Salmon Farming Organic Style

This is an interesting article about salmon farming. One of the things that stands out to me is that salmon farming, like beef production and other farming operations, is going organic. It isn't just about farm-raised versus wild anymore.

The salmon business: Can marine farming ever be eco friendly?

Every day, a million Britons tuck into salmon, and demand is rising fast. Marine farming is the supermarkets' answer – but can it ever be eco-friendly?

Martin Hickman reports
Thursday, 24 July 2008

Salmon is an easy fish to love. Simple and tasty, its pink flesh is pulled from supermarket shelves and transformed into an array of increasingly exotic dishes.

Fried with wasabi, baked with sea-salt, or served Thai-style on a bed of noodles, the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is an everyday stalwart of the nation's cookery shows, recipe books and domestic kitchens.

So common, in fact, that...(complete article here).

Organic Cotton Production

Although I believe it fills a valid niche, organic production cannot replace current production practices. The yields cited in this article of approximately 1.2 bales/acre could never fill the world's needs for cotton. Unless tremendous advances can be made in sustainable techniques for organic production, it will always be relegated to niche markets. That being said, I do applaud the desire to do minimal harm to the environment. I think that precision application techniques and technology for modern production inputs can accomplish the same thing without the negative impact to yield.

If all production of cotton was converted to organic, we couldn't fill the world demand for cotton without chopping down about half of the rainforests of the world and converting it to cotton acreage. I suspect that would not set well with the very individuals who believe that organic production practices are the solution to the world's environmental problems. Cotton, being a natural fibre, is certainly better for the environment than rayon, or nylon, or any of the other synthetics that are out there.

U.S. Organic Cotton Production Trends: U.S. Acreage of Organic Cotton Gains Ground

By Organic Trade Association

GREENFIELD, Mass., Dec. 31 --U.S. acreage planted to organic cotton in 2006 increased 14% from that planted the previous year, according to a 2007 survey conducted by the Organic Trade Association (OTA) and funded by a grant from Cotton Incorporated.

In results released today, the survey of organic cotton farmers from California, Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico, Tennessee, and Texas, revealed...(complete article here).

USDA Data Set and Report

Procurement and Contracting by Organic Handlers

The U.S. Grain Consumption Landscape: Who Eats Grain, in What Form, Where, and How Much?