Organic Farmer

Administrative Concepts breaks new ground– expanding its services into Florida’s agriculture industry

Southwest, Florida – Administrative Concepts, a Southwest Florida based Professional Employer Organization (PEO) is pleased to announce a significant expansion of its payroll and risk management services with a new outreach targeted towards Florida’s agriculture industry.

Administrative Concepts has formed a joint venture with McKenzie & Sons, Inc., a third-generation citrus harvester headquartered in Frostproof, Florida, to develop the program. Owner Richard McKenzie has brought decades of experience to consult with Administrative Concepts and help tailor PEO services directed to the specific needs of all segments of the agriculture industry, from small family-owned farms to large conglomerations.

Agriculture is Florida’s second largest industry with an estimated payroll of $ 80 to $ 100 million, making it a natural fit for Administrative Concepts’ innovative brand of comprehensive payroll and risk management services.

“The beauty of Administrative Concepts is that we allow our clients to focus on their core business without the distractions of paperwork and red tape,” said co-founder George Bushong. “Too many business owners spend way too much time worrying about administrative details and wind up getting frustrated and stressed out. We relieve that burden and allow our clients, such as citrus growers, to devote their energies towards growing their business, which in this case, is oranges and grapefruit.”

Administrative Concepts has opened a new office in Avon Park which specializes in employee leasing services for agriculture clients. Other services offered include all aspects of risk management, including workers’ compensation claims management, workplace safety programs, OSHA compliance, unemployment claims and drug-free workplace programs; employment compliance details such as payroll taxes and personnel record maintenance, and payroll administration, which encompasses calculating and providing payroll checks, year-end tax forms, and online reports and payroll processing.

Administrative Concepts was founded by George Bushong and Sarah Peel in 1995 to assist business owners in the details of managing their companies, offering PEO services such as risk management, payroll and employee administration, government compliance, and employee benefits. Administrative Concepts is headquartered in Bradenton and has eight other offices throughout Florida, including Avon Park, Tampa, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Mary Esther, Naples, Pensacola and Port Orange. The company has been honored with multiple awards from Florida Trend, and Sarasota-Manatee Business Magazine, and was listed as the 18th largest privately owned company in the Tampa region by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Administrative Concepts has received additional recognition by the Tampa Bay Business Journal as one of their top-ten ranked PEOs.

Administrative Concepts is a member of the Four Corners of Excellence, a collaborative alliance of sister companies, joined by: Financial Concepts, Insurance Concepts and Employment Concepts. As a comprehensive family of companies, each corner specializes in a different aspect of business that collectively offers a broad spectrum of services for prospective and current clients.

For more information about Administrative Concepts and any of its professional service offerings, call (941) 744-1317 or visit www.accpeo.com or www.fourcornersofexcellence.com.

http://www.odiconsulting.com

Source:
http://www.1888pressrelease.com/administrative-concepts/florida-agriculture/administrative-concepts-breaks-new-ground-expanding-its-se-pr-243376.html

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Organic Farming Vs Conventional Farming

Organic Farming is at a Crossroads

Organic, holistic, natural, back to the earth, and homesteading, are all disciplines of agriculture that are growing in popularity each day. People all over the world are extremely concerned about our environment especially as how it relates as to what we put into our bodies and also how it affects our earth and our lives.

Agribusiness and the multinational food producers over the years have done an excellent job of providing substantial amounts of nutritious food for a growing world population, but is this scenario of farming sustainable? Currently there is a tremendous amount of debate between organic farmers and conventional farmers who are looking for common answers to this question.

Organic farming largely excludes the exclusive use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, plant growth regulators, and livestock feed additives. Organic farmers rely on crop rotation, crop residues, animal manure and mechanical cultivation to maintain the soil and to control weeds, insects and other pests.

In many countries including the United States, China and most of Europe; organic farming is defined by law, so that the commercial use of the term “organic” is regulated by the government.

Organic farming began as a reaction against the industrialization of agriculture in the early 20th century. Research produced hybrid seeds, fields grew in size and cropping became specialized to make efficient use of machinery, irrigation, fertilization and the use of pesticides. Nitrates which were used during World War II as munitions became an abundant and cheap source of nitrogen. In 1972, the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM); was founded in Versailles, France. IFOAM is dedicated to educating the public on the principles and practices of organic agriculture across national and language boundaries.

The retail market for organic farming in developing economies has grown at about 20% annually due to increasing consumer demand. While most of the early producers were small, the popularity of organic food is rising as the volume and variety of organic products become available at an increasingly larger scale.

Enhancing and maintaining soil health is the mainstay of organic farming. Many methods are employed including crop rotation, green manure, cover cropping, application of compost and mulching, Organic farmers also use certain fertilizers such as seed meal and mineral powders such as rock phosphate and greensand which are naturally occurring forms of potash.

Organic pest control allows for an acceptable amount of pest damage, it encourages or introduces beneficial organisms, utilizes careful crop selection and crop rotation and mechanical, thermal and mulch controls for weeds. Organic pesticides; which are usually derived from plants and not chemicals, allow for the use of natural methods of protection.

A major point of contention is the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO), human growth hormones (HGH), sewage sludge and antibiotics in the production of our food supply.

Opponents claim that the impact of genetic engineering on food quality and plant and animal health is not yet fully understood, although evidence is starting to show that GM food has a seriously negative effect on test animal reproductive organs. Proponents argue that genetic engineering is vital to create higher volumes of produce in the fight to end world hunger without requiring additional land. Often forgotten in this debate, is the fact that genetic engineering is a technique, also known as selective breeding; that has been used for thousands of years, and has done much good for mankind.

The pro-organic point of view regarding the environment in is that conventional agriculture is depleting our natural resources such as soil, fossil fuels and fresh water and is seriously polluting the air, soil and water. The large quantities of agricultural chemicals, water wastage through high-volume irrigation and the heavy use of fuels for the farm machinery and long-distance transport are some of their arguments. On the other hand an organic farm using natural compost and manure on a large-scale may cause as much damage to groundwater and soil as does manufactured fertilizers.

Conventional farming allows farmers to precisely apply only the necessary fertilizers to the soil in order to minimize waste pollutants. Organic farmers on the other hand do not have that option because they depend on fertilizers such as manure which contains fixed amounts of various elements which cannot be adjusted. The most common problem is over application of these organic fertilizers because of their relative lack of potency. These over applications can very easily lead to pollution of the water supply.

The quality of organic food versus conventionally grown food is also extremely debatable and is being studied by various governments with no conclusive evidence either way. One critical exception to this are studies that show that infants, who are exposed to pesticide exposure during the first two years of their lifetime had a 50 percent of chance of developing risk cancer and had their risk levels drop dramatically when they switched to an organic diet. This explains the growing sales of organic baby food because parents know that their infants are especially vulnerable to potentially dangerous food.

Organic farming is at a crossroads. Even though there are laws that ensure that the playing field be level for producers and consumers, these laws have been found to be full of loopholes that have led to serious charges being leveled against the major certifiers in our government such as the FDA and the USDA as well as agribusiness corporations.

Can agribusiness convert to large scale organic farming and still be able to make a profit without raising the consumer cost to unacceptable levels?

The current food distribution system favors high volume production with large farming corporate operations and cannot be easily altered. What we know as organic farming may change very dramatically in the coming years. A growing consumer market is normally one of the main factors encouraging conventional farmers to convert to organic agricultural production methods. I believe this trend will continue.

While this debate goes on, home gardeners are making their own decisions regarding this debate by doing the sensible thing; growing their own foodstuffs. The Green revolution is more than a slogan. It has become a way of life for those who are choosing to join in to make this world a better place to live.

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Organic Farming – Till Or No Till?

We have decided to get this monkey off my back about this crazy controversy with “Till” and “No Till” agriculture and farming. As the organic market is now a twenty billion dollar per year industry you bet their is much controversy over the various methods used in the organic farming world.

He says to till the field and she says “No! Don’t Do It!”, they say “Till It A Little!”, another one says “Till It Every Three Years!”, what to do, what to do? Yes who ever thought that the simple task of plowing and tilling a field would become such an issue in our lifetime?

For those of you who are beginning to use more and more organic products in your diet the no till issue is probably somewhat familiar to you. For those of you just tuning in a “No Till” field is one where crops are grown but the soil is never dug up and “Tilled”, get it?

From our standpoint there are many advantages you would think with “No Tilling” such as reduced carbon emissions from soil erosion as disturbed soil can and will breakdown and release carbons into our atmosphere which may lend a hand in the so called “Greenhouse Effect” which is destroying our planet. The next big advantage to “No Till” farming would be the reduced requirement for all those big “Vroom Vroom”, “Whoosh Whoosh”, “Jingle Jangle”, farm equipment machines that need to be operated to do the tedious tilling. Right there is an obvious savings in emission as those big machines run on gasoline or diesel fuel and burn lots of it. With some setbacks to “No Till” farming now beginning to surface as I figured it would we must make a bold move and know our earth, soil, and air better than ever! Yes I will not make this a five page blog to spare all my friends but will say that what needs to be done NOW is to start making some in depth long term ecological studies and get some more insight regarding the true benefits and drawbacks of “Till and No Till farming”. It seems mother nature is hesitant to offer her secrets with ease and we must take this into account for the sake of our farming future.

Sincerely

Sustainable Organic Textiles

In this article I have decided to look behind some of the hype about organic textiles and their sustainability and find the materials which are truly sustainable and eco friendly. Global awareness of the real price of clothing is growing and consumers are pushing for more eco friendly apparel. There are more reported cases of people experiencing health problems such as rashes, allergies, respiratory problems and difficulties with focusing mentally due to chemical sensitivities and many have found organic clothing to be helpful in reducing exposure to the vast amount of toxic chemicals we are unknowingly exposed to on a daily basis.

COTTON

Cotton is a wonderful fibre for making clothes but it is now recognized that conventionally grown cotton causes great harm both to the environment and to workers with its extensive use of pesticides and insecticides which cause ill health to people coming into contact with the chemicals and widespread pollution by soaking into water tables. Organic cotton is grown without chemicals and therefore does no harm to either environment or workers but is necessarily more labour intensive and furthermore fields must be free of chemicals for three years before the crop can be certified organic. There have been huge global increases in the demand for organic cotton and the problem now facing farmers is producing enough to meet the demand. LaRhea Pepper of Organic Exchange says” In order to encourage long term economically sustainable sources of organic fibre we need to be willing to discuss and implement models that acknowledge the value of the product from the farm gate and continuing right down the supply chain”.

HEMP

Hemp really does seem to be one of the good guys. It has many excellent properties being environmentally positive with no need of pesticides and insecticides it actually improves soil where it is grown. It is drought resistant and can be grown in most climates. Textiles can also be processed from the fibrous stalks without the use of toxic chemicals and because it does not require high technology to process it is ideal to be processed locally increasing local employment and saving transport costs and pollution. Hemp has been used to make clothing for thousands of years and it is in recent times that it has become controversial. Cannabis is produced from hemp and growing hemp in the United States is illegal but it is produced in Europe and Asia and is now legal in Canada. It would seem a great pity not to utilize this highly sustainable textile.

BAMBOO

Bamboo is a material whose luxurious softness has been compared to cashmere. As a plant it is fast growing and highly sustainable and is mainly naturally organic. It does not require replanting after harvest but will regenerate from its vast root structure. Bamboo helps to improve soil quality and helps rebuild eroded soil.

There are two ways of manufacturing bamboo mechanically or chemically. The mechanical way involves crushing the woody parts of the plant and then using natural enzymes to break it down into a mush so that the natural fibres can be mechanically combed out and spun into yarn. Bamboo produced by this method is sometimes called ‘bamboo linen’. However very little bamboo linen is manufactured for clothing because this method is labour intensive and costly. Bamboo fabric for clothing is mainly produced by chemical manufacturing which involves cooking the leaves and shoots in strong chemical solvents sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide in a process called hydrolysis alkalization combined with bleaching. Both these chemicals have been linked to health problems. Low levels can cause tiredness, headaches and nerve damage. Carbon disulfide has been blamed for neural disorders in workers at rayon manufacturers. Because of health problems associated with this manufacturing method and damage to the environment it is considered neither sustainable nor environmentally supportable. The good news is that other newer manufacturing methods have been developed and are more benign and environmentally friendly. Bamboo fabrics can be produced without any chemical additives but ensure that it is eco certified look for Oeko-Tex, Soil Association, SKAL, KRAV or similar organic or sustainable certification body.

SOYA

This fabric is renowned for its softness, comfort, luster and drape combined with wash ability and durability. It is more expensive than organic cotton or hemp at this time and is seen as a new luxury product. One of the positives being talked about is the fact that the cloth is produced from a by product of food manufacturing of the Soya bean. Some Soya has organic certification but it is a small percentage.

My research did not lead me to anything very positive about the growing of soy but I fully acknowledge that there may be additional facts that I did not discover. Soy has been very aggressively grown with GM seeds in Argentina which has embraced GM culture. Crops were treated with glyphosphate during the growing season and a mono culture developed as other crops were driven off both by low prices and contamination from soy farmers spraying. New weeds resistant to glyphosphate are now prolific and further chemicals namely gramoxone(paraquat) and gesaprim(atrazine) have been introduced prior to planting. These practices are causing damage to stock and plants in neighbouring farms.In less than decade soya farming has driven people off the land, created serious ecological and agronomic imbalances, destroyed food security and led to dependence on technology controlled by a handful of multi national companies. I would suggest that before buying Soya fabrics it would be wise to check its credentials and whether it is certified organic.

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Organic Baby Wear

In the recent times, with environmental concerns taking center stage, the call for organic farming is getting louder and louder. Not only in terms of vegetables organic farming is making its presence felt in almost every sphere, including the garment industry. As it is, organic clothing refer to clothes which are made from materials grown without using chemicals which are typically used for growing such material, such as pesticides, herbicides or other such chemicals.

Apart from that, the dyeing process too involves the usage of a number of chemical dyes as well. Now, these chemicals, which are used right from the growing of such material, to the dyeing process, are definitely not good for your health. Apart from that, they pollute the environment as well.

Cotton cultivation is by far one of the most important contributors to the release of pesticides in the atmosphere. It is individually responsible for one fourth of the total consumption of pesticides in the world, along with one tenth of the total insecticides of the world. Since it is such a versatile crop, it is put into millions of industrial uses apart from other uses. It is perhaps due to this reason that it has made its way, into our homes and today life without cotton is rather unimaginable. Since it is used so widely, therefore, it becomes all the more important, to see to it, that they do not carry harmful chemicals.

Now, what makes these chemicals so very dangerous for us is the number of health hazards that they pose. Asthma, fatal poisoning, as well as cancer are just a few of the health hazards that these chemicals are associated with. Since babies do not have a fully developed immune system, therefore these chemicals pose a higher risk for them. As a matter of fact, these chemicals often cause skin allergies in children. It is therefore advisable to look for organic cotton, for your child.

While you are searching for organic clothing for you kid. One of the best places to visit in this regard is organicbabywearhouse.com. This site offers you an exclusive range of trendy baby clothing. As it is, baby clothes made from organic material and dyed in organic dyes do not carry harmful chemicals that pose health risks to your child. Unlike what many people think, organic farming is not about out dated fashion statements. These days, you will find baby clothes made of organic material, which are as trendy and as fashionable as clothes made of material laced with chemicals. With organic clothing, your baby would not only look good, but would also take his/her first steps into an eco friendly environment.

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