You're spot on. Mr Philpott's 90% figure (for corn) appears low. According to the original, unedited version of the report you cited:

While Mr Philpott may or may not have been off by a few percentage points in his estimate of the percentage of US corn treated with neonicotinoids (freaking Mother Jones, always taking the side of big corporations). His claim about the limited availability of non-treated seeds came from something called the Pesticide Action Network and appears strictly anecdotal, so maybe not ding him too harshly for reporting PAN's claim.

Nope. Did not say it was you, I don't know your situation. From your description, I would not say you were anti-GMO at all, rather pro-GMO. I would only point out how far modified the all corn you grow is, using several methods. I also make use of many of the improvements research has developed, and see them as necessary for long-term profitability of farmers everywhere. And yet, despite the absolute best practices, most favorable weather and perfect timing, there may be no profits this year in many parts of agriculture, due to actions totally out of our control.

Do you find it impossible to find non-treated seed corn? Asking for a friend.

well, depends on whether or not one voted for






one thing Trump has been consistent on, and was open-to-bellicose about during his campaign, is protectionist trade policies, old school, pre-Adam Smith Mercantilism even: "Trump’s rhetoric paints a view of a world in which there is a finite amount of wealth and one succeeds only by taking from someone else***." Maybe Trump's background in local real estate development--which obviously the amount of available Manhattan real estate is seriously circumscribed--inspires Trump's out-of-step-with-the-last-200-years-of-economics views on trade.



***https://www.realclearworld.com/articles/2016/09/23/the_mercantilism_of_donald_trump_112059.html

I find it easy on “conventional” corn to find untreated as with my rotations and livestock I’m usually not planting into cold earth (This year... good lord”). On round up ready stuff I can’t say I’ve ever looked for untreated but I’m not in charge of that seed. I imagine if you talked to your seed rep you could ge5 some in rather easily. Maybe not asking him right now but if you asked him in October. You’d be nuts not to use the treatment with April planting dates though.

With trade stuff going on and what looks to be a late start, Profit on the non specialty market might be a myth this year unless some area you are not in takes a beating weather wise and I’m not in to wishing ill will onto anyone.

I’m net neutral on RR/triple stack or whatever. You’ll never see me say a bad word about it. I’ve grown open pollinated on a very small scale, organic and traditional corn and the modern stuff. Each have their pluses. Open pollinated’s main plus was it looked cool. And good corn bread. Galena distillery (Blaum brothers) has some heritage corn bourbon aging. So that’s cool too I guess.

This is...by far....the most detailed farm discussion this board has ever seen.

I love it.

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You know me like that.

If I can’t get the boy to a Lasalle county coffee shop I guess I gotta bring it to the boy.

I would have never fit in opening up The Restaurant with the key the owners gave me so I could start the coffee and sitting around the counter with the fellas talking about how crooked somebody's planting rows were.

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You know me like that.

We have very good friends who are organic farmers. They use no pesticides. Zero.

Damn gps and autosteer took away that conversation Ken.

Now its generally “What the heck is that Johnson doing over there by the black top?

We had a neighbor that would start rumours about himself, then wait until they got back to them before they changed. Good old Milo, still hearing stories and he’s been dead going in 20 years.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

What is autosteer? Sounds like something I could have used when I was plowing under half my Dad's field in the cultivator.

It's when I confirmed to myself I wasn't cut out for this profession.

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You know me like that.

That this thread doesn't contain an Orion Saumelson mult is a crime.

It would have. Basically tractor drives it self. Just have to set your first line and than that line is replicated every x number of feet depending on your implement size. You are responsible for turning it at end rows (you can pay extra for computer to do it) and run implement. You become a fail safe basically. Running section sized fields with a disk is thrilling.

Kind of takes the fun out of staring at a little stick next to a wheel for 6 hours straight.

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You know me like that.

But the GPS/autosteer use makes so much more possible. Now a 12 row planter and eight row corn head can perform seamlessly at harvest time- all the rows are right where they need to be all the time. Even program in the tile lines so tillage is guaranteed not to disturb them. There is a movement towards row-crop underground drip irrigation, with long-term tape planted with GPS sub-inch precision, then following crops and tillage do not disturb the underground water lines. Put water right where the roots need it, no evaporation or expensive overhead pivots, far less water to achieve the same results. Add in your nitrogen, and use way less nitrogen since none of it evaporated from anhydrous or ran off with rain water into the lake.

Like I said before, amazing the improvements to naturally occurring activities.

You could study the conversational skill of Charmane Star I suppose.

I’ve looked at the sub Terran drip irrigation. For now I figure I’d need to be doing edible beans for it to pay for itself. I have some ground I think would benefit from it but it’s not cheap, also have to purge calcium from water or it plugs so the treatment costs as up probably cut water consumption by half though. Looked at strip till too. Going to need a bigger tractor.

I'm not sure that MANY realize that farm vehicles are not too far from the Simpsons episode where Bart and Homer use the semi's Autodrive.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Good old phylloxera-resistant American rootstock.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

It will be better for you than eating GMO crops.

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Currently rocking some Hydroponic Napa Cabbage in my den.

On the stereo.

It's a CD my Jam Band in college put out.

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I once got busy in a Sur la Table bathroom

Who wouldn't trust a site selling Power Dust by Moon Juice for $38!

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I don't know man, it's got 'authority' in the url ... they surely had to get special certification from the president of the interwebz to use that word.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

From their shop:
https://www.thedetoxmarket.com/collections/moon-juice/products/moon-juice-sex-dust

Anyone want to split a bottle of sex dust with me?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Waves of Blood to All the Right Places is an underrated Slayer B-side.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Some time ago (6 years maybe) I posted the attached article on the seed subject. As with majority of beni posts it didn't go anywhere. I was fascinated by the topic as I knew nothing about companies in effect cornering the market on seed production.

http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2011/06/closed-source-crops/

Thanks to all for the updated discussion on the subject.

My Dad sold Northrup King. Got some free hats and a day off school every year to unload the truck.

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You know me like that.

I had more DeKalb products than I care to remember. My science fair projects always seemed to involve little sleeves of pink seed corn thst my dad would get from R&D Dad worked there until Pfizer came in roughly. Might of been there for a small transition period.

I’m still partial to the damn winged ear even though it’s Monsanto owned. Wish I had the old hog hats he had back on the day.