The Obama's garden - a complaint
I had
written earlier about how the White House tore up part of their lawn and planted a kitchen garden.
Very cool!
Not everybody agrees though - from
la Vida Locavore:
Organic White House Garden Puts Some Conventional Panties in a Twist
In the aftermath of breaking ground on the new, 1100 square foot White House garden, Michelle Obama named chef Sam Kass to head the White House Food Initiative. And we know how Kass feels about food... he agrees with us!
All of this positive PR for organics feels very threatening to Big Ag. So one group, the Mid America CropLife Association, has sent an email defending chemical ag to Mrs. Obama. See the letter reprinted below.Jill Richardson :: Organic White House Garden Puts Some Conventional Panties in a Twist
It is a large and complex issue -- there are some aspects to commercial organic farming that make me cringe to think about. That plus the added level of regulation, taxation and bureaucracy to deal with. There are some aspects about commercial farming that make me cringe too. Local? Great if you can get it.
There is no one right way to grow food if you are trying to feed a nation.
Some techniques are not economically viable.
There may be mitigating factors (one tankful of 10% ethanol gasoline takes enough corn away from one person to feed them for a month).
Some techniques do not scale up to commercial yields.
People need to seek a balance and to find their comfort zone...
Posted by DaveH at April 10, 2009 7:47 PM