Re: {O-Egg} Digest for o-egg@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 1 Topic

[Dean Sparks]

Tim,

Great point...how much longer (in our little universe of organic consumers) will "free range" be acceptable? Many consumers continually make unwarranted assumptions about the claim, which really doesn't help differentiate those of us who actually put our birds out on grass all day, every day.....

Wonder how long it will be before the bar is raised to require USDA Cert. Org. chicken producers (for both meat and eggs) pasture when seasonally appropriate?  To me, it's now a market advantage, but only if you educate the consumer well enough to recognize the difference.  As an organic poultry person myself, I would love to see all eggs and meat labeled organic be raised using the pastured-poultry Salatin model (but w/organic grain!).

Dean.

On Wed, Jun 22, 2011 at 1:14 PM, <o-egg+...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

  Today's Topic Summary

Group: http://groups.google.com/group/o-egg/topics

• Cornucopia: UGA study finds salmonella less prevalent in organic chicken [2 Updates]

 Topic: Cornucopia: UGA study finds salmonella less prevalent in organic chicken

Charlotte Vallaeys <vall...@cornucopia.org> Jun 21 03:21PM -0400 ^

 
*Organic chicken isn't just healthier for you - it's also safer, according
to a new University of Georgia study.*
 
By JOE VANHOOSE <joe.va...@onlineathens.com> -
joe.va...@onlineathens.com, April 20, 2011
UGA study finds salmonella less prevalent in chicken
 
Salmonella shows up less on organic farms than it does on conventional
farms, Walid Alali said. Alali, an assistant professor at UGA's College of
Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, visited seven farms in North
Carolina - three organic and four conventional - to perform his research,
which points to organic chickens as healthier birds than their
conventionally-raised brethren.
 
"Because chickens spread salmonella horizontally, when there are fewer
birds, it spreads less," he said.
 
The organic chickens Alali studied came from three USDA-certified organic
farms, which shouldn't be confused with free-range farms.
 
The chickens on organic farms are kept in houses just like on conventional
farms, except the houses are brighter and more open to give the chickens
more room.
 
The organic chickens also are fed organically grown food like corn and
soybeans that is free of animal byproduct. The organic feed rarely contains
salmonella, while conventional feed is full of it, Alali said.
 
"The feed they eat is a big part of the equation," he said. "They also get
more sunlight, less dust - it's a better environment."
 
Salmonella affects more than 140,000 Americans every year from chicken
products, and about 30 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The infection causes diarrhea, abdominal cramps and a fever that
can last for a week.
 
Chickens themselves don't suffer from the infection - they're just carriers,
Alali said. Salmonella is all over farms and ends up in chicken feathers or
fecal matter, he said.
For his research, Alali collected the chickens' feces, feed and water
samples from each of the seven farms over two consecutive flocks. He tested
the samples for salmonella at his laboratory in Griffin.
 
He found that chickens from the organic farms had a 4.3 percent rate of
salmonella prevalence. The conventional chickens, on the other hand, were
affected 28.8 percent of the time - nearly seven times more.
 
Alali went to North Carolina because there are no USDA-certified organic
farms in Georgia, though there are about 10 pasture-raised poultry farms in
the state, he said.
"Organic-pasture poultry makes up just 1.5 percent of the chicken market,"
he said. "It's about two to three times more expensive. It's definitely a
niche product."
 
But is the product trending upward?
 
It's a tough hike, Alali said, considering the slumping economy. He doesn't
believe it will ever challenge the commercially-raised chicken that fills
grocery stores everywhere.
 
"But it does have its fans," he said. "You go to the local markets, and
people are buying it."
 
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/042011/liv_817571551.shtml
 
--
Charlotte Vallaeys
Director, Farm and Food Policy
The Cornucopia Institute
phone: 978-369-6409
fax: 866-861-2214
 
P.O. Box 126
Cornucopia, WI 54827
www.cornucopia.org


 

OPP <tim.k...@gmail.com> Jun 21 12:34PM -0700 ^

 
More ammunition for organic producers but we take it two steps further,
reducing those chances even more so. 1. The birds are pastured which is
vital to a healthy immune system and resisting the bird being a harbor for
pathogens, and 2. Our birds are hand eviscerated, not mechanically like the
"big boys". Mechanical evisceration used in industrial slaughter breaks open
entrails and contaminates the entire carcass with masses of fecal matter.
 
Tim Koegel
Windy Ridge Natural Farms *www.organicpasturedpoultry.com*<https://groups.google.com/forum/www.organicpasturedpoultry.com>


 

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--
Dean Sparks
Senior Partner
Nyfoods, LLC
Greene, New York
607.656.4142 (office)
www.mynyfoods.com

[OPP]

Dean-

As we both believe and understand; organic is good, pasture is good, but pastured, organic is best. To me, the two add up to a whole lot more than the sum of their parts. I can’t imagine AMS insisting on the big boys raise organic chicken on pasture, though they should. The big boys can always claim “organically fed” but they would then be denied that coveted USDA Organic seal and they know the marketing value of it. So until the undue influence and corruption in government ends I am confident that we will continue to see the efforts to coopt and short-cut true organic production.

 

Tim Koegel

Windy Ridge Natural Farms

607.587.9684

www.organicpasturedpoultry.com

[Jennie Watkins]

Thanks for sending that info along…… I just joined this group and am very excited to be part of this.  I appreciated Tim’s comments on how pastured poultry producers exceed what we read about in the study.

Jennie Watkins

Ananda Hills Farm

Port Ludlow, Wa.  98365

 

 

[Ted Maines]

Dean and Time:

I agree.

So what can we do?

We have an thriving beyond organic, in the pasture (All year around)
egg business but we continually see others who market eggs that are
organically fed in confinement "fooling" customers. Trying to educate
customer is difficult without looking like we "competition bashing".
We are looking for a better way to get the word out. Many people we
talk to at farmers markets think any egg from any farm is "fresher and
healthier". Many of these farmers use confinement.

I am open to ideas...

Ted J. Maines
Organic Pastured Poultry
Mini-Jersey Breeder
Turning Ranch, LLC
Ladonia, Texas

On Jun 22, 12:29 pm, Dean Sparks <d...@getnymilk.com> wrote:
> Tim,
>
> Great point...how much longer (in our little universe of organic consumers)
> will "free range" be acceptable? Many consumers continually make unwarranted
> assumptions about the claim, which really doesn't help differentiate those
> of us who actually put our birds out on grass all day, every day.....

....
> Dean.

[OPP]

Ted - Information, and imparting it on the customer (education) is vital to the customer learning and understanding the truth and there is no magic bullet to replace it. True education goes well beyond marketing to impart a knowledge on the customer rather than just the perceptions that marketing does. I do a lot of group education, as well as individual and retailer education. No argument, it is time consuming. I have the benefit of being a printer and graphic designer part of the day so I develop my own point of sale and education materials. You can see some of them here:

http://www.windyridgepoultry.com/docs1.hm.htm

 

I am sure that once customers have a complete knowledge of the situation, many will choose the high end "true" organic products.

[Pam R.]

--- On Thu, 6/23/11, OPP <tim.k...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Information, and imparting it
> on the customer (education) is
> vital to the customer learning
> and understanding the truth

> I do a lot of group education,
> as well as individual and
> retailer education. No argument,
> it is time consuming.

I agree wholeheartedly. But I regained my health because a very generous soul undertook to educate me, so I am paying it forward. I also spend a lot of time educating, both with individuals and groups. you never know when something you say will impact a life for the better.

And I loved your graphics, etc. !!

Pam Raymond

Golden Oak Farm

http://www.goldenoakfarm.us/

[OPP]

Thanks Pam-

You are quite correct in your comment about the "small" things. Many times I have later learned that something small made a difference for someone. Just think about the "big" things we do and how many people that can affect. I call it a "living awareness". I think many small producers have a more noble objective than just producing food, or even good food. They think more depply and holisticly about what they are doing and the far reaching consequences. I for one hope to leave this world better off for me having been here and this is one way I think I can do that.