[AT] Al Jones

[Al Jones]

Charlie, I can say this about organic production:  It's different, and
if one can pull it off, there's money to be made.  One farm we looked at
near Faison does organic butternut squash.  When we pulled up to the
field, you could hardly tell any squash were there.  They had bushhogged
across the ends so we could walk around. When you checked it out, there
were LOTS of squash.  THe field was about a day from being harvested,
they said their average yield was only slightly less than "conventional"
and the squash looked just as good to me.  They also do organic sweet
potatoes and organic corn (for grain) and beans.  We only looked at the
squash and the corn. The corn had been irrigated and looked good, and
fairly clean, but the pigweed you did see were big enough to cut down
with a chainsaw!

I'm not one bit afraid of 'conventional' grown food, genetically
modified crops, etc.  And I don't see the hoopla about not using
'chemical' fertilizers.  N, P, and K are chemicals, and from the botany
and horticulture I took in college, the plant can't tell if it came from
Dixie Chemical Co. or from a turkey's butt.  They showed us some
pelleted manures that could be spread like fertilizer.  I don't see much
difference in that and synthetic fertilizer, in terms of both are
processed.  Then, they are stressing the positive environmental effects
of organic, and in the next breath they are talking about 6-10 tillage
trips across a field of corn in a season. There are just a lot of hoops
to jump through.  But, the fact is there are people willing to pay $14 a
bushel for organic grain corn, and so I see nothing wrong with supplying
their demands.  It comes down to me in consumers being able to choose
the organic, or the "regular."

One more thing: Daddy is still growing hogs on the ground, for the last
8 months or so he has been selling them to Wholefoods Market. They have
grocery stores in Raleigh, Cary, Chapel Hill, and one more in NC but I
forget where, as well as other states.  Most of his pork is going to the
Raleigh store as I understand.  He has been asked to visit the Raleigh
store several times--one time they actually had him passing out cubes of
cooked pork as samples like at Sam's Club!  Wholefoods stresses organic,
and locally grown.  (His pigs are not technically organic.)  Anyway, I
can say having eaten a "hoghouse hog" and one of his hogs, side by side,
there is definitely a difference in flavor.  If people are willing to
pay extra for it, all the better!  Again, it gives consumers the option
to choose, and I like that. (Plus, though it is negative to say so, I
feel like we are sorta giving the finger to Joe Luter and Wendell
Murphy, which I enjoy immensely, but that's another story)  Every time
my wife takes out a package of homegrown pork chops from the freezer, I
tell her we are "eating gourmet!"

I can see an old tractor application with organics though, since it
requires a lot of cultivation.  One made the comment that narrow row
beans (15-20") was tough because you couldn't get a tractor down the
rows.  All I could thing was, give me a Cub, Super A, even a C Farmall
with one of those veggie cultivators on it, and I could clean 15" beans!

Al

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of charlie hill
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 8:05 AM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Al Jones

Hey Al,  were depending on you to tell us all how to get rich in organic

farming now that you're an expert!  grins.

John, you can share the Coke location with me too if you like.  I'm not
very 
far from Al and I'd like to try one.

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Al Jones" <aljones at ncfreedom.net>
To: "'Antique tractor email discussion group'" 
<at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 11:24 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] Al Jones


> John, I am about to send an email.  I have been swamped.  My dad had a
> hernia repair surgery last week so I have been taking care of his
hogs.
> Spent two days going to an ag teacher workshop on organic/sustainable
> agriculture at the Cherry Research Farm in Goldsboro. We had a bad
storm
> in the wee hrs. Wednesday morning which took out our fridge,
fortunately
> it seems to be economically repairable.
>
> Al
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
> [mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of John Hall
> Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 4:28 PM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Al Jones
>
> Thanks for the replies. Although I'm getting ATIS mail OK I am having
> trouble getting through to Al.  I found a supply of made with sugar in
> glass
> bottle sodas not too far from him I need to tell him about. But I
won't
> be
> doing it here so as not to upset anyone.
>
> John
>
>
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> 6:10 PM
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> 

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