Comment by mjpuser | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mjpuser | Hacker News Reader

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Can you give sources? These seem to all be backwards from some of my reading and experience.

- Rodale Farm is all about no till - http://rodaleinstitute.org/our-work/organic-no-till/

- Not sure about adding salt, unless you mean adding seaweed or ash? Salt is bad for the soil, and so it's known that those substances should be used prudently

- As far as caring about the value of their land, it's valuable to have an organic farm since "organic" cows have to be raised on organic soil. Organic milk has higher retail value, which can be seen as adding value. You can also work with other farmers that want to produce organic milk, by helping them transition by using your own land [edit] for a fee...

- "organic herbicides are less efficient, so organic farmers use more". Not sure this is true, my work with Rodale has mostly been towards trying to rid the farm of pesticides and finding natural ways around them. Not sure about big ag though.

- I should have used the word "salts" rather than "salt". They're definitely not adding NaCl. If I get time I'll try and dig up exactly what it was. If you're adding ash you'd be horrified at the thought of adding salt, since ash is often used to combat salinity. But some crops grow well in saltier soil (or acidic soil or alkaline soil or ...), or at least better than the weeds that would otherwise grow there.

[edit: other commenters have linked to the use of copper salts in organic farming]

- From a quick glance, Rodale is a non-profit. That definitely allows them to do things that farmers who have to make a profit to feed their family can't do.

- It's awesome that Rodale is studying organic no-till. Herbicides are a crappy way of controlling weeds, it's just that tillage is worse.

Rodale is a non-profit.

Many conventional farms live off subsidies. They're not necessarily any more sustainable.

(I'm not from the US so can only speak of local farms. I believe its the same in the US, based on stuff I've heard and read, but don't believe random internet comments)

I don't know anything about Rodale or their sustainability but in this case a non-profit, in the U.S., is a tax code distinction. It doesn't mean they don't generate a profit, it just sets rules on what they're allowed to do with it, among other things.

I don't have any 1st hand experience with this, but my friend is in finance, and he is doing pro bono work for a non profit. One thing he mentioned to me that struck him was that this company invested money in areas with high risk. He said it wasn't so much about money in some cases, but the mission of the company. So I can see how being a non profit can change some things.

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