Farm News

On NPR today they featured an official apologist for agro-business. His main claim was that in spite of all the hype about organic, pesticide-free farming, the non-use of chemical fertilizers leads to an increase (by necessity) of more manure-based fertilization. The heavy reliance on manure actually is a main source of bacteria growth and all sorts of nasty orgo-illnesses. Although the hippy farmers argued, I found this line of thought compelling. Organic food is big business so it is not surprising that they probably have something to hide.

In related news, my ever-friendly barista at the ERC informed me that in spite of what you might think, lighter coffees are actually stronger. His theory is that in order to make a darker roast, you need to cook it more. As is true with everything – the more you cook something, the more you deplete its essential nutrients. Being that the main nutrient in coffee is caffeine, it only makes sense that the extra cooking to get it darker will diminish the caffeine content as well. (My mother claims that espresso is actually naturally decaffeinated due to the extreme cooking it is subjected to. Her logic is indeed in line with the revelation from my barista.) It seems like a reasonable proposition to me, except that after I drank my “lighter” Costa Rican blend, I didn’t shake with the same caffeine buzz I usually enjoy.

Speaking of farming and coffee, this Rosh Hashanah begins the fifth year of the seven year shmita cycle. Year seven is shmita – the year the land lies fallow. Years three and six are the years that we give ma’aser ani (a percentage of the crop to be given to the poor) in addition the regular tithes we are expected to give. On years one, two, four and five we give ma’aser sheni – the tithe we take for ourselves to eat in Jerusalem. Being that this year is a ma’aser sheni year, I am going to keep away from manure and weak coffee when I choose the produce I take with me to Jerusalem.

September 20th, 2006 General, Global Warming, World News