Posted on 04/22/2009 10:56:33 AM PDT by Steelfish
April 22, 2009
Big Agriculture takes umbrage at Mrs Obama's organic garden
Philippe Naughton
America's powerful agribusiness lobby has hit back at Michelle Obama's decision to make her new White House kitchen garden entirely organic, urging her to consider the use of appropriate "crop protection products".
Wearing her finest Jimmy Choo boots, Mrs Obama broke the ground on her vegetable plot on the White House lawn last month, enlisting the help of local schoolchildren to help make a point about the need to tackle childhood obesity.
The kitchen garden is White House's first since Eleanor Roosevelt "dug for victory" in the Second World War, and pictures of the photogenic First Lady getting to work gained massive worldwide coverage.
To the anger of Big Ag, however, Mrs Obama has aligned herself with the growing movement of "locavores", people who grow their own fruit and vegetables at home or try to buy only locally-grown food.
The principles of organic gardening, which focuses on building healthy soil, mean that she will not be able to use chemical products to tackle pests or give her plants a boost.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
There’s a reason the US’s life expectancy is so high, and it isn’t because we use unprocessed manure in our food crops.
i can fault the first klingon lady for many things, but my veggie garden has never been abused with pesticides or herbicides. however, will the ever ugly klingon be the one out there pulling the weeds and picking off bugs or will more child labor be used for that?
I garden organically because I like the challenge. It is a hobby. All those magic chemicals just make it all too easy.
But I’ll eat non-organic. No problemo.
Is there some story out there about how the administration is trying to regulate or eliminate organic farms ... or something to that effect?
Ya gotta love the media:
“pictures of the photogenic First Lady getting to work gained massive worldwide coverage.”
Ewwww.....makes my skin crawl.
And, no, she will not be tending that garden except for times when there are photographers present.
H.R. 875
More likely the White House ground crew will be doing the work until it is time to hide them for the ceremonial first tomato.
Both of them have their heads firmly planted up their backsides.
I tried Organic gardening for a couple of years. I had the best corn crop I have ever had! Beautiful green stalks, big ears, nice! Unfortunatly the vegetables and ears of corn were so full of worms it was not edible. After a few more tries I went back to chemical gardening and had a garden!
I took my Rodale organic gardening books and reread the instructions. There hidden in each article was a hidden disclaimer that left the book publisher clear of telling organic falsehoods. Statements like “ Many growers say that..” “Some growers have found that...”. “It has been said by others that...”. “Some growers have had good luck by...”
Well, if the White House wanted to give us something to appease us, a veto on H.R. 875 would be a welcome one...
Not that I would be appeased... We need a great reduction in cost, size, and power of the Federal Government, and we need transparency and earnest representation by our elected representatives, respect for rule of law, etc, etc...
I’m glad that Mrs. Obama has an organic garden. I’m glad it’s getting press... I’m glad that the discomfort of AgriBiz is being seen.
I have a small raised-bed an container garden..
I use an organic pesticide that is extracted from chrysanthemums. It is -nearly- non-toxic to honeybees but repels and kills aphids. Bugs that are not already on the plant will simply avoid it.
I use organic fertilizer... Pelletized poultry manure... and mulch. The cool thing about the poultry manure is it has more than just N-P-K... It also has calcium and iron and numerous trace minerals that chemical fertilizers generally do not have.
Some folks simply plant ‘mums (and other bug-repellent plants) around the perimeter of their garden, and that helps.
I am new to gardening as an adult, though we always had one one I was a child. There is a lot to learn, but even with a very basic knowledge and some patience, anyone can do it (with varying success). We’ll only get better with practice.
Of course organic is healthier and better...for those who can afford it.
prolly with alot of the same chemicals that are used on the WH lawn
Yup. Eggsackley.
Amen to that!
Monsanto is deeply saddened.
Then again, they specialize in plants that cannot reproduce. Have to buy their seeds every year.
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