I thought Darwin already won that argument vs. Lamarck?
Do you buy organic?
- Thread starter Terxpahseyton
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Farm Boy
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You'll have to ask farmers what they think about patented crops before you dwell too much on them being "screwed over," as you put it. Yea, they'll grouse about the cost of seed per bag, it's really high. But, you'll also find that farmers willingly buy this stuff because that fancy patented technology is amazingly effective. In 2012, a year when we had significant weed pressure, insufficient precipitation, at least one significant hail event on our field, and a couple of significant windstorms: that crop still grew. It didn't get drowned out by Lambs Quarters and it didn't blow flat on the ground. It yielded fairly well under stress. We could go out and acquire non-hybridized seed from the pre-1950s era that would grow well year after year if we wanted to. It'd be pretty dumb for us to bank everything on that though. When you throw all of your cash, and a hefty quantity of loans into the ground in the hopes that it'll be decent 5-6 months later, some degree of greater predictability is very much appreciated. It might even be worth paying an upcharge for $200 per 80,000 kernel bag* if it means it saves you on insecticide/herbicide applications later in the growing season.
*That's about a penny per 4 seeds you put in the ground, and if you're a small operation like my father, you're tossing ~32,000 - 34,000 of them in the ground per acre. So about 8,000 dollars per acre in seed. That means while you're planting, you're putting about your yearly expected profit into the ground about once every hour while you're operating(in seed alone). If the product didn't provide value for that investment, you wouldn't buy it.
*That's about a penny per 4 seeds you put in the ground, and if you're a small operation like my father, you're tossing ~32,000 - 34,000 of them in the ground per acre. So about 8,000 dollars per acre in seed. That means while you're planting, you're putting about your yearly expected profit into the ground about once every hour while you're operating(in seed alone). If the product didn't provide value for that investment, you wouldn't buy it.
I'm all for patented crops if it encourages the availability of crops that wouldn't otherwise exist. Optimal patent length is probably quite short compared to what USA law allows though.
I've found it easiest to simply not cook meat for myself.
I've found it easiest to simply not cook meat for myself.
And that doesn't account for the eventuality of torrential rain early in the process which can literally "wash the seed away". Fortunately, there's insurance for that, but it doesn't cover every expense of the effort to replant, and depending on the time frame, can result in lower yield.
Farm Boy
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Well, you can get smashed on average yield just by the soil being too wet to work if you get unlucky with constant drizzles instead of downpours and standing water that suffocates planted crops. Which is why in the cocktail of insurances that you buy you usually work in at least some level of income protection coverage. You can't insure all your income, that would make you insurance-poor or insurance-broke, but assuming you have some equity you can lean on you can usually insure enough to ride a bad season through and hope you don't get another one the next year.
Optimal patent length varies by product. Hybrid strains and GMO enhanced seed crops aren't smart phones to be replaced every two years. If you are talking seed corn your customers buy your product once every year. Strains require lab work and field testing before you can bring them to market. You hurry that process by greenhouse work for the initial stages, then you can run real tests a couple times a year by having research fields both in the norther and southern hemispheres, but that still takes years. Then once you have a variety of seed corn you want to bring to market you have to start growing the supply. That can also be hurried by greenhouse work and double hemisphere work, but that takes years too. I don't have a magic answer on how long those patents should last, but it's not necessarily going to be the same amount of time as a different product.
Optimal patent length varies by product. Hybrid strains and GMO enhanced seed crops aren't smart phones to be replaced every two years. If you are talking seed corn your customers buy your product once every year. Strains require lab work and field testing before you can bring them to market. You hurry that process by greenhouse work for the initial stages, then you can run real tests a couple times a year by having research fields both in the norther and southern hemispheres, but that still takes years. Then once you have a variety of seed corn you want to bring to market you have to start growing the supply. That can also be hurried by greenhouse work and double hemisphere work, but that takes years too. I don't have a magic answer on how long those patents should last, but it's not necessarily going to be the same amount of time as a different product.
My personal perspective is, I own several, several hundred acres, the tillable of which I rent to farmers which are "family friends" at a modest $196 per acre per year. My grandfather twice in his lifetime "forgave" rent payments and I don't remember the exact years. I remain closely involved in the process because I believe what he did was right and, honestly, I look for opportunities to follow suit. I have not encountered such an impasse.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
Oops I meant free range. Whatever one my wife yells at me for not getting.
You should get her some free range turnips.
Farm Boy
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Almost tempted to agree with you there, I like the battery-cage stuff plenty as it pertains to chickens, but then again I don't think I'd be able to muster up yelling at anyone for picking up some small time producer's eggs at the local market instead.
Tahuti
Writing Deity
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Darwinian evolution is not really contradictory to Lamarckism persée, since Darwinian evolution also occurs within an individual organism.
Nope. I grow it.
Do you keep a big garden?
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I sometimes buy organic, but I don't go out of my way for it, and most of the time, if both organic and non-organic are available, I buy non-organic. In part because it's cheaper, in part because my preference for organic is very slim. Ideally, yes, it would be nice if we didn't use chemical pesticides, fertilizers, etc. and have the associated environmental damage. In practice, that may not be possible with the current world population, and I'd rather spend my money on tastier food than organic food. Half the time I buy something organic, I don't realize it's organic until after the fact. The other half, it's usually because the non-organic that the store had that day was of poor quality and the organic looked OK.
Angst
Rambling and inconsistent
I do 95% of the chance i have.
