BT Monsanto vs. Organic non GMO

jwal10 · #21 10/20/11, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by salmonslayer

I am certainly no expert but the color and uniformity arent what I see in my various organic corn patches. I am really just guessing as its hard to tell from such a small sample and I am not really sure you could actually tell from pictures like this. It will be interesting to see what the OP says at the end of the day.

The right is less unform but doesn't mean anything if just a grab sample. True, thanks....James

jwal10 · #22 10/20/11, 05:41 PM

If you take the center ear on the right and the 1st ear on the left, they look a lot alike except color and maturity. Same tip (damage). I am more worried by what else has been modified, ie; GMO, round up ready and more than the BT part....James

Fat Charlie · #23 10/20/11, 05:51 PM

Um, it's a trick question and they're just different varieties of natural corn?

tinknal · #24 10/20/11, 06:41 PM

Marc, I'm curious. Do you know how many tractor trips over the fields were made for the Bt corn and the organic corn?

FarmerJoe · #25 10/20/11, 07:11 PM

"You may or may not taste any difference"

Put the ears out for the squirrels, mice and crows and they'll eat the organic first. They can tell.

springvalley · #26 10/20/11, 07:24 PM

Tink my good man, there were five trips over the field for the organic and four maybe five for the conventional, if you count spraying. And it will take one more for harvest, on either field. I have thought about taking this sample down to the lab at a feed manufactureing plant and have them run a protein count on it, but need to see what it will cost first. Have a niece that works there, so it might cost double. hehe. I havn`t noticed many deer in the organic field yet, but there is plenty of green here yet to eat. Will give the results of this test at 7 pm my time. > Thanks Marc

Lazy J · #27 10/20/11, 07:53 PM

What is the population of each field, that is the other key to yield per acre.

Waiting Falcon · #28 10/20/11, 08:16 PM

Monsanto on the right- heavier oil makes fuller kernels

organic on the left- rows are not straight , have the dent
from properly drying corn

springvalley · #29 10/20/11, 08:29 PM

Well here is the answer, most of you guessed right, organic on right, Monsanto on left. I didn`t even do a moisture test yet, but the organic corn three ears weighed 1.4 lbs and Monsanto was 1.7 lbs for the three ears. The organic corn had on average 16 rows of kernels around the cob and Monsanto was 18 rows. And I have no idea right this minute what the population on my neighbors field is, but mine is around 23,000 kernels per acre. This was not a yield contest, moisture lower contest, this was just for fun to see what you all think Monsanto corn looks like. And no you can`t tell by looking at it, and I may do the protien test on if I can. Now we will go back to our regularly scheduled program, this was just a test. Any questions just ask > Thanks Marc

arabian knight · #30 10/20/11, 11:26 PM

Well just by the looks i would pick the corn on the Left to eat. To Feed to critters whatever. So this test just shows you get MORE corn per ear from what people consider a not so good company. Is THIS REALLY what you wanted to show???? That Monsanto was Better then Organic i yield, and full filled out ears ?? I hope that is what most will get out of this comparison. LOL

stormwalker · #31 10/20/11, 11:41 PM

What a joke!

springvalley · #32 10/21/11, 12:21 AM

You can get out of this what you want, I grow organic for my livestock and myself. I feel no need to add anymore risks to my health than I have to have. I`m not telling anyone you have to grow organic corn or beans or gum drops. I do what I do for me and my family and my land. The day will come when those of you that say it don`t matter, find it may have mattered. They are already finding out that bugs are getting resistance to the bt corn, so then what something stronger, Maybe. I know we have got to feed a growing world population, and chemicals do and are growing more corn. But I`m not going to do it here, I will keep doing what I do and hope to get better at it. Anyone can grow crops with chemicals, not everyone can grow organics. > Thanks Marc

stormwalker · #33 10/21/11, 12:36 AM

Springvalley- When I posted "What a joke!"
I was thinking of the statement -bigger is better!
That is nonsense!

NickieL · #34 10/21/11, 12:50 AM

I'd rather eat organic bugs then monosanto any day.

springvalley · #35 10/21/11, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormwalker

Springvalley- When I posted "What a joke!"
I was thinking of the statement -bigger is better!
That is nonsense!

Thank You, I didn`t understand your statement. > Marc

Fat Charlie · #36 10/21/11, 09:06 AM

Kernel count is one thing, but the kernels on the organic just look so much better it's silly.

Horseyrider · #37 10/21/11, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by springvalley

You can get out of this what you want, I grow organic for my livestock and myself. I feel no need to add anymore risks to my health than I have to have. I`m not telling anyone you have to grow organic corn or beans or gum drops. I do what I do for me and my family and my land. The day will come when those of you that say it don`t matter, find it may have mattered. They are already finding out that bugs are getting resistance to the bt corn, so then what something stronger, Maybe. I know we have got to feed a growing world population, and chemicals do and are growing more corn. But I`m not going to do it here, I will keep doing what I do and hope to get better at it. Anyone can grow crops with chemicals, not everyone can grow organics. > Thanks Marc

Marc, I applaud your efforts. I know it's an uphill battle sometimes when everyone around us is locked in to the agribiz dance. I've been an organic gardener for 35 years, and the defensiveness and ignorance on the part of my neighbors surprises me. I remember once a neighbor told me that field crops could not be grown organically. My mouth dropped open but I made sure nothing came out. What does he think people ate before Monsanto?

Still, he only knows what he knows.

I see you live in Illinois. There have already been resistance problems to the Roundup Ready beans in Illinois with lambsquarters and velvetleaf.

AverageJo · #38 10/21/11, 10:59 AM

When I saw these ears, I had no clue as to which was which but chose the darker kernels as the organic. It's been my experience that organically grown items have a lot more color to them. From our tomatoes to our eggs the free range chickens lay. Definitely NOT scientific by any means.

What I 'got' from this experiment is that Springvalley seems to be able to grow large, beautifully formed ears of corn without using chemicals, pesticides, or genetically modified corn. The other surprise for me was that it only took one more trip across the field? I thought 'commercial' corn was simply disked, planted, sprayed and harvested. I figured organic would be many more trips across the fields.

So for a bit more work and perhaps a slighly less yield per acre, I'd rather have the organic feed for our animals and food for our own tables. I'd be interested to know if Springvalley will leave these ears out and see which one gets eaten first as I've heard of farmers that had bad mouse problems eating on their organic corn that put down a barrier such as cardboard or sheets or whatever and then cover their organic corn with 2 inches of commercial corn and the critters pretty much leave it alone! Might be a fish story, too.

chester5731 · #39 10/21/11, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arabian knight

Well just by the looks i would pick the corn on the Left to eat. To Feed to critters whatever. So this test just shows you get MORE corn per ear from what people consider a not so good company. Is THIS REALLY what you wanted to show???? That Monsanto was Better then Organic i yield, and full filled out ears ?? I hope that is what most will get out of this comparison. LOL

I grow open pollinated corn because I go for quality not quantity.

salmonslayer · #40 10/21/11, 11:36 AM

Interesting thread Marc and I have a couple questions. Did I understand that you grow organic across a road from a Monsanto crop? If so do you ever get any cross pollination? I know the pollen is large in corn but we get high winds here and I was wondering if thats a concern of yours.

We grow several patches of organic heirloom corn and though we got a good crop this year, the drought really lowered what we could have gotten. Some varieties, particularly the shoepeg corn really underperformed and the horn worms were atrocious this year and the BT we applied didnt seem to deter them much. Any tips? Right now we just break off the bad ends and everything is fine but some of them went in through the side this year and ruined the whole ear.