farm news feb 28 edition:
1--article about a hen study in britain saying 8 groups of 15 hens studied over 8 wks "found no evidence to suggest that modern hens reared in commercial conditions form such friendships, even when housed in small groups where it is possible to know every other bird. this suggests that, at present, fostering of friendships cannot be used as a way to improve the welfare of chickens". as for perch roosting positions--no hen preferences there either.
2-farm labor problems? maybe. seems there's a problem w/fewer migrant workers available. "growers are looking for ways to more efficiently work w/ mi agencies that help them connect w/migrant labor, how they might better use more local labor, how they can improve the way they manage labor and how they can position their farms to be attractive to migrant labor".
3-glyphosate resistant weed problem intensifying. nearly half (49%) of all us farmers interviewed reported that glyphosate resistant weeds were present on their farm in 2012 up from 34 % of farmers in 2011. ...not only are glyphosate resistant weeds spreading geographically, the problem is also intensifying w/multiple species now resistant on an increasing # of farms. marestail (horseweed) is the most common w/palmer amaranth (pigweed) second.
I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something;
and because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do something that I can do. edward everett hale
"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do
something. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do
the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I
should do, by the grace of God, I will do."
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they re the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. marcel proust
MOVIE to see = Dirty Wars
Michigan Farm News mar 15 issue: re bowman v monsanto -- is about more than 1 farmer saving and replanting seed. . . . . . "when anti-biotech arguments arise, they consistently try to reinforce the premise that big is always bad and small is always good. it's as easy to make saints of small subsistence farmers as it is to vilify the big guys. ...since bible times david always gets more empathy than goliath.. . . the small guys may benefit from the monsanto sized companies' research and development as much as the big guys. . . .biotech seed is expensive. but it also carries advantages. by virtue of resistance to root worms or ability to thrive under the same crop protection products that kill yield-robbing weeds, patented seed is largely regarded as the only way food producers can keep pace w/demands of population growth. without patented biotech seed, it has been argued, this world would be much hungrier.
same issue about farm labor: "the argument quite often is that we have all these unemployed people out there doing nothing. why can't they do this work? with a little experience and a lot of on the job education, they could. but they won't. our society has bred several generations who think they're entitled to college-graduate pay without any of the hard work. but has anyone stopped to think why foreigners will do those physical jobs? because it's where they get their start. sure the work may be hard and the hours long, but it's rewarding to them. they can use farm work as a stepping stone to higher-paying jobs, and in many cases they do. that's the american dream in a nutshell, no entitlement, no high pay or corner office fresh out of school. no. the dream in practice is to work hard, move your way up and succeed. to that type of success, there is no barrier, at least not in agriculture."
front page of Michigan Farm News March 30:
"long before lawyers and insurance companies set out to convince society that it should--either by prevention or litigation--try to eliminate all risk from life, there was food. consumers, having little choice, trusted restaurants....everyone trusted mom w/food sanitation....today trust is in short supply. EXTREMIST GROUPS WHICH MISTRUST THEIR FOOD--OR ANYTHING THAT HINTS OF BUSINESS FOR PROFIT--TELL PEOPLE THE ONLY THING THEY CAN TRUST IS RAW, PERFECT, PEST FREE UNPROCESSED FOOD, PREFERABLY HUNTED OR GATHERED WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE AND UNPROTECTED BY PESTICIDES, WHETHER ORGANIC OR SYNTHETIC.
i love the farm news. keeps me "informed"
