Difference between revisions of "Team:UMaryland/Practices"

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<h1 style="text-align:justify;"> Grand View Farms </h1>
 
<h1 style="text-align:justify;"> Grand View Farms </h1>
 
<p style="font-size:18px;text-align:justify;">As our project deals with alternatives to antibiotics as plasmid maintenance, we wanted to learn how and why others avoid using antibiotics in their industries. As the large majority of antibiotics used in the United States are used in farms <b>INSERT SOURCE HERE</b>, we decided to meet directly with farmers who choose to avoid antibiotics. In addition to learning about their rationale for using alternatives, these trips also helped inform us of the potential applications of our work with the Hok-Sok system.</p>
 
<p style="font-size:18px;text-align:justify;">As our project deals with alternatives to antibiotics as plasmid maintenance, we wanted to learn how and why others avoid using antibiotics in their industries. As the large majority of antibiotics used in the United States are used in farms <b>INSERT SOURCE HERE</b>, we decided to meet directly with farmers who choose to avoid antibiotics. In addition to learning about their rationale for using alternatives, these trips also helped inform us of the potential applications of our work with the Hok-Sok system.</p>
<p style="font-size:18px;text-align:justify;"> Grand View Farms is a certified organic farm in Maryland that does not administer sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to their animals, uses no pesticides, and grows as few genetically modified crops as possible. Instead of using pesticides and antibiotics, the farm's owners employ classical crop and animal rotation methods in order to keep the soil healthy. As different animals consume different plants, they argued, rotating livestock through the land naturally maintains a healthy balance of plant growth and soil nutrients, while suppressing harmful weeds. Additionally avoiding repeatedly growing the same crop on one section of land prevents depletion of nutrients in the soil. Because of this healthy plant grow due to crop and animal rotation, the farmers argued that administering does of antibiotics to the animals was not beneficial, since they naturally received all the nutrients required for good health and growth from the varied vegetation available for grazing.</p>
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<p style="font-size:18px;text-align:justify;"> Grand View Farms is a certified organic farm in Maryland that does not administer sub-therapeutic doses of antibiotics to their animals, uses no pesticides, and grows as few genetically modified crops as possible. As different animals consume different plants, they argued, rotating livestock through the land naturally maintains a healthy nutrient balance while suppressing the growth of harmful weeds. Due to this practice, the farmers at Grand View argued that administering antibiotics was not beneficial, since they naturally received all the nutrients required for good health and from the varied vegetation available for grazing.</p>
  
 
<p style="font-size:18px;text-align:justify;">Interestingly, the owners of Grand View Farms did not express any particular ethical or health concerns with GMO crops. Instead they informed us that, for a farm of their size, having an organic label made them more profitable and allows them to fill a market niche without directly competing with larger, more industrial scale operations. The allure of organically grown food and organically raised animals is a powerful marketing tool for the farm</p>  
 
<p style="font-size:18px;text-align:justify;">Interestingly, the owners of Grand View Farms did not express any particular ethical or health concerns with GMO crops. Instead they informed us that, for a farm of their size, having an organic label made them more profitable and allows them to fill a market niche without directly competing with larger, more industrial scale operations. The allure of organically grown food and organically raised animals is a powerful marketing tool for the farm</p>  

Revision as of 21:28, 17 September 2015