Great Bend Tribune
Published June 24, 2023
The drought monitor report as of Tuesday, June 20 indicates drought is still in extreme drought.听 Overall, conditions are unchanged from last week.听 The six to ten-day outlook (June 27 to July 1) indicates leaning to a 40 to 50% chance of leaning to above normal temperatures and a 33 to 40% chance of leaning to above normal precipitation.听 The eight to fourteen-day outlook (June 29 to July 5) indicates a continued 33 to 50% chance of leaning to above normal temperatures and a 33 to 40% chance of above normal precipitation.听 While the extreme drought is still present, continued above normal chances for precipitation should keep summer row crops and forages going as long as the area can avoid long periods of extreme heat.听 Certainly, much better than the last two summers.
Today, with the calendar about to hit July and not much of a wheat harvest to consider, let鈥檚 discuss organic food.听 This isn鈥檛 to say good or bad, right or wrong, but what is 鈥渙rganic鈥 in the market place.听 Keep in mind, that economists basically say consumers have preferences and want what they want.听 They won鈥檛 purchase what they don鈥檛 want, no matter how good the product might be.听 Finally, before starting, the real definition of organic is simply carbon containing compounds.听 So basically, all the food produced is 鈥渙rganic.鈥澨 Here, we are dealing with organic food in the marketplace.听 What is 鈥渙rganic鈥 food?
- In agriculture, producing organic products certified organic is fairly specific.听 There are standards meet and maintained as stipulated by the Federal Government.听 For instance, no GMO crops, types of pest control and production methods, and so on.听 You keep records and are inspected.听 You may then market your production as certified organic.听 This is useful not only within the country, but in certain export situations.听 One example, though not certified organic, is GMO grain.听 Some countries or groups such as the EU prohibit the import of certain GMO crops.
- For the consumer, organic is a nebulous label for those truly trying to eat certified organic crops, either at home or in restaurants.听 Sometimes the label is a bit misleading.听 A classic example is non-GMO salt.听 It鈥檚 not possible to genetically modify table salt.听 If, as a consumer, you are trying to strictly eat organic products it鈥檚 not as easy as reading a label.听 Without going into all the details, different products have various wording regarding organic.听 It may sound odd as you would think something is certified organic or not, but there are 鈥渓evels鈥 of organic and you are supposed to be able to read the label and tell.
- Finally, some people aren鈥檛 trying to eat totally organically but are concerned about antibiotics and hormones in their meat and poultry for example.听 Understand that to be in the meat/poultry case there are strict rules regarding antibiotics being present in the product.听 Not that no antibiotics were ever used but the product is antibiotic free.听 This is used by several restaurants in advertising and is a tad misleading.
Please understand that no matter what you choose to eat, we have the safest food system we have ever had.
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