying to find out what works.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/business/energy-environment/04weed.html?pagewanted=all

24 years later, a few sturdy species of weed resistant to Roundup have evolved, forcing farmers to return to some of the less environmentally safe practices they abandoned decades ago.

The situation is the worst in the South, where some farmers now walk fields with hoes, killing weeds in a way their great-grandfathers were happy to leave behind.

And the problem is spreading quickly across the Corn Belt and beyond, with Roundup now proving unreliable in killing at least 10 weed species in at least 22 states.

Some species, like Palmer amaranth in Arkansas and water hemp and marestail in Illinois, grow fast and big, producing tens of thousands of seeds.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2010-06-21-roundup-weeds_N.htm

 

[seedcorn]

Are there resistant weeds to glysophates? YES. World wide about 20 weeds. If you look at other chemicals used, the list is in the 100's, some thousands. In past we HAD to use tank mixes of different chemicals. It cost about 10X more to try to keep weeds out and they were many times more caustic and cancer causing--& didn't work well. There is not a RAPID growth of superweeds. All they have to do is change chemicals, they die--alarmist propaganda.

Don't like GMO, I've gotten that message loud and clear. Non-GMO crops are much more expensive to grow, don't yield as well, and we are forced to look at more caustic chemicals or have weeds take the crop away. American Ag has been challenged to feed the nation and parts of the world. If we go to less productive ways only the elite will eat well or those blessed w/ground. Not all can live on 20A and afford to live off of the land. There are property taxes, and a million other taxes that will go on. We are no longer in the 1800's, it takes $$ to survive.

For every acre of soybeans someone walks that are GMO, I'll show you thousands that aren't.

 

[sparkles2307]

"Monsantos use of such patented crops. Growing previous Roundup Ready crops such as soy, cotton, and corn have led to greater use of herbicides. It also has led to the spread of herbicide resistant weeds on millions of acres throughout the United States and other countries where such crops are grown, and contamination of conventional and organic crops, which has been costly to U.S. farmers. There is also evidence that such herbicide-resistant crops may be more susceptible to serious plant diseases."
http://thegreenhorns.wordpress.com/...in-against-the-illegal-planting-of-gmo-beets/

If anything it's led to MUCH less herbicides. greater use would only be true if the only herbicide was glysophate.

Anyone that understands weed cycles and pesticide usage would understand the fallacy of the second highlighted phrase.

I get it that some of you HATE Monsanto & modern agriculture. Just remember because of these things you hate, the world has a full stomache and Americans pay about 20% on food compared to the rest of the world.

That might be true, but im not so sure all this geneticley altered food is really all that good for any of us. In fact it is my opinion that is the opposite of healthy.

Amen. Leave well enough alone. The world has survived eons with non-GMO seed... why mess with it? Why not change the way we farm to accomodate the natural state of things instead of warping nature to our will? Man doesnt know best IMHO.

 

[wifezilla]

In my own garden, the more I tried commercial agriculture methods taught to me as a kid (tilling, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, monoculture) the worse my results. The more I stopped fighting nature and learned to work WITH it (lasagna gardening, natural compost, no tilling, companion planting, beneficial insects, diverse plantings) the better success I have.

One is example is my pond. Put water in a container around here and mosquitos will start laying eggs in it. Instead of a dunk, I bought rosy minnows. The rosy minnows eat the larvae and reproduce, then I get free food for my ducks.

Duckweed is something people spend a lot of money trying to eliminate from their ponds. I grow it on purpose. It shades the water and eliminates the need to add an algaecide. When it gets thick, again, I have more free duck food.

Speaking of the ducks, after years of trying to poison slugs or beer trap them with little to no success, now I just let the ducks forage in the garden before planting and after harvest. Sometimes even during growing season with poultry wire protecting the plants. They eat the slugs, earwigs and roly polys. The population of these destructive critters has gone WAAAYYYY down.

Someone told me a about a new potential beneficial pet. Instead of ducks, he uses HEDGEHOGS!! He has a huge garden and lets his pets take care of his destructive insects for him. They even eat aphids! I may need one all of a sudden

Commercial agriculture isn't a system like nature. It is a factory. Well, and attempt to force factory practices on nature.

 

[sparkles2307]

Someone told me a about a new potential beneficial pet. Instead of ducks, he uses HEDGEHOGS!! He has a huge garden and lets his pets take care of his destructive insects for him. They even eat aphids! I may need one all of a sudden

Commercial agriculture isn't a system like nature. It is a factory. Well, and attempt to force factory practices on nature.

How do you keep them from getting out? Hedgehogs are very small... my cats would eat them. I love them, almost got a pet one as a kid. Tell me how he manages them

 

[wifezilla]

He said the cats will bother them once. ONCE! LOL

As for keeping them for escaping, I think he had one go feral on him, but he didn't care. 4 years later he still sees it from time to time and it is still eating all the bad bugs in the garden.

I wonder if you could "tractor" them. Some people do it with rabbits.....hmmmmm

Found an article on attracting wild ones to your garden on purpose...
http://www.suite101.com/content/attracting-hedgehogs-to-your-garden-a197415
http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformatio...ement/HHogHabTech/garden_design_hedgehogs.htm

 

[sparkles2307]

Yeah, hedgies dont hibernate, so they really arent a naturally occuring species in Northern MN. My cats almost hibernate lol.

 

[hoodat]

Skunks are also insectivores by nature (with a few grond nesting bird eggs and mice thrown in) If skunks are digging in your garden or flower bed it's a good bet you have cutworms or grubs.