There are some farmers in Germany who do organic but do not get certified, because it increases the price of the produce. They usually sell on their own premises, or to all the nearby neighbours and towns. The people know them and trust them, and it works for them. Amish farmers may build a reputation of doing as much natural and resources saving as it is reasonable, without getting into that commercial treadmill of feeding certification bodies.

@bradk1295

2 жыл бұрын

Here in the US I know of local market farmers who do not apply conventional pesticides, but do use chemical fertilizers. Their clientele accept this as a compromise. Also, as I’m sure you’re aware.. organic certification is a huge pain and a lot of paperwork. For a small grower that has a lot of other, more practical work to do, the time spent on that can be a huge encumbrance.

@krollpeter

2 жыл бұрын

@@bradk1295 Yep I was told exactly this. I am actually not against the use of chemical fertilizers, and even not pesticides in some cases. But all has to be done responsibly and under the least burden for humans, earth and produce.

@LauRoot892

2 жыл бұрын

@@krollpeter Hey 💯

@LauRoot892

2 жыл бұрын

@@bradk1295 Brad 💯

Hi, Lancaster resident here. It is pretty much Organic or bust here for most of the farmers.

Thanks for explaining that. I, too, always assumed that Amish farms would be organic and only recently learned that they aren't. Thanks for the deeper dive.

@captainamericaamerica8090

2 жыл бұрын

DON'T TRUST THEM. WE KNOW ALOT OF THEM. THEY LIE AND CUT CORNERS! LIKE MANY OTHERS

@johnnyrodgers1598

2 жыл бұрын

Don’t believe everything you hear. Some are and some may not be. Do your own research.

@Growmap

Жыл бұрын

What I find really sad is that even the Amish and Mennonite farmers often grow from GMO seed. It is so very hard to find non-GMO grains and hay to feed horses now. And droughts are making that much tougher to do.

Dear Erik, Great topic, not an expected one. Good for people to know the truth, the full picture. In this short video you told us the way it is among the Amish. The movement to buy local produce has been a God-send for the Amish. They have all the ways and means to make it work. A good news story. Sincerely, Larry Clarence Lewis, Ontario, Canada.

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you Larry, it is a great niche for some and like I mentioned in the video the public image of the Amish and the concepts and themes around "organic" seem to be a perfect fit. I guess the success of the co-ops attests to that.

@Growmap

Жыл бұрын

@@AmishAmerica Amish families who have livestock are likely to be making their own compost or spreading or tilling manure into their gardens. I know the Mennonite family where I used to live would come get a huge trailer of horse manure from me annually to use on their own garden (not for resale -- for their family). Many people who buy local don't care about the certification. We just want to know how it is grown.

My daughter & her husband rented an Amish farm in Amish country. I visited often. walking around that farm I was very concerned for the health of my daughter & her family because I found dead birds all over her farm. Obviously the birds died from eating Amish grown grain. I owned an organic dairy farm in the middle of Amish communities, Port Royal, PA. The Amish hired crop sprayers to spray their crops with pesticides.

Great topic here. Many people do not understand the requirements to be certified organic including the costs. It’s ally more than simply farming wo fertilizer or pesticides. Well done!

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you Jean! I'm certainly not an expert on organic but have heard these financial concerns/reasons from Amish farmers over the years. My one Amish friend uses a natural fertilizer which I think is marine based. It has that smell anyway:)

@danielturner9832

2 жыл бұрын

My Amish neighbor is a organic dairy farmer and manure and crop rotation are the biggest part of it.

Thanks for these videos. I grew up in 'Amish Country' 50 years ago but never really knew much about them. In my era, they didnt speak much english and certainly not well, and their german is a nearly incomprehensible dialect to most german speakers, so there was little communication with them besides pointing at some tomatoes at roadside markets in Lancaster and Lebanon counties. But seems they are relaxing their standards, as in my time, f.x. aluminum ladders would have been wooden instead, and manure was the standard fertilizer....one's nose would inform you when they were fertilizing the fields.

YOUR VOICE IS AWESOME

Always appreciate your informative and interesting videos on the Amish. God bless.

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

There is a group of Amish that run a shop called Shirk's Produce in the city I grew up in Indiana. They have some nice food. I've never seen any claims of "organic". I've never made the assumption anything is "organic". With the attitude towards it, whether you follow it or not, there is almost guaranteed to be some kind of notice. It's a buzzword, something that will get attention.

@danielturner9832

2 жыл бұрын

Four Amish dairy farms within sight of our house are Organic certified. One changed to organic about 4 years or so ago . It's nice to think one field about 100 ft from our well has been farmed organically for more than 20 years now. My dad sold the farm to a Amish family.

I always thought organic was just a modern buzzword for the natural / old-fashioned way of farming/gardening. The way it was always done until the industrial age. If it isn't, then what is it?

Wow! Thank you for bringing this up. I was looking forward to visiting the local Amish produce auction but I also assumed they would lean much more towards natural methods. What a bummer! Thanks for sharing this!

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

There are definitely some who do grow organic as mentioned but if it's not used in their marketing, right it probably means it's not organic. And of course you can always ask to be sure:) You might enjoy the auction either way, even if you don't buy any produce, they are nice Amish social events as well

@stephaniebandosik

2 жыл бұрын

@@AmishAmerica oooh! Thanks for that idea! I like to make friends with all different kinds of folks and the Amish have so much knowledge and discipline! Maybe I could be sure to have a list of the "clean 15" foods you shouldn't waste money on buying organic anyway with me and see if any of those go up for sale! THANK YOU!!!

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

Stephanie read through all comments on here, organic doesn't really mean it's better it usually means the producers have to follow some corporations requirements so that corporation certifies it to their organic standards; most anybody that gardens to sell takes it very seriously its their lively hood or a good part of it and they intend to continue doing it, so they make sure that they are following strict guidelines, because they not only want return customers, it's also a big part of their table fair, and believe me they want their own family to be happy and healthy

@stephaniebandosik

2 жыл бұрын

@@joeanderson9431 there is a difference between certified organic and grown organically. The community garden I'm a member of isn't certified organic but we do not use chemicals and pesticides. I don't want chemicals in my food or our environment. Chemicals feed the plant artificially, organic gardening cares for the soil and the soil feeds the plant so while "Certified Organic" is not necessarily important o me, organically grown IS better than chemically grown and I avoid as many unnecessary chemicals as possible.

Good info Eric, thank you

Great video Mr. Wesner. Very informative.

That's an interesting topic. Thank you! I wonder about the health of the horses of the Amish farmes who use pesticides? I would never use some of those chemicals close to the home of children and pregnant women, and I just can't understand those who are cool with doing that.

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

I haven't ever heard anything on it. Agriculture is not my specialty but I'd assume what is used today is safer than what was around in the 1950s and/or they know better how to mitigate any ill effects.

@mailill

2 жыл бұрын

@@AmishAmerica I've read that some of the more modern insecticides used in the U.S. today are far more toxic than the DDT used in the 1950s. Three or four new nicotine-like insecticides were banned in the EU in 2018 (but with some legal loopholes which means they can still be in use in many European countries in spite of the ban)

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

Don't go by what happens in the EU irregardless of what goes swirling around the internet they don't have the technology and agriculture departments to assist the farmers, so mistakes happen and that's why they have to ban things over there; now on to DDT it and the eagle incident was 1 isolated spill that the animal and environmental activists used to achieve one of their uninvestigated and un fact checked goals since it got discovered that it only affected the exact location where it happened, it has been removed from the unsafe list and is used in tropical type countries with unbelievable success stopping malaria and other such insect transmitted deceases

Informative video respect from 🇬🇧

I assumed this, some of the prices dictate that they have to be farming conventionally some of the time!

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

As with all farmers you have to use what's available in your area or depending on your soil tests you won't be able to produce anything that's the bottom line cause only if you are blessed with good fertile soil can you produce just using what your livestock produces for fertilizer

Always informative, thank you.

@LauRoot892

2 жыл бұрын

Norma n

SO interesting! Happy Mother's Day to your Mom! 💐💕

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you! From Mom too)

Thanks Eric, very interesting video thanks for sharing 👍👍

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I had been seeing this question come up in the comments

Perhaps a way to transition to organic is to create an intermediate stage. The produce would be labelled and sold as transitional, meaning that chemical residue from previous years' farming may exist but no chemicals are used on the current crop. It could even be fractionated such as Transitional 1, meaning one year without chemicals, Transitional 2, two years without, etc.

@LauRoot892

2 жыл бұрын

Gamba

Interesting to learn.👍

You can produce "conventional" and still be nearly as good as organic. Organic is just a certificate given to farmers by organic labels. But the farmers have to pay for these certificates. So I know a lot that are considered conventional but are clearly not. They just don't work for an organic label.

Thanks Eric

(😋🕵😎..Recently.purchased Some.Amish Egg Noodles...'New' at Bomarritos Bakery, S.CS..MI..(🙂where They have 'The Secret' to St. Joseph Bread..And!💞..Lemon Ice.)..🤐😎..Even If..They Werent 'Organic'. and Were 'Machine Processed' 😍.They .Tasted...Organic..And The Best..Egg Noodles..' Ive eaten..🌿🌿🌷)

I used to think the Amish we're at creating a sustainable civilization way more than I I'm trying. But now I'm not so sure. I am sad that the word organic is owned by the FDA. So my farm is never going to be organic even though that's exactly how I grow everything

@mailill

2 жыл бұрын

What about biodynamic agriculture? Or maybe that is a trademark as well.

@spacecase0

2 жыл бұрын

@@mailill apparently any claim on food whatsoever needs to be followed up with a full description. And specifically without using words that the FDA claim ownership of

@SF-dy6hn

2 жыл бұрын

If I had to make an educated guess it would be something like this. The FDA is a corrupt agency known as a captured agency where the bulk of their funds come from the people they're supposed to regulate. Because of this the FDA is doing their bidding attacking the organic label and making it super rare. That way people who abuse pesticides won't get easily outed by their competition because it keeps them on the same playing field. If everyone who deserves an organic label got one it would ruin the pesticide industry which the FDA has a financial interest in maintaining.

The organic culture in America is odd. I love Amish produce just the way it is 🍅🍅

@EliseDoomSlayer

2 жыл бұрын

The "organic culture" is traditional culture and food.

@ethanmcdonald5899

3 ай бұрын

What a silly comment…. Organic is the way it is as done before ww2 And the only healthy way

We have a small farmer's market at this one place not far from me. My mom really likes the Amish.

I always thought that it was the opposite. Higher cost of farmland meant non-organic farming, because organic crops are low yield.

@Keepskatin

2 жыл бұрын

Organic crops are low yield, if you don't know how to properly organically farm. It requires much more labor, attention to detail and labor getting rid of pest. Just growing in composted manure isn't enough. Compost must be rich in various sources of organic matter, not just one source. Also the compost must be completely composted. Compost completed by beneficial insects and microbes is higher in nutrients than compost created from hot compost.

People also think food that says "non-gmo" is organic, which it is not. It must say "Organic" on it to be organic "USDA-Organic Certified"

would be curious to know if they use hybrid and genetically modified seeds from the agri-industrial seed companies. (If stick with heritage seeds then can put back seed for the next season planting - and avoid going into debt to buy the agri-industrial seed)

Organic farming doesn’t mean we don’t use pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. That’s untrue. We use specifically biological amendments and desiccants to control things, and that includes Amish.

@RestingBitchface7

2 жыл бұрын

Also, “organic” is a USDA pay-to-play label; it has nothing to do with growing and raising practices.

But even without being organic the Amish tend to plant more heirloom varieties of apples and produce out local regional preference for varieties not found in large grocery store chains

@LauRoot892

2 жыл бұрын

😒

@danielturner9832

2 жыл бұрын

I am trying to get my Amish neighbor to grow open pollinated corn and save seed. I think there is trouble coming in that regard. He just feeds the corn to his cows anyway.

Engine powered equipment being pulled by horses is interesting. I wonder if John Deere or AGCO has specific equipment for the Amish.

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

Idk if them 2 companies are but there are companies that are and not just for the Amish but for hobby farmers, Gardners and for food plots for deer hunting

Interesting video! I wonder if hydroponics could be introduced into some amish communities. Maybe not yet until the tech is more stable, but indoor hydroponic growth produces A LOT more crops per water*land*energy than outdoor sun farms. And the systems can be mechanically simple enough to maintain fairly easily, it's less complicated than a tractor for sure, one could even use an old fashioned hand powered water pump combined with a tank fed by gravity to keep the water moving, like a manual fountain. It's also possible to irrigate sunlight using fiber optic cables or mirrors so they dont have to use electronic lights, though they seem somewhat partial to solar panel powered LEDs based on what I've seen on this channel. Indoor hydroponics use about 100x less wa+ter, and the need for pesticides can be reduced to basically nothing if youre careful about keeping the doors shut, making the process inherently easier to have organic. Hydroponics doesn't have to be high technology, and it could help to improve their independence and maybe earn some additional money. Though I suppose it is based off of modern technological attitudes, and it's quite different from the traditions of the past so that could be offputting. Also having an indoor farm or plant factory does best with very large buildings, and maybe that doesn't feel right to many amish. It seems to fit the attitude of productive independence though

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

Some Amish are doing hydroponics in Lancaster County. I'm not sure how widespread it's become but I became aware of at least one operation there several years ago

@patriciahamlin7677

2 жыл бұрын

Do you have more information about the hydro in Lancaster? It would be Great learning tool!

@jamessteele7102

2 жыл бұрын

You are promoting a very technocratic idea and the way food will soon be produced for the mega populations of the mega cities, consistent with Agenda 2030. No thanks ... I’ll stick with eating food grown naturally in the soil and sun.

If you need footage or photographs of something specific for a video I might be able to help you. I was brought up Amish in the Holmes county area so I may have access to things the average onlooker doesn’t.

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the idea Mike - maybe you could drop me an email (found here) kzread.infoabout

@LauRoot892

2 жыл бұрын

Mike 💕

The Native folk planted corn with fish and then planted beans and squash around the stalk. The fish naturally fertilized the plants. The beans vined up the stalk and added nitrogen to the soil. The squash leaves kept the weeds down. And they had very productive gardens. No manmade chemicals.

I always buy organic. One time I was at the check-out counter and held up an "ORGANIC" chicken and I said to the young cashier, "Do you know what we used to call this?". He shook his head. So I said, "Food. We used to just call it food".

Most amish in Indiana don't use chemicals, some are fully organic.

Our Amish near me don't use chems when growing

Its March2024 the courts in Pennsylvania have targeted the Amish concerning this topic. Sad.

all of a sudden, I really want some tomatoes.

I was just in Lancaster County PA and they were spraying something yellow on the fields. Don’t know what it was

@bradk1295

2 жыл бұрын

Could have been Prowl? It’s an herbicide that’s is dark yellow

Do they produce their own corn seed? Do they use roundup-ready corn seed?

@danielturner9832

2 жыл бұрын

My neighbor uses hybrid corn seed but can't spray being certified organic. Amazing the amount of work he gets done with horses. He gets on the field faster after rain.

If they state tomatoes are organic they are organic If they just say tomatoes it isn’t organic

Organic it's food without venon. But it doesn't mean it's ecological. The production of fertilizers need a lot of energy, and it dammage the balance of live underground, and produce a dangerous gaz harming the climat. But the worth it's the tilling, either with machine or horses. One of the dammage, it's that it decreases the natural fertilirty of the soil. See the trick with fertilizer industry ? The amish need to study more about agroecology.

My garden is organic. I don’t get to enjoy much from it.

Organic is just a label that comes with a lot of headaches for farmers. All natural is something I would’ve expected from the Amish. That is organic without the printed and certified label from the government, obviously. I’m not pointing out anything that most people don’t already know.

@danielturner9832

2 жыл бұрын

Lots of hoops to be jumped through for a organic certification.

@ChrisTopheRaz

2 жыл бұрын

@@danielturner9832 too much work and money thanks to our government policies pushed by corporate lobbyist to help protect conventional agriculture of corporate America. But this is partially why I’m surprised the Amish dont go with all natural because it evades that process and cost. So essentially it is organic without the label in some cases at least.

I have been told, can not confirm, that some if not a lot of the Amish in my area have taken to renting out their acreage to conventional farmers.

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

Some do that. For instance to soybean farmers, which is not really a crop Amish grow

Organic means no chemicals, you can spray gasoline, acetone, benzene, ethylene on your fields and they are all good, ALL ORGANIC.

@danielturner9832

2 жыл бұрын

No you can't. There is a listing of what can be used and still be called organic and they ain't on it. Crude oil straight out of the ground is closer to organic.

I live with the amish....all my neighbors...........How about you post a photo of Amish using pesticide's .......................Im just dying to see your proof............

🙂🕵😎..Interesting Topic...i guess WE Hope for The Best w ALL our Food...And!💥..Whatever FDA 'get Involved in'..Automatic Suspect, imho..🤔..🕵Check The New Weed Industry...Big Costs There!! 🤔...I just Wonder...How The Amish..Produce and Sell...All These 'Packaged Products w/o 'Using Modern Tech'..?!?...🙏.🙂😎

Can Amish men join local volunteers fire departments?

@sweetpeach3649

Жыл бұрын

Some do

Interesting ... I wonder how they treat their work horses? 🍀

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

As part of the family; if you want good team work and smooth going doing your farm and field work there has to be a respect between you and your horses same with the rest of your livestock if you want them to produce milk become a certain weight or lay consistently so for all there has to be that respect and quality of care

@tebelshaw9486

2 жыл бұрын

I'm originally from PA and can tell you that there are Amish communities that do not treat their animals well. 😪

@jK-yj2tl

2 ай бұрын

@@tebelshaw9486 I imagine, that their communities are much like others in that respect. Some people have an innate ability to relate to animals other than humans and some do not. It seems that is so in all cultures. Some people treat animals very well and some people do not .

@tebelshaw9486

2 ай бұрын

@@jK-yj2tl True. They are just people, with various ideas like we all are.

Do the Amish think much about wars when they are happening?

@grandcatsmama3421

Жыл бұрын

I know that they read newspapers, so would read about what's happening elsewhere in the country and the world, too I'm sure.

This was kinda sad 😔 I really did think they grew all organic. You really do learn something new every day. I'll be even more sad to find out they have regular doctor visits and vaccinations like the non Amish. 😢 I've always thought of them as the most pure people on earth. I still adore them, just strange to have that veil lifted lol.

@Keepskatin

2 жыл бұрын

He said most are not organic, not all. Also the pressure of global warming and imported pest,.etc Makes it difficult to farm organically. I am.sure those who do use pesticide or chemicals, use less toxic amounts,.less toxic brands than regular farmers. There produce is better than your average organic non Amish farmers produce. If they notice a demand for organic, I am almost certain more Amish will shift to organic farming.

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

Keepskatin you really need to get better informed on the Amish, they are plain and practical people who make necessary decisions that are the most frugal economicly wich mostly isn't going to be jumping through all the hoops of getting certified organic, so just generally there're not going to; you also need to gain a realistic knowledge of the weather it's repeated its cycles since God created it and only he controls it there's no way we can, otherwise you'd hear the weather man forecast that we need rain so we're going to bring rain clouds over us so we get the moisture we need

I thought they just used horse manure. I guess they don't have enough horses for those big farms. Shows how naive I am!!!

I'm very curious: what would happen to a poor amish lady or gentleman who turns out to be gay? Would they be excommunicated? Thank you, Frank from Australia

@jasonscott5791

2 жыл бұрын

They'd probably choose to leave the community.

@GoofierClock

2 жыл бұрын

What about lesbians?

Organic isn’t really organic if they are fda approved!

I used to have this illusion about Amish being closer to nature, etc. But reality is a lot of Amish food is pretty unhealthy e.g. all their baked goods. A lot of Amish (it seems women in particular) are overweight. They probably are healthier than the average American, but certainly not what a health aficionado would call healthy.

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

And yes to the healthier, as a general rule they are on the go all day long as for both the men and women and especially a bit more so for the men, farm and construction work for them is usually very labor intensive wich of course leads to being more physically fit and in better health

You don't get anywhere near the crop yield with organic farming that you get from chemical fertilizer. Plus you need more land to grow each plant because of the more extensive root system that each plant needs, and the lack of pesticides further depletes the crop yield. Chemical fertilizer is just fertilizer concentrated and pesticides keep bugs from destroying crops. "Organic" is just a fancy way of saying "more expensive for no good reason"

Why don't you make a video that gives FULL disclosure and transparency? Tell us what percentage of the Amish farm organically, but don't go through the government oppression to get the certification? I'm sure you're well aware the Amish don't like to interact with the Government. I think you purposely made this video to make the Amish look bad. You could make a million videos that make the Government look bad. Find a better way to spend your time!

too bad...they probably could sell a lot more produce if they did farm Organic

#1, I always love your videos! #2, Just my own personal opinion, I think this whole organic thing is a huge rip off to consumers! "Organic eggs", $5.00 a dozen, regular eggs less then $2.00. I've seen people that are paying at the check out line that are paying with food stamps and WIC with a cart full of Organic skinless chicken breast, eggs, and many other items they they just chose because it said organic that I could not even afford to buy! There's hundreds of videos on KZread taking about the difference between the two, it's never been proven that non organic has any more nutitional value or has effected anyone's health.

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

I think you mean that organic has more nutritional value than non organic; except if you know for sure no chemicals were used in any stage of the process of producing the product, now with eggs that would have to do with what the chickens are being fed, one difference between eggs from mass producers compared to if you have or are buying them from someone in your neighborhood the mass produced eggs aren't fertile eggs and the ones from your neighborhood most likely are as they'll usually have a rooster or two in the flock and fertile eggs have an enzyme in them that helps prevent heart disease

@kimfleury

2 жыл бұрын

I stopped reading at "I've seen people paying at the checkout that are paying with food stamps and WIC..." Why on God's green earth are you sticking your nose that close to someone else's personal business? Do you try to catch their PIN number, too?

@AmishAmerica

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks Joseph, very kind:) So I am not a big eater of organic products myself...usually if I eat organic it's by accident :D But I do think that people also buy things for the perceived value/psychological value besides whatever intrinsic differences might actually be there... So there might be a bit of that going on with the organic market as well, eg., "If I buy organic, I feel I am doing the best for my family's health, etc." I'm not saying I agree with that, but just that that might be part of the consumer psyche here. In that case, maybe $5 is not a rip-off for the person who gets $5 worth of feeling good about their food choices 🙂

@josephrobichaud5198

2 жыл бұрын

@@AmishAmerica 10-4

Fake news

They are all about the money, don't be fooled.

@emmib1388

2 жыл бұрын

do you have a problem with people working and earning a living?

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

FYI as a general rule they are good honest and fair people and also as a general rule price gouging just goes against their principles; but they do understand basic business principles, no business can survive with out a profit margin and believe me it's marginal with them, their more focused on good products and customer service

@broadfall1

2 жыл бұрын

and your not? you work for free? or reduced wages or do you try to get the most money for your time and skill

@joeanderson9431

2 жыл бұрын

Broadfall productions if you're referring to my response, because of health issues I'm restricted and so for me that's how it has to be, so I truly get my satisfaction from being complimented on how clean I keep my work van and that I'm easy to talk to and willing to assist when it's needed, there's not a better feeling in the world than that

Erik - please stop pronouncing “home” like “Hoeeeme” please , if needed, attend speech therapy… thank you!!!

Agreed that this is a good topic. My gardens are not organic because the soil I use isn’t certified organic. However the food we grow on a small scale for us and to share with neighbors is “all natural and pesticide free.” This is another way farmers can grow foods as “all natural, pesticide free” and not worry about becoming certified organic. On thing if a large farm changes to this, it’s my understanding that it does take awhile for the soil to no longer contain residual pesticides. But just knowing that produce is not sprayed with pesticides or grown in chemical fertilizers is worth buying and so much better for us and the soil. 🍎🥕🍅🫐🥒