$142,000,000 and 7 1/2 years

Hey Traditional Farmer--Get on your soapbox and tell us again all the rules, inspections and safeguards in your organic world!---Tee

Growing Organic is the biggest ripoff in a long time. Just like the ones that believe their electricity comes from a green energy source. It is produced and added to the system. You have no idea where it came from

big, I think you are blaming the wrong guys here. That's like blaming the depositors for the bank being robbed.

I agree there are frauds in every business.But who are the frauds and crooks?Its not the true organic farmers its guys that farm like you do and pass off their substandard products as organic.They should all get serious jail time.

These people were not growing organic they were ripoffs like the folks in China that ship 'Rolex' watches over here for $25.

"Guys that farm like you"--Tell me what that means---Tee

Use chemicals,don't have a clue or care what organic standards are etc.No problem unless the products are marketed as organic which apparently the guys in the article did then its criminal fraud.Now I'm assuming
you are not Organic Certified(LOL)

organic standards??? SEVEN AND ONE HALF YEARS--SAFEGUARDS--A JOKE---Tee

I'd say you are apparently right and so are many in the organic industry as now instead of trusting the usually incompetent gov't bureaucrats to enforce the standards there are private
groups now certifying farms as organic with a lot of testing and better records.Plus there needs to be stiffer penalties for fraud and abuses.Of course where there is money to be made
there will be people gaming the system.As many law as the SEC has about stocks look how long Bernie Madoff was able to defraud investors.
LIke was related in another post just because there are bank robbers doesn't mean the bank or depositers (customers) are at fault.

Tee,

Can you post a clearer copy of the news clipping? I'd like to circulate a copy.....but it's a bit blurry.

Thems fightin' words! This is gonna be interesting.,......lol.

Here is a link direct to the paper in ceder rapids
organic

John Dillinger didn't stand on a soap box at a street corner and preach about the merits of robbing a bank and running down everybody that doesn't rob them. HUH--sounds familiar!---Tee

You need to talk to your side they are the ones that did the crooked dealing.

And while we are on the subject of food honesty have a question? What are you GMO/Chemical growers doing about the fact there are weed killers like Roundup in things like
Oatmeal? Nothing? Don't Care? I'd think the least that could be done is to label Oatmeal like cigarettes with something like "Warning Contains the Weed Killer Roundup". Now that would be the right and honest thing to do.And if like you're going to say its still safe to eat then put the FACTS on the box and let consumers decide if they agree.

Not an organic thing, a greed thing. Here in Michigan you can claim your stuff is organic so long as you don't exceed 4K$ in sales. How the heck is anybody going to know? At least that's what they told us in a farming class I took at the local junior college ten years or so ago. Point is fraud occurs every where, not because of the industry we're talking about, but the people involved. We had a big fraud case involving the honey industry a while back. Chinese honey was not up to USDA standards so you weren't supposed to import it. They use a lot of pesticides and treatments that US bee keepers are ban from using (for good reason). So they just set up companies in other countries and shipped it through those countries as point of origin. Enough pollen particles remain in the honey that point of origin can be determined. Large fine for a honey processor over on the other side of the state by where Johnlobb lives. So new management makes changes that are even more hurdles for the honest guy. Eventually they raise the minimum pounds requirement to 3000# and a lot of us had to join a co-op or give it up. I'm in the latter category. In my experience the customer just wants to buy from somebody they can TRUST (a word that has been going out of fashion of late).

JD

(quoted from post at 09:13:48 12/30/18) And while we are on the subject of food honesty have a question? What are you GMO/Chemical growers doing about the fact there are weed killers like Roundup in things like
Oatmeal? Nothing? Don't Care? I'd think the least that could be done is to label Oatmeal like cigarettes with something like "Warning Contains the Weed Killer Roundup". Now that would be the right and honest thing to do.And if like you're going to say its still safe to eat then put the FACTS on the box and let consumers decide if they agree.

Click to expand...

I could not agree more.

That is why I'm a big advocate of buying food locally from growers you know and can go to their farm and see how things are done whether its organic or not.A lot of non certified organic
growers around that use no or very small amounts of chemicals.Plus the food is fresher and better.The more hands involved the more chance for fraud.

Roundup is safer to drink than the spit in your mouth after brushing your teeth, so if we are going to label, let's label according to danger.

I agree plenty of people out there willing to rip you off. There is a small farm down here that. Does truly organic farming. Did great for the first two years. Now he has shut down. Not enough sales to keep it going. He does grow for some friends. I buy when in season. But I think the organic craze is over.

Ya how is the consumer to know it
is truly organic? Just because it
is marked, sold or marketed as
organic means squat. I don't buy
anything organic.

I especially like the orange box in the upper pic. Lol

You are in a depressed economic area,the facts are the organic food industry is expanding at a pretty good rate.Organic poultry growers in VA/WV this past year paid $900,000 for slaughter plant and adding growers all the time.

Then you have no problems truthfully labeling oatmeal as containing Roundup.I'm sure it'll be a big selling point.(LOL)

Six Bales ..... it's blurry on purpose. Well probably not, but website graphs and charts can be made up by anybody, there are programs designed specifically for doing that. Not saying this one you refer to is a back alley publication, I'm just sayin' that anything you read on your computer screen is subject to scrutiny. Here's a program below that you can access as an example ....
Make your own data and stats .....

yep then you agree with Abe Lincoln I was reading just the other day where he'd warned folks not to believe everything they read on the net.(LOL)

As long as the labels on everything else reflect the proportional danger, then yes. I don't think it's fair to pick on a relatively benign chemical over others, especially when organic is more dangerous as said in the top pic. If you label organic as toxic, I'll agree to labeling oatmeal.

Guy down the road in CO follows an ?Organic Like? method on his small acreage farm. Follows all the standards applicable to his operation and sells local and at the farmers market with his Organic Like rating posted. He has the road in front of his property posted No Spraying but 2 yrs ago the county sprayed a herbicide down his property line that drifted onto his property and killed a bunch of stuff . No recourse, doing some reclamation to remedy the situation.

I have a couple of local corn n bean guys who have jumped on the organic train. They make it look easy. I sit and watch them harvest a conventional field this morning, then by night time they are in their weedy organic field with the same combine and cart, loading the same trucks. If they are not making much profit in the conventional field, you don't think its possible they are dumping a bin or two from this field into the truck parked at the organic field that pays better? Both these guys are known to be shady. Money makes people do dishonest things. Now that organic is big business and conventional isn't doing well, more and more people will try to cheat to make a buck. I don't think the little MOM and Dad organic farmers raising some vegetables and some back yard hogs or chickens are trying to cheat anyone. Al

(quoted from post at 09:07:49 12/30/18) You need to talk to your side they are the ones that did the crooked dealing.

Click to expand...

But it looks to me that someone who went to all the cost and trouble to have himself and his company certified organic who pulled the dirty deals.

I had a big bowl of Roundup and milk this morning.

Yup, Abe never told a lie so I have to believe him.

Nothing depressed around here. We have large chicken farms all over the place. I just don't think people want organic as much as they claim.

There are two large 100% grocery stores in my area plus a couple more that are heavy into organic items I guess different areas are different

Local Farmers Markets, Organics and Niche Farms are what's happening in this country now. Corporation farms are on their way out for a lot of different reasons. Food can come from other countries cheaper....

He needs a better lawyer.

I not saying they were saints-I just saying your posts the last year would flame anybody that argued with you and you would preach to us about all the safeguards of the organic product. Seven and 1/2 years of fraud proves you and your organic fruitcakes can not self regulate themselves!---Tee

Certainly not in my part of the country, bigger and better, food for America..

Billy I travel the US and from what TF says it must be a niche bunch of hippies right around his part of the country. He swears Organic is the thing up there. Nation wide I just do not see it or as anything seems to have already peaked in most parts. First of all the whole thing of what is organic has never been settled and most folks are satisfied with the food American farmers are providing.. Yes there are these folks that say they lover grass fed beef but most folks prefer grain finished beef. I will never doubt that maybe there is a trace of Roundup in corn we grow, I do not know , but I know the whisky makers have never mentioned non GMO. Glad I am of the age about ready to get out of it but I think the American farmer is doing a pretty good job of feeding this nation. If a many want to buy hippie food , fine for him if he can afford it but just don,t tell me how sorry I am for raising GMO crops.

It?s all the same food.

Some folk are trying to get a premium price for it. To extend their premium price, they can run down what other people do, and or they can fudge their methods of operation.

And in the end, the customer gets the same food.

It?s really nice when folk have the opertunity and wealth to go to a farm or farmers market and buy their food from ?the farmer? more directly, more fresh. That?s cool. Not that it matters if it?s organic or conventional products. Cut out the middle man.

The silly labels some try to build up and gloat over are all just pie in the sky. Wholesome, less processed, fresh all of that means something. Organic Doesnt mean anything worthwhile.

I enjoy the farmers markets, I look for the sellers that don?t emphasize organic on their stands. The more they try to blow horn on that issue, the less they spent on really producing something good, it?s all just marketing and making money to the real big organic pushers. IMHO.

Paul

Ask my vet about the organic dairy farms they have for clients.

JM I admit the organic food to me does taste better. So I buy some from the local guy. But as I said people stopped buying from him. So he shut down. I can think of some others that shut down. The local bee keeper has even shut down sales. Except to a few locals. Our major grocery store chains had organic sections. But all of them have been replaced but the regular food. It may be doing fine where TF is at. But not in this part of the country. Where I live you can't give the stuff away

Good to know. Sadly, I see a lot of farms around me going out of business for various reasons....

I see stuff sprayed in the evening and picked the next morning. Small farm or big farm, the only one I don't see in the field the next day is the Farmer....

In Indiana we have many mega sized operations, dairy, hogs, egg production. Recently a turkey hatchery.

So by your (il)logic if some Fly By Night company were to make some substandard JD tractor parts and labeled them Genuine John Deere parts and sold them for several years,that
John Deere and the customers that bought the parts would be at fault for the parts being on the market not the crooks that made and sold the parts? Odd way to look at things to say the least.

Jon. Can you post a link to those charts. I'd like to print them off and post them on the shed wall.

Huh? Let's stick to the subject at hand-Organic fraud and your logic that the government can't control it so it will be self-regulating-like you have been bragging about from your soap for box the last year. That's B.S. and you know it.---Tee

I sell round up ready sweet corn and people buy all I can grow!

(quoted from post at 19:42:38 12/30/18) I sell round up ready sweet corn and people buy all I can grow!

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I buy sweet corn all the time from farmers markets - I don’t think I’ve noticed one way or the other if it’s organic. Not really an issue to me.

I would agree that in general it’s best to get the government out of our business, but in the case of organic, how can the private sector be trusted to accurately label and monitor organic? What’s stopping big farms from selling corn as “organic” just to boost sales, when no one is there to stop them? I think the big farms might have an incentive to all push organic products and go by a system whereby they won’t try to enforce regulations too strictly. I don’t know nearly as much on this topic as you guys, but that’s my opinion.

Here is a link to an article. But just Google "Roundup toxicity chart and click on image.

Here's the link
Link

The US Gov't is 100% involved they set the standards and only they can enforce the standards the organic producers and customers have no say in it.The only thing an individual can do
is to report violators to the gov't whether anything is done who knows.That is why private certifying services are being set up because consumers do not trust what the gov't is doing.

Shows what little you know the US gov't is the one responsible for enforcing the standards,no one else has any enforcement powers.

Your Funny!

(quoted from post at 18:32:56 12/30/18) Your Funny!

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Are you fellas sure that you’re not a bunch of wannabe 12 year olds?

(quoted from post at 20:46:51 12/30/18 )

(quoted from post at 18:32:56 12/30/18 ) Your Funny!

Click to expand...

Are you fellas sure that you’re not a bunch of 12 year old girls?

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i fixed your statement rocky

Now, if the power company would shut off the meters to all the house that signed up for green energy when the sun goes down and the wind isn't blowing, I'd be happy.
I really like that people are signing up for the green energy and paying more. it means I pay less.

"What’s stopping big farms from selling corn as “organic” just to boost sales,"
As someone who does some custom organic farming for a neighbor I can answer that. I haul this guys organic corn and beans to Sun-opta elevator in Hope Mn. Every load is tested at
elevator for non-organic contamination. I don't know how they do it but they have a bunch of machines that they run samples through. There is a very small percent of contamination
that is acceptable. I clean my combine and truck out very thorough and then flush the combine with first 20 bushels of organic crop. That is brought home where I feed it to my pigs
and chickens. Still my first load of organics dumped has some contamination but is acceptable. Each load after that the contamination is less, which makes sense. Been doing it for
him for 7 years and have not had a load rejected yet but have been there when another guy had a load rejected. I suppose you could argue that Sun-opta and the producers have a scam
going but that is quit a conspiracy theory and I just don't buy it.
For those of you who say there is no difference in the food, I have to disagree with you too. Those testing machines are measuring something and detecting a difference. I am not
saying one is better then the other but there is a difference.

I don' bother with Organic. I figure that by now I've ingested so many chemicals that it would be pointless. All the stuff I inhaled as a kid is likely still in my tissues and organs waiting for the moment it will burst forth as cancer. Oh well, We all get to die from something. So far, life has had only two known survivors.

What's funny you follow this story it'll be like bank or securities fraud.Hopefully they will get some serious jail time.

My sister in law used to say the very same thing 'Gotta die from something' when my wife and her parents would say something to her about drug use,heavy drinking and cigarettes.
Once she was diagnosed with a destroyed liver and other problems given a couple months to live at age 52 never heard her say it again.

if you're honest and tell people what it is than great they can make their choice still a whole lot better than buying at a grocery store.I'm for local grown food of all types and direct sales
farmers to consumers.Customers get to choose and know what they are getting.

Local Farmers Markets, Organics and Niche Farms are what's happening in this country now. Corporation farms are on their way out for a lot of different reasons. Food can come from other countries cheaper....

-----------------------------------------------------


Just curious - what country do you live in?

I didn't say the story was funny-I said you were funny---Tee

There were comments made speculating that organic food sales are declining. This could be true on a local basis, but it is not true on a national or global level. Organic Food Sales are growing 6-8% annually in the US, while conventional food sales grow at 1/2 to 1% annual rate. I have plenty of questions about organic food, and am not on the organic bandwagon, but the growth trend is hard to argue with. In financial investing, there is a saying "The trend is your friend". There is plenty of room for conventional farmers to take advantage of this trend, including a dual organic/non organic approach, based on your land, resources, and proximity to markets. See a 2017 USA today article below.




Organic food is pricier, but shoppers crave it

ZLATI MEYER??USA TODAY

Updated 8:47 a.m. EDT July 27, 2017


Organic food going mainstream

After an 8.4% sales increase from the previous year and Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, it looks like organic food is growing into a normal part of American life.

VIDEO BY HENRY TAYLOR

Organic food sales are setting records as?more mainstream Americans fill their shopping carts with everything from eggs to gummy fruit snacks.

PAID STORY FROM DISCOVER

How a local would spend $88 exploring Minneapolis

Having shed its hippy-dippy image, organic food is among the faster-growing categories in supermarkets even though it adds to food bills and studies vary when it comes to perceived health benefits.

Producer of organic nectarines examines the ripeness of the nectarines at his field in Saint-Genis des Fontaines??

RAYMOND ROIG, AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Organic?food producers, which now includes giants such as?General Mills, are capturing more consumers such as?business coach?Patty Lennon of Brookfield, Conn.

"It?s produced in a?healthier way, without pesticides, without any bad things that contaminate the growth of the food and the growth of my kids," the 45-year-old mother of two said. "As?my kids grow up, I?want to know I?ve done everything I could to put the right things in their bodies."

Sure, organic costs more. Lennon estimates the?$450 she spends on groceries weekly?would drop to $275 or $300?if she bought the usual non-organic products.?"I have the luxury of being able to afford it," she said..

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In 2016, sales of organic food was at an all-time high of $43 billion, according to the Organic Trade Association.??

EILEEN BLASS, USAT

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There are millions of other shoppers like her.

Sales of organic food hit a record $43 billion last year, up 8.4% from the previous year, according to the Organic Trade Association, based in Washington, D.C.. Compare that to the 0.6% growth rate in the overall food category. But they still have a long way to go: Overall, organic food now represents 5.3% of total retail food sales in the U.S.

Interest in organic products is booming not only due to a more conscientious consumer, but also thanks to rising incomes in a strong economy and improved farming practices that make organic yields more robust. The demand for organic extends from supermarket aisles to the multitude of farmers markets that have sprung up.

Organic's rising importance was underscored by Amazon's offer last month to buy?Whole Foods Market, the upscale grocery chain known for its expansive produce?selection, for $13.7 billion.

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"There's an increasing awareness of organic products," said?Rupesh Parikh, investment bank Oppenheimer's senior analyst for food, grocery and consumer products, who predicts continued double-digit annual growth. "Consumers are really looking more into what they?re eating."

The most popular organic items are fruits and vegetables, which account for close to 40% of all organic food sales, the?Organic Trade Association found. Organic produce sales grew at more than twice the rate of total fruit and vegetable sales.?Almost 15% of veggies and fruit consumed in the U.S. is now organic.

With consumers' desire for more nutritious, less chemically-laden food comes a willingness to pay more. Some 44% of shoppers would pay an additional 20% or more for organic fresh vegetables, and 37% are willing to hand over that much more cash for organic poultry, found a study by the Hartman Group, a food and beverage research firm in Bellevue, Wash.

No wonder large food companies are diversifying their portfolios to include organic products.

"Finally, the conventional food and beverage industry has woken up and said, 'Why, this isn?t niche anymore . It?s eating into my share,' " Hartman Group senior vice president Shelley Balanko?said.

Campbell Soup?has the Plum Organics baby food line and Bolthouse Farms salad dressings and juices. Coca-Cola has organic?Honest Tea. Hormel's lineup includes organic meats label Applegate Farms.?

General Mills'?organic-only portfolio has grown more than 350% over the past five?years. Natural and organic sales were $1 billion?this year, growing at a double-digit clip since 2000 when the Minneapolis-based cereal maker?first ventured into organic with the purchase of Small Planet Foods, which produces a variety of organic foods, from ketchup to granola bars. In 2014, General Mills acquired Annie's, which features fruit snacks, cereal,?cookies and more.

"As the food values consumers are looking for have shifted, we always try to be responsive," said Carla Vernon, General Mills' vice president of the natural and organics portfolio.

The growing popularity of organic food has opened the door to price cutters.

The Sprouts Farmers Market chain, for instance, has become an organic alternative to Whole Foods. And?mainstream supermarket giants, such as Cincinnati-based Kroger, which operates a variety of chains around the nation, are dedicating more floor and shelf space to organic products.

With that customer migration from traditional groceries to organic goods will come?lower prices for shoppers. Organic's profit margins are generally higher than on conventional groceries.

"When a product is available at more retailers, it puts pressure on gross margins and profitability," Parikh?said. "There?s more available,?so supply chain has an



Follow USA TODAY reporter Zlati Meyer on Twitter: @ZlatiMeyer

Originally Published 4:37 a.m. EDT July 27, 2017


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