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One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

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Re: One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

#71
post #64
post #47

> ... is fed to cattle and chickens, whose meat is also sold at a premium [...] because a growing number of consumers are willing to pay more for protein that comes from animals raised on a natural, organic diet. Consumers have been misled - cattle's natural diet is grass, not grains. Chickens will opportunistically eat grains and seeds, but if given the opportunity will eagerly eat a blend of greens and insects & wo…

Not sure about beef but I can guarantee you that there's a ton of difference between the eggs produced by my parents' chicken (they raise them "organically", so to speak, i.e. they do subsistence agriculture) and the eggs that I can purchase from the supermarket closest to me. And the difference is in favour of my parents' chicken. The same discussion is valid for the chicken meat.

Two of my neighbors raise chickens. They both regularly drop off eggs as their supply exceeds demand.

They are visually distinctive (they tend to be smaller than a supermarket “large egg” and dirtier for sure) but after cooking are entirely indistinguishable from the eggs at the store.

Of course I’m very grateful for the eggs, but even they will admit it’s not for quality and quantity, but mostly a fun hobby and something to help get the kids involved with.

Re: One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

#72
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>But he must have been too small potatoes, so he got an appropriate sentence. The "appropriate sentence" is coming for the bigger guys too, but it may not be paid by them, but definitely their ancestors… and definitely not by some court diktat…

I don't think ancestors is the word you're looking for here ;-)

The public at large will pay for it as well… but the public already pays for it so not much will change there ;)

Re: One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

#73
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being from Ohio I knew quite a few farmers, or people that grew up on farms. They all laugh at organic and say it’s bullshit. There is typically no way to tell after the fact if something is or isn’t organic. Same with rBGH free dairy products. Farmers have known for years that the label is only as good as the word of farmer, and with economic pressures to cheat, it’s not surprising to find cheaters.

If you are passing off one product as another, deliberately defrauding your buyers, you are running serious risks. It wont be the feds taking the farm. It will be Whole Foods' lawyers coming to recover the cost of pulling your product off shelves. And insurance doesn't cover fraud.

TFA goes into this. By the time it’s at Whole Foods it’s way too late to test for pesticides.

GMO is a different story. The fraudster in this story got caught early on co-mingling GMO with non-GMO.

Re: One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

#75
post #9

"There’s no proof that the meat [from animals fed from fraudulently marked "organic" produce] is any better for you, but some people believe it is and others have philosophical or environmental reasons for preferring it." Makes me wonder - who is the victim of this fraud?

The real victims are the people paying higher prices for 'conventional' produce and grains because farmers are chasing higher prices and lower yields for organics. This includes most of the developing world.

Re: One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

#76
post #71
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about beef but I can guarantee you that there's a ton of difference between the eggs produced by my parents' chicken (they raise them "organically", so to speak, i.e. they do subsistence agriculture) and the eggs that I can purchase from the supermarket closest to me. And the difference is in favour of my parents' chicken. The same discussion is valid for the chicken meat.

Two of my neighbors raise chickens. They both regularly drop off eggs as their supply exceeds demand. They are visually distinctive (they tend to be smaller than a supermarket “large egg” and dirtier for sure) but after cooking are entirely indistinguishable from the eggs at the store. Of course I’m very grateful for the eggs, but even they will admit it’s not for quality and quantity, but mostly a fun hobby and some…

It’s common for people to feed chickens the same basic diet as industrial chicken farmers do. Otherwise you need quite a bit more land per chicken. A good rule of thumb is unless their walking on grass they need feed.

Re: One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

#77

It is obvious to everyone that due to the economic advantages of cheating, there needs to be some kind of inspection and certification program. Not that everyone is a cheater, but there will be cheaters, and it will put pressure on the non-cheaters to cheat too. The same people who bitch about big government will strangle inspection programs via budget cuts, and then when something like this story comes out, use it a…

How do you inspect grain for "organic?" The label is meaningless and honestly this is kind of an intended side effect — charging people more for the same product. This guy just got even greedier than the original creators of the term and the government agreed was acceptable.

Re: One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

#78
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is typically no way to tell after the fact Consumer Reports (and others) did studies that showed non-organic food have lots more pesticide residue than organic food. That of course doesn't mean they are better for you or that they are tastier.

Gonna go out on a limb here and say that consuming more pesticides is bad for you.

It's fertilized with manure; eating fecal bacteria is bad for you, too. Wash your produce no matter where you get it from.

Re: One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

#79

Dark Grains...there you go Hollywood now go on and make a movie about it.

No, have a ridiculously handsome farmhand as an undercover agent, a hot daughter who is torn between loyalties, and a helicopter chase to stop the villain from escaping on his private jet.

"Field of Schemes" coming 2021 from Michael Bay.

Re: One of biggest frauds in U.S. farm history

#80
post #4

From the article: “They can test for GMO (genetically modified organisms) … but corn that’s not GMO, you can’t tell whether it’s been sprayed or not sprayed.” "Technically, you can, but you’re not likely to get a positive result unless the inspector hits it just right and collects a plant sample before the residues wash away." Yes. See this Forbes article. By the time it reaches retail, you can't tell.[1] Non-organic…

There is also no way to test your shoes to see if they were made by child labor... does that mean it is totally fine to not worry about the labor practices of companies making shoes? The appeal of organic is (at least in part) that it is better for the environment and the farm workers... that isn't something that shows up directly in the end product, because they are externalities. That doesn't mean it isn't importan…

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