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amicus curiae
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amicus commented on the article |
Suni.
Go read Grapes Of Wrath.
see the amazing similarities.
after WW1 they had a whole pile of new chemicals to find a use for, chemical faming began then, so did larger "more effective" modern farm machinery.
Bingo! more people without a means to feed themselves and out of work and home...living rough or travelling for unavailable jobs...No health care ,nothing but soup lines if lucky.
Big(for their day) monocrops with toxic chemicals, in drought and on unsuitable land, drought and injured soils.
ringing any bells?
Took a while to figure how bad the chemicals were, Silent Spring, Rachael Carson!
But, they kept the same stupid big acres theme for growing, (The Farm folks were now either dead, or in cities, and didnt see the land, just the food in the stores.)
Their kids, had world war 2, to create the same, more excess, chemicals and manufactories, and a new use was needed, hell..ooo famer!
Now we have the continuation of that sad and sorry story, the soils screwed, the waters been carelessly and stupidly wasted, and mother naure sends drought.
whoops!
TA Da...GM Chemical dependant crops will save us all
( No, but it keeps people quiet and hoping, and makes heaps for the chem cos that have all those chemicals spare now, seeing as the wars aren,t using enough ammunition lately...)
where? do you think the fertilizers come from anyway.Chemical waste!!! the Fluoride in your water..ditto!
The new light concrete, yup Radioactive fly ash mixed into it to fluff it up! Triclosan mouth wash toothpastes, yup its a registered Pesticide! yummy huh!
The government( a large corrupted group of lobbied bribed and deluded puppets, run by business, and for business! In Charge of social and physical departments that a whole lot have no experience in, in real life. Ie a lawyer/accountant in charge of Agriculture? A peanut Farmer in charge of an army, navy and airforce??
also read Alvin Toffler, Power shift, see how society gets these upheavals, see how it is "Managed"
? Greene ,The Jungle tells how food was, as well as a very enlightening look at early suburban work life in America,
USDA and FDA were supposed to keep it clean.... ROFLMAO!
New Food Laws and Codex, managed by pharma and Pharmers, Gm And Chem Illnesses and plenty of drugs to "treat" the diseases...
America you are in the Doo Doo!
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amicus commented on the article |
suni, I do understand your rage at Natasha, however, what she says IS true. At the present moment dairy farmers in the US are pouring milk away, as they cannot sell it. and they are unable to make even COST price , back. YOUR Federal government has , "arranged"/ facilitated massive stores of dried milk they are HOLDING!! to keep prices high for the Retailers. Ditto grains and other storeable foods.
Ask the Retailers and Middlemen why?? food prices did NOT drop, when ingredients and fuel did! and they WERE TOLD to drop them, by your toothless price control watchdogs.
The writing re Californias crash has been on the wall for close to a year, if not longer. The more clued in folks started small gardens and bought beans and dried foods, to subsist on.
I don,t know how you personally ended up without a home and food, but I do suggest that you take the Rage and Justifiable anger to where it needs to be directed, Federal Government.Vote and protest for universal health care. so at least you can be assisted with illnesses.
You must all help yourselves to survive this, yelling at Natasha may make you feel better , but it,s futile. Libraries have FREE knowledge, go read about survival skills the last generations had, and realise that , like the Katrina folks, you are NOT a priority to those in Power, you are expendable, as long as they are doing ok in the polls and riots don,t break out.
Then, Discover just how you and a whole pile of other disenfranchised poor will be labelled as terrorists, and thats why! they have those nice new FEMA camps..
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amicus commented on the article |
Bt is becoming redundant insects are resistant and now they are chasing moth genomes to try another stop gap "cure" never mind what else they kill accidentally.
and BT cotton and corn stubble killed animals grazing it, now they advise against feeding it, so? how good is that? another food source unuseable, and liable to create a residual soil source of chem and Bt contamiantion..or is burning it a boon for the air??
GM Papaya screwed up Hawaiis export markets big time, and ruined the land, they are getting it banned or reduced as much as they can.
Cold and salt and drought tolerant wheat exists! and has for centuries, its what the bio mob STEAL to muck around with, and then call theirs!
The modifications are NOT stable!
strangely enough...local food feeding local populations is exactly how food does not get eaten by bugs or spoil, its what mankind did for centuries! and smoking salting or drying or preserving, are just dandy to keep in longer storage.
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amicus commented on the article |
david, its natashas blog, and R Wager makes a hobby of sticking his PRO GM chem and pesticide views on any and every web page he can find. he ties up useful and constuctive comment threads with his cut and pastes to HIS GM Oriented site, we get enough proGM media releases and lies on a daily basis elsewhere, We however rarely get a comment posted/appro'd on a GM site. we do not bother!
There is an admitted campaign underway to push the GM World view and to that end RW and Brad Mitchell PR man for Monsanto and their staff, are trolling to sh*tstir on any site they can find.
I am sick of him, and I guess Natasha also feels a bit like that too!
He is a "nusiance blogger" so being polite is getting harder with every post!
Real care for the starving would see the MASSIVE pr and ad budgets let alone the wasted lab costs, and lifetimes spent on World destroying GM , used to feed and grow Organic and susatinable crops!
No till is not good, lower pesticide and herbicide use is a downright lie too.
safety testing in human trials has never been done. Animals can't talk to say they feel ill from their food! substantial equivalence is pure Farce.
FDA and USDA are industry patsies. go do some reading. try naturalnews.com for a start. then go the Union of Concerned Scientists and read there too. than see just why! we are a tad short with the fellow:-)
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amicus commented on the article |
joseph, i read it. i agree that in the ridiculous volumes of animals now bred and mistreated there is no way that free range would be any better.
however, as part of small well managed farms the methane can be controlled effectively with bentonite in some chaff as a treat if you felt the need. cow pats feed earthworms and dung beetles that till and aerate the soil in a healthy environment.,
you can, and many oldtime farmers did and do? make a homemade biofuel digester and use the methane to power pumps lighting and heating. win win!
I eat meat, maybe once a week, sometimes 2x. I can raise a sheep or a cow along with feed for it, and fruit and veg and grains for one person very well on 2 acres of land, I can also grow a small woodlot and recycle bloody everything. All up a well balanced permaculture based system, creates less impact than a massive monocropped Plant based farm does.good pasture maintains soil viability, any fool that overgrazes gets trashed soil and sick animals. Go see www.polyfacefarm.com they are proof of sustainability. You grow pasture the cows both eat and fertilize it as nature intended, all waste is returned to the land , and man takes a small part, the waste from which, should also be returned.
It is called "the law of return" break it at your peril.
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amicus commented on the article |
Nancy, yes the stones slow run off , they also help keep moisture in the soil ,accrue silt, which hold minerals, and help keep biota alive, and keep the soil under them cooler in Savage heat areas. see Bill Mollisons Permaculture one and two for great diagrams showing gardens in the Arid Sandy soils in outback australia.
Rocks can be a very effective mulch:-)
African areas always had drought and floods, the new hi tech wars assisted by supposed civilised countries has created a lot of the land destruction and poverty and killed animals etc, as well as the people. Add idiots from Monsanto Dow etc, to try and farm the soils as if they had topsoil...like Aus they have Little, and the soils are fragile and NOT suited to chem agri rape. oh and the white Boer and pommy invaders nicked the good land and take the water. add mining and countries buying leasing cheap land to pillage and strip further and its a disaster indeed.
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amicus commented on the article |
Organic crops provide more return per acre than commercial or GM chem. Mixed organic more so, yes more labour is required, thats a good thing, more employment, healthier people and less fossil fuel usage.
I have lived in dryland, and now a slightly wetter area. I see ruined land growing nothing, not even bracken! due to chemicals used and mineral depletion.
If you want to owe a bank forever, and risk loosing it all, then big industry is perfect for you!
tractor for large areas 300k, plus attachments in the many large thousands, add maintenance of the onboards etc and the bill is enormous. a fan belt can cost 400$ ea and some of the big stuff has 10+ per unit.
chemicals 1,100per ton last year in Aus per acre, plus the weedicide and pesticide add around 500+
best price on Canola was 580 a ton, and the average is 1.5 tonne per acre, 2 is great, 1 is more common in dry years.
now add a few drought years while paying the bank loans and see just why! a lot of people have walked off the land!
without huge chem and machinery debt, those people would stand a chance to survive.
to Tony above...Cows eat pasture, thats what their systems evolved to do, the E coli issue goes away when they are fed natural diets.
ok in US they need winter shedding and feed, a small baler can harvest enough on farm to get by, IF the farm is NOT overstocked. here we feed out in summer when all feed dries off. same story- you grow enough to cover the lean times if you are smart. ONE sheep per acre is the norm in a lot of Aus arid lands.
Go see Polyface Farms web pages and ACRES USA too.
a small community like mine used to have full employment, now we have 50% unemployed, and we truck in goods like dairy that were made locally just 30 years or less ago., until recently a farmer could NOT sell off farm, he had to go via a marketing board, pay fees and transport that was so stupid when the buyer may be 5 miles away.
My 2 acres should be able to feed 10+families with veg and fruit, and if put to grain organically grown i expect 2 tons per acre. that would also supply a massive amount for breads and pastas etc.
It is the media inculcated dumbing down story. dont learn to cook, you can buy it, dont learn to sew spin or knit, you can buy it, well one day very soon you will NOT be able to buy it, what? will you all do then??
Hard work keep us fit and healthy, more people need to be doing real work, not sitting on their butts indoors!
Sunshine and fresh air is a cure for depression. A lab is not the place to be feeding the world, a farm is.
and robert, human poop works just as well, for those who cannot afford a cow. heat it to 50C in a black plastic bag for a couple of days and it is safer than Cafo output anyday. compost as usual and save the urine in a bucket and water it on, bingo free phosphorus and ammonia. Don't give me crap about they need chemicals, they DO NOT! they also do NOT need GM -no one does.
and I am off to go dig and plant on that note:-)
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amicus signed the petition | -
amicus signed the petition | -
amicus commented on the article |ok lets start here, and tenure isnt specifically mentioned, however, pull the pin on the research, there goes the job! or the equipment , the scholarship ..
Crop Scientists Say Biotechnology Seed Companies Are Thwarting Research - NYTimes.com
bear in mind too, some of these guys Like GM, yet they still aren,t allowed to do research, which, IF? the products was..good/safe? should NOT be an issue
re ladybirds, I remember this line from oped:-) uh huh they imported them, why? did the natural ones disappear I wonder? along with mantises, and dragonflies etc, all the Natural Predators in fact, all took a hiding from the DDT (Silent Spring) days as I remember. and the bees and the bats that also eat insects are dying in massive numbers in USA, Coincidence blame a fungus, blame varroa, doesnt wash a jot! as both the fungus and varroa have been round long before GM plants were, and bees and bats didn,t drop like they now are.
Organic yield drag...B/S! see here! the Organic produces consistently, maybe lower, but masses less chemical and fertilizer input, and all up not that much lower, take away the fertilizer and GM is stuffed.and systems like SRI are maximising yields, naturally, using less water, less seed)
http://farmwars.info
there is a lot of data around to say Organic acre for acre produces more, the difference is Diversity of yield, not monocropped. variety and nutrition, not just huge harvests, of one crop that encourages weeds and pests, rather a mixed and nutritious blend..
What comes first the food, or the Industrial complex??
Monocrops are only good for the mass maw of Hi volume mechanised industrial food companies. the farm and the consumer figure little.
{Gm plants are weaker and less hardy, as everytime you put a "trait" in you loose vigour that was naturally there."}
from the Australian wheat trials at Horsham and Riverlands Aus.
60. In addition, in the unlikely instance where the plants may have enhanced tolerances to several environmental stresses,( NOTE! this is FROM a trial to develop exactly that...HUH?) the GM plants will most likely be less fit as compared to other commercially available wheat varieties because of the potential metabolic/physiological burdens (eg as discussed in Pretty 2001). For example, the wheat may have stunted growth, produce less seeds, and have a decreased ability to tolerate competition from other plants.
and the same report again.
50. Several commercial cultivars with tolerance to drought are already available in Australia. For example, the variety Gladius, released by Australian Grain Technologies in February 2007, produces yields 20-30% higher than the benchmark variety Yitpi, which may be grown as a non-GM variety during the proposed trial (Wheeler 2007). Wyalkatchem, which may also be grown during the proposed trial, is another variety that performs well under low rainfall conditions. The GM wheat lines in the proposed release were derived from the wheat cultivar Bobwhite 26, which is considered to be of lower quality than most commercial cultivars (Bhalla et al. 2006). The GM wheat lines are therefore unlikely to be more competitive than existing elite varieties, even if an increase in drought tolerance is achieved.
Rotenone Quassia and Natural not synthetic pyrethrums would be sparingly used due to cost and rarity, which is a good thing, Natural BT not the synthetic in Bt Gm, also was only used WHEN needed , not a- life of the plant, in every cell form, so bugs did NOT become resistant, now they are!!
Coppersulphate in tiny dosages per acre, is in most soils not detrimental it is an organic and assimilable form.MILK worke very well for downy mildew. copper is a last resort, not a first!
More fertilizer, aka green revolution misled people into thinking they could feed and breed to excess, and I INCLUDE the first world, in that category!
As to promised yields, and proof? well not much proof it appears. to others apart from robert , who decries the info here..see The Union of Concerned Scientists report.
"failure to yield" a very enlightening 51 page PDF
{There is a great paper by Crawley et al in the UK where they planted four different GM crops and left them to see how they competed, every one was over run and out competed by native plants within a few years.}
so??? if this is the case HOW THE HELL??? can monsanto and others claim a stable plant??? and PVR rights???
Brad Mitchell himself wrote that the plants LOST! their vigour, after a few plantings..what else got lost/ rearranged by nature I wonder?
another reason to have no one able to save seeds?? so we cannot find out what Devils Kitchen got brewed up??
It is IN accurate doctored science i find so distasteful Robert, and so many reports are doctored removed and cherrypicked for a good slant, due to financial concerns- not for honesty!
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