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+--- Thread: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews (/showthread.php?tid=18779)
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - MarkD - 09-20-2017
Did they conjure the information out of thin air? Editorial opinions? You need to ask?
Yes, because in most editorials the writer has an ideological outlook (liberal, conservative, radical, feminist, etc.) to slant an opinion.
What is the motivation on this topic? A dislike of organic farmers?
Again, what would be the basis for the Star-Advertiser to fabricate such a statement pertaining to the prevalence on rodents on organic farms? My sense is that that they got the data from a Dept. of Ag. fact sheet, or something similar.
I will be honest: I have been looking for it and have not found it. So it seems we are stalemated.
But my sense is that at some point a reader with some expertise in the topic will post the facts.
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - MarkD - 09-20-2017
The Scientific American article. I perused that in my unsuccessful search. Did not find that it had conclusive information on this topic.
IMO, this is a highly factual question. The differences between the two types of farms is significant. They translate into different rat habitats.
If it turns out I am wrong, I will eat crow, but I do not think that will be the outcome.
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - Eric1600 - 09-20-2017
So much verbiage to try and justify some old grudge argument around something that is pretty vague: "controlling rat lungworm would a bit more difficult on organic farms"
LOL
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 09-20-2017
at some point a reader with some expertise in the topic will write in and verify the facts.
I believe I mentioned earlier that I owned & operated an organic farm on the mainland for six years and never once saw a single rat. Does that count? Or is it of less value than a journalist at the Star Advertiser, who had an organic salad for lunch of Tuesday, but an industrially farmed salad on Friday?
The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - MarkD - 09-20-2017
Yes and you also mentioned a friend in Waimea with an organic farm that was well managed for pests. But you are arguing from the specific to the general.
When the Star-Advertiser wrote "this becomes challenging for organic farmers," they meant the different conditions on the two types of farms means organic farms have to put out more effort on pest abatement to achieve the same result as commercial farms. Seems rather straightforward.
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 09-20-2017
Seems rather straightforward.
Like a horse wearing blinders.
Don't let six years of full time farming experience get in the way of a single sentence written by an editorial journalist, who may or may not have a half dead cactus plant decorating the far corner of his desk. Closest to the window, because he knows it needs light.
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - Slow Walker - 09-20-2017
quote:
Originally posted by HereOnThePrimalEdge
at some point a reader with some expertise in the topic will write in and verify the facts.
I believe I mentioned earlier that I owned & operated an organic farm on the mainland for six years and never once saw a single rat. Does that count? Or is it of less value than a journalist at the Star Advertiser, who had an organic salad for lunch of Tuesday, but an industrially farmed salad on Friday?
The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?
I find it extremely unlikely that there was never ONE FREAKIN rat on your organic farm during those six years.
This is the best fake news I have ever heard from a farmer!
Please tell us how you accomplished that! Maybe when you said you never saw a single rat really means you saw more than a single rat.
Rats come with the territory. I have had over 50 years of farming experience in organic and non organic farming.
I say this is contempt of court!
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 09-20-2017
I say this is contempt of court!
OK. Although I was not directly and specifically questioned on "similar or related rodents or other vermin" by the prosecuting attorney, I will admit that there were mice from time to time. I will again affirm however, so help me God, no rats. (For the record, there were also woodchucks, voles, deer, birds that feasted on the strawberries, and maybe a few other critters I've failed to remember over time.)
But no R.O.U.S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOv5ZjAOpC8
The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - Slow Walker - 09-20-2017
quote:
Originally posted by HereOnThePrimalEdge
I say this is contempt of court!
OK. Although I was not directly and specifically questioned on "similar or related rodents or other vermin" by the prosecuting attorney, I will admit that there were mice from time to time. I will again affirm however, so help me God, no rats. (For the record, there were also woodchucks, voles, deer, birds that feasted on the strawberries, and maybe a few other critters I've failed to remember over time.)
But no R.O.U.S.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOv5ZjAOpC8
The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?
Sheet Mon, Saying you got no rats is like saying,Gee I dont spend much time on Puna Web.... I just check it out once in a great while.
Hogwash, Deputy take this person from the court!
RE: Rat Lungworm on organic farms debate renews - terracore - 09-20-2017
You can control rat populations but you cannot eradicate them unless you grow inside of a concrete bunker (good luck making that cost effective).
If you DO manage to raise the first and only rat-lungworm-never-exposed crop grown in Puna, there is no way to guarantee the produce isn't exposed to rats, their excretions, slugs, or snails, or any skidmarks these creatures have left behind between your magic farm and the consumer. (Exposure could even happen at the consumer's house).
Go buy fresh mainland produce in Pahoa. Do you feel 100% confident the vendor kept slugs/snails/rats off the mainland produce? Do you feel 100% confident the produce even comes from where they say it does?
When we buy fresh produce, regardless of source, we just assume it's a vector for RLW.