North Korea to adopt organic farming!

[Agorism]

http://kcna.co.jp/item/2011/201112/news31/20111231-05ee.html


Be proactive in introducing the organic farming method!

[Domalais]

KCNA is the NK govt's propaganda mouthpiece for speaking to the rest of the world. I'd take that with a very, very large grain of salt.

[FrankRep]

North Korea is still a totalitarian Communist dictatorship.



They're finally allowed food?

Beyond propaganda, North Koreans quietly starving (http://news.yahoo.com/beyond-propaganda-north-koreans-quietly-starving-020029191.html)

AFP
Dec 25, 2011

[Pericles]

How dare you question the Supreme Leader! Reported.

[steph3n]

Wow they are growing food. I bet the military eats first while others starve.

[FrankRep]

Wow they are growing food. I bet the military eats first while others starve.

North Korean children begging, army starving
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-27/n-korean-children-begging-army-starving/2772472

North Korean Army reportedly going hungry
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/06/north_korean_army_reportedly_going_hungry.html

Kim Jong Il Can’t Feed His Army this Winter
http://www.freekorea.us/2011/01/25/kim-jong-il-cant-feed-his-army/

[vita3]

My sister adopted a child from South Korea. I'd love to go with him to N Korea someday if they become reunited.

[Icymudpuppy]

North Korea already can't feed its people. Organic farming won't help. Although the quality of food from organic farming is better, the quantity/acre is less mostly due to competition from weeds, and insect predation. Herbicides and Pesticides may give you cancer or other problems from long term exposure after 50 years, but they feed a lot of people RIGHT NOW! Since North Koreans can only expect to live to about 65 anyway, what's a little cancer if they starve at 5.

[ryanmkeisling]

North Korea already can't feed its people. Organic farming won't help. Although the quality of food from organic farming is better, the quantity/acre is less mostly due to competition from weeds, and insect predation. Herbicides and Pesticides may give you cancer or other problems from long term exposure after 50 years, but they feed a lot of people RIGHT NOW! Since North Koreans can only expect to live to about 65 anyway, what's a little cancer if they starve at 5.
You know this because??? I am not defending N. Korea.

But you are clearly ignorant, and have no clue what you are talking about, i. e. spewing propoganda. You have absolutely no credabil evidence to support that statement.

[Created4]

North Korea already can't feed its people. Organic farming won't help. Although the quality of food from organic farming is better, the quantity/acre is less mostly due to competition from weeds, and insect predation. Herbicides and Pesticides may give you cancer or other problems from long term exposure after 50 years, but they feed a lot of people RIGHT NOW! Since North Koreans can only expect to live to about 65 anyway, what's a little cancer if they starve at 5.

This is totally untrue! Sustainable organic farming actually produces better yields per acre. It is just more labor intensive. See: http://www.grist.org/sustainable-farming/2011-05-11-factory-farms-only-way-to-feed-the-world-no-says-science-paper and also: http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/the-strength-to-feed-the-world-organic-sustainable-vs-big-ag/

Iran, another country not invaded or occupied (yet), also has as its goal being 25% organic in ALL of its agriculture within the next few years. Contrast that with the occupied/invaded countries of Iraq and Afghanistan, where native sustainable agriculture has been destroyed and replaced with GMO terminator seeds: US Foreign Policy Destroys Native Sustainable Agriculture - http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/us-foreign-policy-destroys-native-sustainable-agriculture/

[steph3n]

North Korean children begging, army starving
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-27/n-korean-children-begging-army-starving/2772472

North Korean Army reportedly going hungry
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/06/north_korean_army_reportedly_going_hungry.html

Kim Jong Il Can’t Feed His Army this Winter
http://www.freekorea.us/2011/01/25/kim-jong-il-cant-feed-his-army/

ok so they both starve, that is just as bad...

[Icymudpuppy]

You know this because??? I am not defending N. Korea.

But you are clearly ignorant, and have no clue what you are talking about, i. e. spewing propoganda. You have absolutely no credabil evidence to support that statement.

My dad is a certified Organic Agronomy Consultant, a long-time organic farmer, and I grew up on said farm. It's called real world experience.

[ghengis86]

lol!! NK state propaganda says NK is making the choice to 'introduce the organic farming method'? uh, maybe b/c they can't afford the gas, machinery, cultivation know-how and agricultural knowledge they are force to live like a feudal society?

Next headline will read, "NK to 'go green' by outfitting the military with slings and reuseable rocks'

[pacelli]

North Korea already can't feed its people. Organic farming won't help. Although the quality of food from organic farming is better, the quantity/acre is less mostly due to competition from weeds, and insect predation. Herbicides and Pesticides may give you cancer or other problems from long term exposure after 50 years, but they feed a lot of people RIGHT NOW! Since North Koreans can only expect to live to about 65 anyway, what's a little cancer if they starve at 5.

Good point in bold up there, most organic methods continue to practice monoculture rather than polyculture, so they still deal with the insect predation. As far as insect predation, in a polyculture the pests are confused and are selective in taking out the weaker plants (that you don't want to eat anyway). Many weeds in North Korea are edible and the people are probably eating them as we speak for dinner.

[squarepusher]

I thought a requirement of organic farming is crop rotations?

[Created4]

most organic methods continue to practice monoculture rather than polyculture

False. If it is mono culture, it is highly unlikely it is organic.

[Created4]

My dad is a certified Organic Agronomy Consultant, a long-time organic farmer, and I grew up on said farm. It's called real world experience.

I work with farmers for a living. Sustainable traditional techniques are the key to long-term food security. Read the links I posted above which are based on a lot more experience than just one person.

[Icymudpuppy]

I thought a requirement of organic farming is crop rotations?

It's a requirement of all good agriculture. Organic or not.

[Icymudpuppy]

I work with farmers for a living. Sustainable traditional techniques are the key to long-term food security. Read the links I posted above which are based on a lot more experience than just one person.

My Dad farmed Organic for 30 years, and was the leader of our local organic farming groups. Today he is a professional organic farming consultant for Kitsap and Thurston County in the vibrant Western Washington Organic farming industry providing organic produce to the Farmer's Markets in Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma, Bremerton and other western Washington cities. He has been hired by Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Tajikstan, Ireland, and Russian agricultural entities to teach them sustainable agriculture techniques. I can't think of a more experienced person than my old man. Even with all that knowledge, we could not get our land to produce as much organically as it could with conventional methods.

The competition from weeds and the presence of pests is a big part of it, and I spent a lot of my summer vacations picking tansy and thistles, etc out of the fields. We had wasp hives and ladybug colonies to cut down on aphids and other herbivorous insects. Also, over time, the organic fertilizers which are usually either animal manure or bloodmeal based add too much phosphorous to the soil reducing yield. The pure nitrogen fertilizers produced with conventional methods maximize the effectiveness of the photosynthetic growth of plants. Scientific plant nutrition works. You can feed your dog raw rabbit, or you can feed him Science Diet. I'll bet you he lives longer and with fewer digestive ailments on Science Diet. The same concept works for plants. You can give them an all-natural diet, or you can give them a scientific formula, and you'll see what gives better yields.

[Created4]

My Dad farmed Organic for 30 years, and was the leader of our local organic farming groups. Today he is a professional organic farming consultant for Kitsap and Thurston County in the vibrant Western Washington Organic farming industry providing organic produce to the Farmer's Markets in Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma, Bremerton and other western Washington cities. He has been hired by Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Tajikstan, Ireland, and Russian agricultural entities to teach them sustainable agriculture techniques. I can't think of a more experienced person than my old man. Even with all that knowledge, we could not get our land to produce as much organically as it could with conventional methods.

If you're talking about converting large-scale big ag to organic, I am not surprised. But that is not the answer around the world, where small-scale agriculture is the norm. Replacing traditional methods with Big Ag and GMO terminator seeds has been disastrous, and well documented if you care to read the links. Also, it has been well reported this year that Monsanto's Round Up ready is losing in its effectiveness to weeds. DOW is now coming out with a "new" fertilizer to compete with Monsanto that has the herbicide 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), a major ingredient in Agent Orange. See: http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/dows-new-gm-corn-the-return-of-agent-orange/


The competition from weeds and the presence of pests is a big part of it, and I spent a lot of my summer vacations picking tansy and thistles, etc out of the fields. We had wasp hives and ladybug colonies to cut down on aphids and other herbivorous insects. Also, over time, the organic fertilizers which are usually either animal manure or bloodmeal based add too much phosphorous to the soil reducing yield. The pure nitrogen fertilizers produced with conventional methods maximize the effectiveness of the photosynthetic growth of plants. Scientific plant nutrition works. You can feed your dog raw rabbit, or you can feed him Science Diet. I'll bet you he lives longer and with fewer digestive ailments on Science Diet. The same concept works for plants. You can give them an all-natural diet, or you can give them a scientific formula, and you'll see what gives better yields.

You would lose that bet because our dogs have NEVER been on any store-bought diet. They eat raw chicken, raw eggs, coconut oil, and raw pet steaks that we produce and market ourselves from our pastured poultry: http://www.grassfedtraditions.com/grass_fed_organic_raw_pet_food.htm When we moved out of the country back into the city we had to give away one of our dogs to a farm, but we still have our 8 year old German Shepherd, and he is in perfect health. He has been to a vet once in the last 3 years, and only to get required rabies shot (which we would not give if we it weren't required).

Big Ag is one of the major ways we force our foreign policy on other countries, destroying their native agriculture in the process. Here is the article again if you care to read it. I think you'll learn a lot: US Foreign Policy Destroys Native Sustainable Agriculture - http://healthimpactnews.com/2011/us-foreign-policy-destroys-native-sustainable-agriculture/

[Created4]

Here are some good articles for those who think Big Ag is the solution to feeding the world:

Organic farming just as productive as conventional, and better at building soil, Rodale finds: http://www.grist.org/article/2011-03-25-rodale-data-show-organic-just-as-productive-better-at-building

Groundbreaking New UN Report on How to Feed the World's Hungry: Ditch Corporate-Controlled Agriculture: http://www.alternet.org/health/150158/new_un_report_on_how_to_feed_the_world%27s_hungry% 3A_ditch_corporate-controlled_agriculture?page=entire

Debunking the stubborn myth that only industrial ag can ‘feed the world’: http://www.grist.org/industrial-agriculture/2011-03-10-debunking-myth-that-only-industrial-agriculture-can-feed-world

Why Is the State Department Using Our Money to Pimp for Monsanto? The State Department is using taxpayer money to help force genetically modified crops on other countries: http://www.alternet.org/story/152921/why_is_the_state_department_using_our_money_to_pim p_for_monsanto?page=entire

[Icymudpuppy]

Your articles refer to a study in which organic fields were using crop rotation, feed lot rotation, and nitrogen fixing rotation, and the conventional was doing no rotation whatsoever and claiming the organic got better yields.

On our farm, we rotated the conventional and the organic, and the conventional got better yields. 1 year, Peas (a nitrogen fixing legume), 1 year wheat (a feed grain), 1 year cattle pasture seeded with fescue and ryegrass hay, 1 year hay, 1 year Oats, 1 year peas, 1 year barley. Rinse and repeat. A classic 7 year rotation cycle. Our conventionals on rotations got better yields than organic on rotation.

Your study isn't a double blind study. It uses a full compliment of agricultural technique for the organic, but specifically says the conventional was a single crop every year with no rotations of use. That's not using organic fertilizers and pest control methods, versus conventional fertilizers and pest control methods in an equal comparison. Even in that study where the organic was allowed to use crop rotation techniques, the conventional was only slightly less productive than the organic. In our operations, the organic and conventional side by side using the same advanced agricultural techniques the conventional performed about 20% better than organic.

Your studies are not properly conducted.

Also regarding the 8 year dog. That's not so special. My shortest lived dog made 15 years. A dachshund/terrier mix. My longest lived was a poodle/border collie mix and lived to 19. They both ate the cheapest brand dog food available at the Darigold farm and feed store.

[Xenophage]

Organic imaginary food :rolleyes:

[Sovereign Curtis]

So you mean they'll be growing less food, for more labor, and thus there will be MORE hungry people, not less. Terrific.

[jmdrake]

Ah great. So now idiots are going to associate organic farming with communism. :rolleyes:

[Working Poor]

North Korea already can't feed its people. Organic farming won't help. Although the quality of food from organic farming is better, the quantity/acre is less mostly due to competition from weeds, and insect predation. Herbicides and Pesticides may give you cancer or other problems from long term exposure after 50 years, but they feed a lot of people RIGHT NOW! Since North Koreans can only expect to live to about 65 anyway, what's a little cancer if they starve at 5.

Maybe they will allow hemp to grow to help with the weeds and insects and have a whole new industry as well.

[Icymudpuppy]

Maybe they will allow hemp to grow to help with the weeds and insects and have a whole new industry as well.

That would be nice.

[Zippyjuan]

North Korea doesn't have much alternative to organic farming even if they want to- fertilizers and pesticides are scarce. As is food. They can't produce enough to feed themselves. That is why about once a year they get all excited and do something militarily- and promise to stop doing it if they can get food in exchange.

[mello]

Penn & Teller have a great episode of their show "Bullshit" about organic farming.