non-organic vegetable delivery

[Y_I_Otter]

To a degree, yes. I suppose it's different depending on one's jurisdiction, but the cost to have a farm certified where I live is a few hundred dollars per annum. This is negligable in comparison to the dollars pumped into chemical-free weed and pest management, not to mention that it's far more labour-intensive, which means higher wage costs.

The premium paid to the farmer is typically 15-30% for organic at the wholesale level and yet the retail price can often be double that charged for the same produce grown non-organically. The moral of this is to buy directly from the farmer whenever possible. Almost all of us welcome farm-gate cash sales.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

To a degree, yes. I suppose it's different depending on one's jurisdiction, but the cost to have a farm certified where I live is a few hundred dollars per annum. This is negligable in comparison to the dollars pumped into chemical-free weed and pest management, not to mention that it's far more labour-intensive, which means higher wage costs.

The premium paid to the farmer is typically 15-30% for organic at the wholesale level and yet the retail price can often be double that charged for the same produce grown non-organically. The moral of this is to buy directly from the farmer whenever possible. Almost all of us welcome farm-gate cash sales.

The expense incurred in getting certified isn't so much in the direct cost though, it's in the time you have to be farming in a way that will get you an organic (ie lower) yield but not getting any premium because you aren't certified. It's a big barrier to entry to the organic market, and if some sort of middle ground could be found it would have to help.

Buying direct from farmers is a good idea for vegetables, but not so useful for wheat, barley etc unless you've got your own mill.

 

[Y_I_Otter]

I wouldn't say that farming organically necessarily results in a reduced yield. The very fact that you're out there scuffling a couple of times a week, which improves soil aeration, water retention and availability of nutrients, actually increases yield and quality in most instances. For the few years we grew garlic using both methods our organic fields always yielded far better than the field that got less personal attention.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I wouldn't say that farming organically necessarily results in a reduced yield. The very fact that you're out there scuffling a couple of times a week, which improves soil aeration, water retention and availability of nutrients, actually increases yield and quality in most instances. For the few years we grew garlic using both methods our organic fields always yielded far better than the field that got less personal attention.

Could well be the case for some things, like garlic. I only know this stuff from my Dad who grows mostly wheat, barley and oil seed rape and for crops like that the yield is definitely lower, from the stuff he looked into.

 

[Funky_monks]

Could well be the case for some things, like garlic. I only know this stuff from my Dad who grows mostly wheat, barley and oil seed rape and for crops like that the yield is definitely lower, from the stuff he looked into.

Course it is!

That is, in part why organic is more expensive.

And last I looked, Soil Association Organic certification was a fixed cost of about £400 p/a. Which makes absolutley no economic sense if you are a very small producer, (A market gardener, say) but loads of sense if you run a large agricultural concern.

 

[baldrick]

Interesting thread.

I'd much rather buy non-organic local veg than a box of organic veg of unknown provenance. the farmer's market round here is ok, but not regular enough and i live and work miles away from both that market and the ordinary veg markets.