Countryside Organics

How do you know what is in your food and how it was grown? Ask your farmer! Here are the basic growing methods:

Conventionally Grown 

This type of farming allows chemical pesticides, chemical herbicides, chemical fungicides, sludge, chemical fertilizers, bee-killing neonicotinoids, ionizing radiation and transgenically (GMO) modified seeds. Is this stuff in your food? Ask your farmer!

Non-GMO

This could also be called, Conventionally Grown Without Transgenics. It’s food or feed grown without genetically modified organisms. It is not, however, a promise of pesticide-free, herbicide-free, chemical fertilizer-free, bee-killing neonicitinoid-free, etc. It just means that the seed used is non-transgenic. Non-GMO is not the equivalent of Certified Organic. Non-GMO allows for toxic chemicals that are not allowed in Organics. What is in the food? Ask your farmer!

Certified Organic

At Countryside Organics we make certified organic, soy-free feeds in Virginia’s only Certified Organic Feed Mill.  No toxic pesticides or herbicides. No bee-killing neonicitinoids. No artificial preservatives or additives. No genetically engineered anything. Grains in our feeds are grown in rich, healthy, sustainable soils. Our feeds are nutritionally complete, high quality, soy-free, probiotic, organic. And we are local.

In addition to our own Certified Organic Feeds we also manufacture Healthy Minerals for Livestock. And we carry all kinds of essential organic products for your garden, pasture, orchard and dairy.

We encourage you to ask your farmer for organic products. Ask for chemical-free produce and meat. Ask for organic products that are better for you, better for the animals and better for the environment. Thanks and have a great day!

Here are some Huber documents. The most recent discusses studies showing the adverse effect of Glyphosate on beneficial gut microflora.

The Crazy New Research on Roundup

Scientist Raises Concerns About GM Crops and Glyphosate

Glyphosate and Micronutrients in Soybean Crops and Foliar Spraying Nutrient Solutions

Huber Speaks Out on Glyphosate Threat to Agriculture

Scientist Warns of Dire Consequences with Widespread Use of Glyphosate

Scientists Warn of Link Between Dangerous New Pathogen and Monsanto’s Roundup

Does the neverending prospect of a revolving door USDA/Justice/Monsanto policy get you down? Do you feel like it’s an incredible uphill battle to take on the corporate giants who are constantly gaining ever more rights than the individual? Well, it’s not your secret shame. You are not alone.

We spent some time outdoors at the City Market and Tom Tom Festival in Charlottesville, VA last weekend. Kevin spoke on raising chickens without drugs and Pat Foreman joined us with her hen, Ofrah Henfry. It was a beautiful day. We talked to lots of people and we talked to lots of University of Virginia students, which was a treat. The University students we met were, on the whole, very aware of food issues. And they were curious about policy. And they were pretty cynical, too, about the US and our food policy. They wanted to know what we could do. It all seemed so gloomy.

So we told them to get involved. That we had to work to get the government back from the corporatists. And that it was possible. And that it was going to take a lot of work. And we tried to cheer them with the fact that the GMO Giants are fighting an increasingly hostile battle and that the demand for organics is outpacing the conversion of acreage to organic acres. And that local food systems were returning to local economies in new and positive ways. Just look around at this farmer’s market. And that their voices were powerful and their silence gave consent to the politicians to make people more indifferent to what they should value most. And off they went.

If you have a chance to cheer up a kid about taking on US Food policy and the agri-industrial-government complex, please do.

Here is a good summary of Monsanto’s recent ups and downs.

The Carolina Farm Stewardship Association did a study to determine how much organic produce demand was being met by North Carolina farmers. They determined that to displace imported organic produce, North Carolina Farmers would have to increase production by MORE THAN 400%! North Carolina is an exceptionally progressive state for organics. How much demand is going unmet in your state?

They have a great website, too (survey information not available on site).