Sustainable Agriculture & Reduced inputs

[Kiwi Pete]

I did look into Organic standards after college with a view to us going that way, we've always been low fertiliser users anyway. The fact you could (then at least) be "Organic" and feed a proportion of non-organic certified cereals but had to use certified organic straw for 100% of your bedding was indicative of how irrational their ethos was.

I wonder if they were behind some of the Red Tractor standards?

Standards vary widely amongst different governing bodies too, which makes it a little more difficult in an exporting country.

--Some overseas standards wouldn't like our treated fenceposts, others would let us use antibiotics so long as we extend WHP by an arbitrary amount... it is all very much a good theory, but it is not for us at the moment after my cremation the boys can farm as they wish...

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Standards vary widely amongst different governing bodies too, which makes it a little more difficult in an exporting country.

--Some overseas standards wouldn't like our treated fenceposts, others would let us use antibiotics so long as we extend WHP by an arbitrary amount... it is all very much a good theory, but it is not for us at the moment after my cremation the boys can farm as they wish...

But by then they'll have absorbed enough "Pete-ism" to be pretty immune to most of the worst ideas on offer

BJ's getting there already

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

I don't think organic farmers buy non organic straw.

From the current standards. Make of them what you will.

 

[Henarar]

From the current standards. Make of them what you will.

yep they can use straw that had roundup a couple weeks before harvest

 

[martian]

Its not a brix refractometer is it?

No, slightly more hi-tech. It fires a laser beam and reads what reflects back. Sort of mass spectrometer

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

No, slightly more hi-tech. It fires a laser beam and reads what reflects back. Sort of mass spectrometer

At Mystery Creek last June there was quite a bit of talk about measuring meat eating quality. Several NZ universities are working on it. There was a working system on display using a hyper-spectral imaging camera to look down on a steak and measure various factors linked to eating quality.

http://meatexportnz.co.nz/mia-focus-value-come-new-meat-quality-sensors/

 

[Henarar]

At Mystery Creek last June there was quite a bit of talk about measuring meat eating quality. Several NZ universities are working on it. There was a working system on display using a hyper-spectral imaging camera to look down on a steak and measure various factors linked to eating quality.

http://meatexportnz.co.nz/mia-focus-value-come-new-meat-quality-sensors/

not looked at the link but when do they do this ?
after the perfectly good meat has left the farm gate and been completely buggered up by those that will do anything to cut corners and save money

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

not looked at the link but when do they do this ?
after the perfectly good meat has left the farm gate and been completely buggered up by those that will do anything to cut corners and save money

The idea is to undertake this assessment in the cutting room and then feed the results back to the farm for individual animals. So long as you have more confidence in your supply chain than we'd have here it's a good approach.

 

[Doc]

@Henarar.
If you ever go to Sydney.
I will buy you and your good lady, Claire, a steak dinner here.
It’s not a fancy set up but the guy that owns it provides all his own beef for the restaurant and I reckon you will be impressed. It’s all ‘taste/texture’ graded. After grading, If he doesn’t like a sample- he is there most days, the rest goes to the supermarkets.
It’s diet, breed, ageing and fat that make a steak.
The drive for Kg deadweight killing out figures have, imo led to poor eating quality and subsequently an indifferent consumer as a consequence over here.

http://theoccidental.com/

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

If he doesn’t like a sample- he is there most days, the rest goes to the supermarkets.

Sounds about right, they'll take anything that looks red enough and fits their packaging

It’s diet, breed, ageing and fat that make a steak.
The drive for Kg deadweight killing out figures have, imo led to poor eating quality and subsequently an indifferent consumer as a consequence over here.

http://theoccidental.com/

Agreed

 

[Henarar]

so they test it after its been perhaps kill incorrectly, hung incorrectly and butchered incorrectly ?
and this is what they plan to base the farmers payment on ?
feck that

 

[Sheila Cooke]

Hi everyone, I hope you can come our webinar this week, Grazing for Regeneration.

 

[delilah]

We're still sorting out speakers and exhibitors etc, so the list on the website isn't definitive. We had one or two SA and OF&G people last year on forums or panels (and, sweetly, I was asked to speak on a panel at the organic combinable crops day so it goes both ways). I think the SA are realising that they're in danger of turning into dinosaurs, hence the Innovative Farmers project which welcomes all innovative farmers under its umbrella (I'm hoping we'll have their presence at Groundswell at least).

Dan Kittredge is an organic farmer, he's our keynote speaker this year. He will happily tell you that a lot of organic, or bio-dynamic or whatever, food is no better than non-organic...it's all about labels and rules. His transformative breakthrough is a gizmo which can read the real quality of foodstuffs. If I was on the board of the SA, or a supermarket come to that, I'd be pretty nervous about this as, suddenly, the consumer would have real power to decide what to buy and not worry about labels.

The long and the short of it is that we farmers need healthy soil, everything else follows from that.

Thanks for that, i've just emailed the SA suggesting they should be among the exhibitors. Good luck with the event.

 

[Doc]

so they test it after its been perhaps kill incorrectly, hung incorrectly and butchered incorrectly ?
and this is what they plan to base the farmers payment on ?
feck that

No.
The post was about quality control.
Beef sold in the UK is sold and graded for things other than eating quality. I think that is wrong because it often rewards the opposite.
Consumer satisfaction is everything when you sell a product and can differentiate price takers from price makers. The Wagyu thing is proof of this, though here again the volume has detracted from the quality and its all become muddied to the consumer.

 

[Henarar]

The post was about quality control

so was my post

 

[RushesToo]

@Doc Too right, there is no measure for good eating. Things are regulated that can be measured - but this isn't eating quality. Anything that makes eating quality the measure for regulation I would buy. Best beef I have had recently came from a market stall - chap that bred red poll - before I ordered it I asked to see the marbling - he was so proud as it was seriously good even and a pleasing brown colour.
You know what - it tasted as good as it looked,. I am sure it would have graded terribly and how much did I care, not one iota.

Measure that and label it and you can bet I would buy it. At the moment you can only get this quality with a fair amount of effort.

 

[texas pete]

Standards vary widely amongst different governing bodies too, which makes it a little more difficult in an exporting country.

--Some overseas standards wouldn't like our treated fenceposts, others would let us use antibiotics so long as we extend WHP by an arbitrary amount... it is all very much a good theory, but it is not for us at the moment after my cremation the boys can farm as they wish...

Nah, you'll be in an IBC with the seaweed. Think of all the grass you'll grow.

 

[Brisel]

Pushing up the daisies

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Pushing up the daisies

And feeding the thistles (which will be fashionable then)

 

[holwellcourtfarm]

Hi everyone, I hope you can come our webinar this week, Grazing for Regeneration.

Thank you @Sheila Cooke for running the webinar. It was interesting to see what others thought and hear Vivianne's experiences so far. I will be trialling the principles on some of our ground this summer and how to see you at Groundswell in June.