“It used to be, the old saying was, ‘Don’t panic, it’s organic’, which means that you could get away with a certain amount of blemishes or defects…but not now. Your organic standards almost mirror the standard for conventional product now.”
Food. It’s pretty important, ya know? There’s the whole entire ‘don’t eat it and you’ll die’ thing, but for most of us food is so much more than just death prevention. It’s our means to feeling good physically. It’s our means to feeling comforted mentally. The invention of agriculture was our main reason for coming together in large scale societies. Pretty important stuff. It’s no surprise then that we’re always trying to think of ways to make it better. Currently, better means organic. Today we speak to a large scale organic farm manager, Doug Kaba, to get his perspective on what better means, and learn more about the farm side of the farm to table movement.
“You’re only going to get out of this land what you put into this land, basically, you reap what you sow. There’s no way to grow successfully if you’re abusing the land that you’re growing on.”
“That would mean that we would have 4,400 individual tests on all of the product that we produce every year.”
Interview Contents
2:30 - The size and set-up of Doug’s operation.
4:45 - The climate sensitivity for crops.
7:15 - Trying to fight against mold, mildew, and pesticides while farming organic.
9:15 - Organic standards.
12:00 - Organic sustainability.
15:30 - The nutritional impact of eating organic.
17:00 - Organic vs. traditional.
21:00 - Mildew.
24:45 - Biodiversity and rotating crops.
26:30 - Taking care of the land.
29:30 - Food safety.
33:15 - Organic vs conventional farming expenses.
36:30 - Doug’s job.
38:30 - Inspections and surveys.
42:15 - The climate sensitivity for crops.
46:00 - The yearly schedule.
51:15 - Advice for the home gardener.
Links
No Links today.
THIS EPISODE WAS MADE WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Roxanna
Michelle & Jim Wortner
Janelle Swanson
Jimmy Seymour
