luke strawwalker
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- Jan 18, 2009
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My brother in law looked into getting certified and it just wasn't worth it for the handful of animals that he sold. He can still sell them as grass fed with no hormones and have no problem selling them. When he first revived the family cattle business people actually started out trying to out bid on another when the folks seeking sustainable beef got wind of his operation. The funny thing about it is that he has enough land to expand and completely support his family on certified organic beef but he can't afford to get certified.
Yep... like I said, it's a racket, basically. It's more about maintaining control and making money for the "certification" people, and limiting people's ability to get into it.
There's nothing that says someone cannot grow their produce (livestock or crops) according to certified organic methods and practices, just that they cannot "legally" use the "certified organic" label without having the certification. Of course they CAN produce and advertise their crops as "all natural" and then explain to their customer base something to the effect of "produced using the best management practices required for organic certification, but not legally certified organic due to onerous overregulation and high certification costs".
People don't realize just how "involved" growing stuff organically can be... it's a LOT more 'hands on' than raising things using more modern "big ag" practices... that comes with a cost of course.
Later! OL JR