[compost_tea] Re: Information gold mine

From: Steve Diver <steved_at_ncat.org>
Date: Sun, 05 Sep 2004 22:49:29 -0000
John Day -

That was an interesting first-hand observation
of organic food quality and "shelf life."

Increased shelf life is a common observation
in organic farming and eco-farming.

The common statement in eco-farming is that
good quality produce will dry down and wrinkle
while commercially fertilized produce will tend
to rot. 

See:

Engelken, Ralph and Rita Engelken. 1981. The Art of
Natural Farming & Gardening. Barrington Hall Press,
Greeley, IA. 208 p.

It has the classic photo of ears of corn from
different farms placed inside canning jars with
the lids sealed. The photo was taken sometime later,
and the condition of the corn ears remains intact
years later. 

The photo tells a story of farming system
effect on food quality.

The eco-farming corn has dried down.  The corn
ears are visible and look like dried corn.

The commercially fertilized corn has rotten
and become moldy; black spores fill the jar.

There are several research studies that
demonstrate a similar observation regarding
increased shelf life of organically grown
food.  

Dr. Alberta Velimirov's research on organic food
quality at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for
Biological Agriculture and Applied Ecology in
Austria has data and images on differences in
food "dry matter loss" and the "self decomposition
test." 
http://www.geocities.com/bioqualitaet/ 

See this paper in English:

Integrative Methods of Product Quality Assessment
in Connection with the P-Value Determination
(3 examples: food preference test, sensory evaluation
and self decomposition test)
http://www.geocities.com/bioqualitaet/pdf/Qualitytestintegration.pdf

These differences can largely be explained by
excessive nutrients (expecially nitrogen), by
soluble nutrients, by nutrients from acidic
fertilizers, an by nutrients supplied out
of balance. 

I'm not sure that wrinkling vs rotting of food
is exactly related to what you observed, but it
might provide a helpful underlying explanation.

Fyi, I use the term eco-farming to denote
the fertility management systems of William
Albrecht, Carey Reams and Phil Callahan. 
Essentially eco-farming is based on the three
pillars of humus management, mineral balancing,
and energetics. 

Soil biota and soil foodweb are directly related
to humus management.

Rita Engelken's farm followed the fertility management
practices of William Albrecht and the organic farming
methods of the 1970s and 80s.

Regards,

Steve Diver


--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, "jurval" <jurval@e...> wrote:

> Thank you Steve for digging out that information.   Over the years
> I'm finding that information from research done prior to 1952 or so
> is once again becoming very valuable as the agriculture industry
> begins to question the chemical and fertilizer companies and all
the
> research that has been paid for by state/province and Federal
> government departments.   Our fathers had some different ideas but
> when weed sprays and fertilizers came along they could not resist
> trying to keep up with the pack.
> Information like you have found is fundamental to building an
> understanding of how Mother Nature works.   I don't often post so
> bear with me for a couple of lines.
> We're organic certified and have been for about 10 years.   My
second
> son grows veggies to help pay his way to University.   Last fall on
> Sept. 12 at 6:00pm the temp. was -4 C.  The temperature dropped all
> night and in the morning at 9:00am it was still - 8 C.  I count 15
> hours were the average temperature was - 7 C.  His winter squash
were
> frozen pretty much solid except where they laid on the ground. 
> Everything in sight was frozen solid.  They were left in the field
&
> I told him there was absolutely no point in picking.  We had cut
> several of them open, spagetti, acorn, kabocha and a few others,
all
> frozen hard.   He came home on the weekend, about 3 days later, we
> picked the squash on the Saturday held it for 2 weeks before
starting
> to ship it.   We ate one of the Kabocha squash in July over 300
days
> after this frozen squash had been picked.
> WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?
>
> John Day


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Received on Sun Sep 05 2004 - 19:40:15 EDT

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