Orgainc Food and Farms Run on Cow Poop

[erpowers]

I watched an episode of "Taste of America", which is a show that plays on the Travel channel, in which the host travels across America tasting samples of food made in different cities. On today's episode the host went to an organic milk farm in order to see how the farms milk was made. While at the farm the host learned that the farm was run by Cow Poop. In discussions about giant farms like the Monsanto plant/farm I have heard people complain about how their is a great stench due to the large amount of poop kept at the grounds and problems with poop shooting up into the air. I am just wondering are farms that use poop to run their farms considered a problem also. I noticed that at the farm run by poop there was a moderate sized pool of poop that was covered. How do people feel about that and is it considered to be the same as places like Monsanto.


On another note do people here support legislation that would make it mandatory to produce all food made in America in an organic way?

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Cow poop and sheep poop are natural fertilizers...much preferable to chemicals.

Any animal that does not eat meat can be a source for fertilizer. They sell ZOO-do at some zoos..for fertilizer. Elephant poo is excellent fertilizer.
If there is so much poop laying around that it is a problem, then it must be a huge, corporate, agribusiness farm, not one that is run by a family or such.

I prefer poop to chemicals as fertilizer.

The places where cow poop can be a problem to the environment are the corporate, agribusiness beef raisers.

[kestrel91316]

2. The covered pond of poop holds the odors in. The cause of the odor

is methane gas, which gets trapped under the cover and burned to generate electricity.

It's called biogas generation, and IMHO should be REQUIRED of all farms that have more than X number of cows on X number of acres.

[Robbien]

3. The environmental problem with poop is methane gas

Many small farmers are capturing the methane gas by using covered poop ponds. So that's good for the environment.

The only real legislation we need is to stop all the welfare we give to factory farms in the Farm Subsidy bill. Factory Farms are the main culprit of environmental damage. Whether a farm is organic or not is not a huge issue IMO.

[hedgehog]

4. The problem isn't cow poop, the problem is density .

In the old days, a farmer grazed cattle and their plops fertilized the pasture. Durin gthe winter, the cows were fed corn and hay raised on that farm. In the spring, the collected manure went back onto that same farm. Crop rotation was also involved.

Now, cows and pigs are collected in large populations and fed corn and grain raised on other farms. THe poop, which represents the end product from thousands of acres, is sprayed on a few hundred.


I live on 60 acres and have a septic system that occupies about 5 acres. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone in New York City had overlapping septic systems within the city? Same thing.


BTW - about encouraging organic farming:

Obama traveled to an eastern Iowa farm to outline his plan, parts of which have been offered before. His proposal included:

_ A $250,000 limit on subsidy payments to farmers as well as strict environmental rules and enforcement for large livestock operations. He would also put strict limits on the size of operations eligible for assistance in cleaning pollution, "so the largest polluters have to pay for their own environmental cleanup."

_ Creation of new cost-sharing programs to help farmers get certification as organic farmers, and revamping crop insurance programs to avoid penalizing organic producers.

http://www.barackobama.com/2007/10/16/obama_outlines_policies_for_ru.php

[katmondoo]

5. The best garden I ever had was when you could still buy

dried cow manure. I don't remember when it was no longer available but my garden was never as good after.

[kestrel91316]

6. Our nurseries here in SoCal still sell composted steer manure in bags

and it's real good, cheap garden fertilizer.

[damntexdem]

7. Cow poop happens. And it is good fertilizer.

And where would politics be were it not for the stuff from the bulls? ;-)

[ThomWV]

8. If it wasn't for cow shit I wouldn't have any gardens at all

We grow a lot of our own vegetables in a series of gardens around the house. Soils are poor here in the eastern mountains of West Virginia, very poor indeed. I built up our gardens in just a few short years by adding cow manure to the tune of 10~12 tuck loads per year. Put it down and till it in. The place where I sort of buy it (no cost for the manure but they charge you $10 per truck load if you want them to load it - which I do) composts it for a year before it becomes available so its pretty nice shit to start with. It only gets better over time. In a place like this where gardens are carved out of hillsides the rocky soils, such as they are, are very acidic composted manure is a godsend.

[Javaman]

9. Pfft! nothing new, the white house has been running on bullshit for almost 7 years now. nt