As I suggested in the previous post To go for Organic products or not? My thoughts to go to the local market if you can’t afford buying organic products, I decided to go to the Farmer Market and ask the farmers myself some questions about how they are growing and maintaining their products.
First, Lets have a look at what I bought from the farmer market :
(Curly Kale, Pumpkin, Natural Honey, Zucchini, Tomato, Organic Carrots, Fresh Farmer Cheese)
Random photos from the Market (Iowa city):
My questions were:
- Do you use synthetic pesticides? If yes, what kind of pesticides do you use? If not, how do you keep your products safe?
- Did you or anyone in your family suffer from health problems caused by pesticides?
- Is the government supports you in any way?
For the farmers sells Organic products:
- Does the organic farming cost you more than conventional one?
- Do people prefer to buy organic products?
- How long have you been in organic farming?
- Is the government supports you in any way?
The farmers were very helpful and open to answer my questions. Pauline, said that she switched from using synthetic pesticides to natural ones because, the synthetic one didn’t work (didn’t kill the bugs), neither her nor her family members suffered from health problems caused by pesticides, and finally she said the government doesn’t support them in any way.
Emily a young lady, working for her grandfather’s farm, she assured me that, they don’t use synthetic pesticides, they use natural ways (bugs, bees), and there’s no support from the government.
Cathy helps her friend in selling their Organic products, she said he doesn’t use any synthetic pesticides or sprays or herbicides. I asked him how he maintain his products, he said he rotate crops every 5 years, and he grows many products so,if one of the products fail to growth, he just skip it. I also asked him if the organic farming cost him more, he answered that this is not a problem because, he charges more and a lot of people prefer to buy organic products and, again no support from the government.
Bobsass he grows pumpkin, big and small ones, he said he doesn’t use any synthetic pesticides, and he try to maintain his products by natural ways, and he just discards the faulty ones, and again there is no support from the government.
Jezz, sells natural and unprocessed cheese, he has many kinds, he reassures me that they use whole milk (which I prefer because it’s not processed like skim and not fat milk), and they make cheeses by traditional ways, and I asked him how about the cows and how they treat them, he answered that he buy it from someone else, but he is sure they don’t use growth hormone for their cows, and if they want to use antibiotics they don’t milk the infected ones.
These answers are just a random samples, but I asked almost all the farmers in the farmer market and they said that they don’t use pesticides or sprays, which means they almost do Organic farming even if they don’t have the certificate by USDA, therefore it’s good idea to buy from the farmer market.
You can guarantee that the products are pesticides free and you support the farmers so they can keep growing their products by using natural ways.
(I took the photos form my last visit to the market in Iowa City,IA after asking permission from the farmers, the farmers in the picture are not the ones that I’ve asked except the one who sells cheese)
