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To: Joan Osland Graffius who wrote (1437)	3/4/2001 2:11:08 AM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 12411

Hi Joan, You ask some very specific questions about ag practices on the large organic farms. I've not looked into this in a while, so I'll let others chime in if they have the specifics. I'm not even sure where we stand on the national code for organics any longer. I know it was mired in politics for the longest time. Corporate interests of course seeing chemicals as organic and most of the rest of the community appalled at the chutzpah. Sort of like the constroversy over calling ketchsup a vegetable, or frozen chickens fresh. Lawyerly semantics and the unvarnished truth never do seem to go hand in hand. They are great grandchildren of the original sod busters. I do not know of one corporate farm in the area. I was thinking more of the feedlot operators who are so irresponsible about the environment down in Iowa, North Carolina and other states that put animals under way too much stress in confined and overpopulated conditions, with utterly inadequate sewage facilities. The kind of operations that put lots of cash into politicians hands. The farmers can load satellite data into the equipment and it will spread the chemicals only as needed for the crop that is planted. I've seen some white papers on this. It really is fascinating to me. And a great way to avoid pollution by avoiding over-applying the inputs. I am not sure how this is accomplished, either the Green Giant's of the world guarantee a price when the farmer plants the crop or Green Giant rents the land from the owner and plants their own crops. When my cousin did this, it was the former arrangement. Green Giant wanted nothing to do with the farm operations. Except to painstakingly assess when to harvest the peas at exactly the right day, hour and nearly minute. <g> Deere....They are now taking over the Chinese government owned equipment maker. Sounds like Irwin Jacobs of Qualcomm should hire Deere to consult him. He's been trying since 1992 to nail down a contract in China that will stick. <g>