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I think you are absolutely right. Last year for a few weeks, I posted my shopping receipts on the refrigerator and weighed my food waste. I had always believed I was pretty good about "waste not, want not" in the kitchen. Boy, was that experiment an eye-opener! I've changed many of my kitchen habits since then, but I still have plenty of room for improvement. Two steps forward, one step back.
I've gotten over that. I discard virtually nothing that could be eaten, even by hogs. I haven't peeled a potato in decades. When I eat an apple, I throw away the stem. I don't even cut the tops off carrots. The liquid in cans of fish goes in soups. Cabbage hearts and broccoli stems are delicacies, dipped in salt like radishes. Bananas are fried unpeeled, on the side of beans and rice. I eat mostly organ meats, which have no bones. I haven't found a use for egg shells yet, but I think they'd be edible soaked in vinegar. I'll have to work on that. Onion skins could be a problem.
Yeah, duh. We have to feed the livestock, they are also the food chain. I'm pretty sure people won't argue with alternate fuel production. It's all necessary.
And it was the government who put this out to us. I'm sure they were taking that into consideration when figuring numbers.
Feeding livestock is not an efficient use of grain. You can feed a lot more people with the corn than with the meat it feeds.
People do argue with the ethanol production. Not everyone trusts that the government makes the right decision when initiating things like the ethanol subsidy. The ethanol subsidies in the US are a boondoggle and a waste of resources. Alternative energy is a necessary goal. Ethanol from corn has been shown not to be a valid part of that goal.
Targeting organic farming as having a substantial impact to our food production is misguided. Stopping corn for ethanol would make far more food available than shutting down every organic farm. I understand not buying into the whole organic thing but the argument is weakened by coming in from a "waste of farm resources" angle.
We savel and freeze all vegetable scraps, peels, cores, stems, skins, for making stock (same for bones, but we just get rid of the bones once boiled. Used to give some of them to the dogs, but not anymore). Once the vegetable stock is made, the boiled scraps that are strained out go into the compost bin (along with egg shells, fruit peelings, cores, coffee grounds, tea leaves). The compost goes in my herb beds and whatever garden we do. Fatty or gristly meat trimmings go to the dogs as a special treat with their regular food. A lot of seeds, my husband toasts for snacking. We don't throw out very much food refuse at all. Fruit pits and seeds are about it, if we're not going to use them for growing anything. Sometimes, my husband puts them in bird feeders, though.
We savel and freeze all vegetable scraps, peels, cores, stems, skins, for making stock (same for bones, but we just get rid of the bones once boiled. Used to give some of them to the dogs, but not anymore). Once the vegetable stock is made, the boiled scraps that are strained out go into the compost bin (along with egg shells, fruit peelings, cores, coffee grounds, tea leaves). The compost goes in my herb beds and whatever garden we do. Fatty or gristly meat trimmings go to the dogs as a special treat with their regular food. A lot of seeds, my husband toasts for snacking. We don't throw out very much food refuse at all. Fruit pits and seeds are about it, if we're not going to use them for growing anything. Sometimes, my husband puts them in bird feeders, though.
.
Organic is ok but it is not worth the price people pay for it,
and they do not use extra money like other do to raise them either.
People will fall for anything.
If you buy from a farmer what he or she calls organic grown food,
you have no proof they did not used chemicals and pesticides to help protect,
or improve their production.
There is not proof that the farmer or rancher only grass feed,
their beef, chicken, pork, etc. They can hormones, vaccines, etc.
and you would never know it.
.
Organic is ok but it is not worth the price people pay for it,
and they do not use extra money like other do to raise them either.
People will fall for anything.
If you buy from a farmer what he or she calls organic grown food,
you have no proof they did not used chemicals and pesticides to help protect,
or improve their production.
There is not proof that the farmer or rancher only grass feed,
their beef, chicken, pork, etc. They can hormones, vaccines, etc.
and you would never know it.
.
It's not worth it to you. Other people feel differently.
If you buy from a farmer what he or she calls organic grown food,
you have no proof they did not used chemicals and pesticides to help protect,
or improve their production.
There is not proof that the farmer or rancher only grass feed,
their beef, chicken, pork, etc. They can hormones, vaccines, etc.
and you would never know it.
The Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 "requires the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances which identifies synthetic substances that may be used, and the nonsynthetic substances that cannot be used, in organic production and handling operations."[4] and the Secretary of Agriculture promulgated regulations establishing the National Organic Program (NOP) in 2000. It restricts the use of the term "organic" to certified organic producers (excepting growers selling under $5,000 a year, who must still comply and submit to a records audit if requested, but do not have to formally apply). Certification is handled by state, non-profit and private agencies that have been approved by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
There are measures in place to protect the consumer. Granted, I am sure there are some smaller growers that skirt the system, but, for the most part, folks that say they grow organic, so. It's a matter of pride in their product. As a Chef, I deal with a LOT of local farms (within 100 mile radius) and every one of them are more than happy to provide tours, paperwork and are proud of their certifications.
Honestly, I'm highly unlikely to pay for organic. If it's important to me to know what practices went into growing my food, I'll grow it myself. I grew up on a small farm where we had huge gardens, an orchard of fruit trees, picked a lot of wild-grown berries, etc. We kept our own livestock for personal use, for many years. We knew where our food came from, largely, because it came from us. Still, we had limited control over things like potential groundwater contamination from pesticide runoff from surrounding fields, quality of soil, etc., so there were always factors that were unknown variables.
I'm not living in a location where I'm going to be raising my own livestock, currently, but we eat a pretty limited amount of meat, and don't focus as much on that. I can, however, grow a wide variety of items if I choose to. And, honestly, it's not really critical to me that everything I ingest be organic. I do what I can.
I do think that people who don't/can't/won't raise and grow their own food and be privy to many of the environmental factors that go into doing so can at times be easily manipulated by those who market organics for profit. Therefore, it's more appealing to me to do it myself, versus pay someone else a premium.
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