Farming ...

[ross]

Lots a rich , well to do farmers up this way driving Lincolns . Benzes fancy pickups etc all paid for & trips to winter retreats . A pc a land across road just got bought by a Dairy farmer just got back from 3 wk holiday in Europe . Must be doin something right more power to um . Farming isn't for everyone but some do just fine great life if yu can do it . Luck

[Killerbunny]

Yes they figure people (sorry "pet parents") will do anything for their pets and pay for it. Wild salmon and halibut too! Betting it's not the choice pieces.

[Killerbunny]

That's interesting Ross. Priorities too, round here there are fancy new vehicles in driveways and rooves etc. in sore need of repair. I just don't get it.

[baronrenfrew]

Well goatgal, mother nature didn't give us a lot of things. Nature gave us the wolf: and through selective breeding we have the great dane and the chihuahua and everything in between. And we have done that with plants as well. You can get a dwarf field corn that matures quick and can be harvested with a "cereal head" on the combine and not the corn head. Or you can get Peruvian giant corn (choclo) that grows 20 feet tall and takes 5 months to mature.

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This is all created by "selective breeding".

Bottom line we all agree we want less chemicals (or better yet no chemicals) on our food, no transgenics (i.e. Arctic char genes in a tomato giving it frost resistance), and more common sense in our world.
Kathy/WLLady is our resident expert, and thanks for your patience in us "misusing" many technical terms.

[windwalkingwolf]

[WLLady]

Thanks baron-i think we are all talking about the same thing just in different terms. Thats why i have a garden. Lol. And hunt.
I just discovered something absolutely disguating (because i dont live in mexico). People there eat corn smut as a delicacy. Its all natural....lol. found one on a corn yesterday...all natural and still a bit disturbing lol.
Transgenics are amazing in research...very powerful. But i really cannot see the place for many of them "in the wild" so to speak. One big issue with peta releasing animals from research facilities....they have no clue what genes thise critters could carry. The recent links to cancer etc made are varied but for sure some is chemical related-some sunscreens can actually cause skin cancer??!! Awesome. i do try to stay at least a bit natural but....if i am out in the blazing sun at 45C moving shed to dumpbin i will wear it or i will be burnt to a crisp which is probably worse than the dose of sunscreen....same with foods....try to stay away from the processed stuff i dont know (and i know a lot of chemical names-and if i dont know it..well...i dont eat it)....and some stuff i do recognize as oh the solvent i use to lyse cells in the lab lol. Scary some stuff that makes it into the food chain. I am a bit more lenient on genetically modified stuff because at least the organism uses the gene like it would use any other gene to process the gene to make rna and protein etc. Its not just injecting a compound with whatever halflife....and intraspecies (cow to cow or sheep to sheep) is not as bad as interspecies (between species-goat to cow). But sometimes it is a good thing...did you know we can make human blood in pigs for treating leukemia? That to me is a good use....but the food chain stuff....not so sure on that quite yet

[Maximus]

Ha Kathy! I knew that you would pop up with transgenic. Scientists deserve the right to be picky over terminology. For the common person and how it is represented in the MSM (main stream media) GMO's are a general or better known term used for our high production crops.

GMO would be to pick a desired trait, turn on off genes or induce mutations etc. But when 'we' talk of GMO corn, soy, cotton, canola, sugar etc., we really are talking transgenics AND GMO.

I think the MSM confusion is that originally the goal was to have the power without transplanting the desired trait into the seed. The power to turn on/off a trait with a mutation. Turn off the trait(s) where the virus's didn't affect the crop. That didn't work entirely successfully.

Where the GMO comes into play is they have altered genes to grow a more drought resistent crop, grow successfully in corroded soil, and to grow closer together and bigger cobs - ultimately increasing yield, in the example of the corn for cobs.

Transgenics are also in our GMO crops, with a little piece of roundup in the seed, add a gene from the virus etc., so the crop is resisting their known viruses and doesn't die when sprayed with roundup. Hence the term roundup ready crops. They're able to handle the toxic load because it is part of the DNA and not seen as a 'threat' to the plant.

Problem, as we know, is viruses that attack the crops are forever mutating to become resistant, therefore new genetically engineered seeds are required and the cycle never stops. And won't. There is a reason viruses/bacteria have resisted beyond the Ice Age, prehistoric times.

There is also something in the seeds where if they aren't sprayed they will die. I am not entirely up to speed on this process, but the crop(s) are required their 'fix' to be successful in growing.

I think some of the big problems are mainly in corporate bullying. I know farmers who want out. They can't get out, they are owned by seed companies and their soil is so fried that it will take years and years of recovery at the land owners expense if they have the kahonas to divorce the corporations.

The government also helps to 'fund' farmers who grow 'controlled' seeds. Fund. Such a bull paddies term. Anyways. Monsanto, DuPont, Clark, to name a few big seed players. Grow those seeds and we'll give you just enough to let you live almost comfortably, but not enough so that you're always in debt and if you're one of the real lucky ones, we will help you consolidate your debt into one huge payment for the rest of your living life. Seed company grower till death do us part. Where do I sign up?

If you're an organic farmer or a farmer who isn't controlled via seed corps and ask for help getting your soil enriched and certifiable. Ask for funding with the high cost of the certification and policies. Doesn't happen. Won't happen.

One thing I know. We are at a tipping point. I'm not sure how much longer we will get away with saying we are at this so called tipping point. It's just going to tip one day and all the will hit the fan at once.

Bill Gates has the most public Shares in Monsanto. Millions of dollars worth. I believe 500,000 shares in Monsanto, over $20 million dollars worth.
Monsanto. Revenue 2015 $15 BILLION. Net Income 2015 $2.3 BILLION
Monsanto: Agent Orange. Enough said right there.
Monsanto: DDT. More than 40 years after ceasing usage in North America we are still living with the effects of this killer. DDT is still produced and shipped over seas.
Monsanto: Controls the vast majority of your food and has your best interest in mind. Gobble up.

DuPont: Revenue 2012 $6.3 BILLION

Clark I believe is privately owned and Canadian, harder to find financials on.

[Maximus]

Side note: credit given for said vehicles and/or homes, does not equal rich.

If you're driving a new vehicle and your roof needs to be done, chances are you're not rich. You're credit worthy. Big difference.

[Maximus]

And there is also something in the seed/crop/plant that if the said bug bites/eats the plant, the pest dies.

Alrighty! I must get some much needed chores done. Love these chats. LOVE our ability as a group to have such awesome talks.

Cheers!!

[Maximus]

QR_BBPOST Thanks baron-i think we are all talking about the same thing just in different terms. Thats why i have a garden. Lol. And hunt.
I just discovered something absolutely disguating (because i dont live in mexico). People there eat corn smut as a delicacy. Its all natural....lol. found one on a corn yesterday...all natural and still a bit disturbing lol.
Transgenics are amazing in research...very powerful. But i really cannot see the place for many of them "in the wild" so to speak. One big issue with peta releasing animals from research facilities....they have no clue what genes thise critters could carry. The recent links to cancer etc made are varied but for sure some is chemical related-some sunscreens can actually cause skin cancer??!! Awesome. i do try to stay at least a bit natural but....if i am out in the blazing sun at 45C moving shed to dumpbin i will wear it or i will be burnt to a crisp which is probably worse than the dose of sunscreen....same with foods....try to stay away from the processed stuff i dont know (and i know a lot of chemical names-and if i dont know it..well...i dont eat it)....and some stuff i do recognize as oh the solvent i use to lyse cells in the lab lol. Scary some stuff that makes it into the food chain. I am a bit more lenient on genetically modified stuff because at least the organism uses the gene like it would use any other gene to process the gene to make rna and protein etc. Its not just injecting a compound with whatever halflife....and intraspecies (cow to cow or sheep to sheep) is not as bad as interspecies (between species-goat to cow). But sometimes it is a good thing...did you know we can make human blood in pigs for treating leukemia? That to me is a good use....but the food chain stuff....not so sure on that quite yet

I've been recently reading about edible vaccines. So the idea is to grow a crop, such as bananas, and you'll develop immunity to said disease due to the vaccine present in the banana. WTF. Talk about herd control.
Eventually humans won't need an immune system or the immune system won't survive our crazy 'science'.