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Ask A Farmer

Siro said:
I'd like for people to become more accepting of GMOs so that the science can progress more quickly. Strawberries the size of apples, hybrids of multiple of fruits, totally new things, etc. Been fantasizing about that since I was a kid.
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Prologue for those who don't have a scientific or med background, polyploid is where an organism has multiple sets of chromosomes. Humans are diploid, 2 sets of chromosomes. Commercial strawberries normally have 4 sets, or 8, which basically puts their fruits on steroids and that's why your garden grown strawberries are so small in comparison.

Are there actually any strawberries that are GMO or are they now including polyploidy as GMO? When I read this post I said WTF and searched for hours for anything that wasn't some dumb *** click bait article and couldn't find anything worthwhile other than multiple quotations from some professor at a prestigious university saying there aren't any GMO strawberries in the world. I never verified that quote. If they're referring to polyploidy then they are as dumb as the professor I had who claimed that all commercial strawberries become polyploid by freezing the seeds and making them sterile.

So, to ask a farmer, if you can answer the above question, and as well what polyploidy chromosome number are your potatoes?
 
JustTheTip said:
That doesn't mean labor is cheap, it's just cheaper.

Farming equipment is ridiculously priced. One tractor and combine costs as much as a nice house, and I can't get by with only one tractor. Luckily, the main cost is up front. After that, you're just trading on and paying the difference, like wish cars. We also can get operator loans, since farmers don't get a monthly salary. You pretty much get paid once or twice a year, depending on what you're growing.

Some farms are able to run without taking out an operator loan, but it is difficult and rare.
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One of the wittiest retorts I've ever heard was a farmer responding to someone who was going off about hicks. Something along the lines of you have a $100,000 Mercedes that you you put 20,000 miles on per year. Well, I have a $250,000 combine that I drive for a couple hours every fall.
 
Siro said:
Ya, I've always wanted dark hands on a pale body. So jealous!
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franklin said:
Prologue for those who don't have a scientific or med background, polyploid is where an organism has multiple sets of chromosomes. Humans are diploid, 2 sets of chromosomes. Commercial strawberries normally have 4 sets, or 8, which basically puts their fruits on steroids and that's why your garden grown strawberries are so small in comparison.

Are there actually any strawberries that are GMO or are they now including polyploidy as GMO? When I read this post I said WTF and searched for hours for anything that wasn't some dumb *** click bait article and couldn't find anything worthwhile other than multiple quotations from some professor at a prestigious university saying there aren't any GMO strawberries in the world. I never verified that quote. If they're referring to polyploidy then they are as dumb as the professor I had who claimed that all commercial strawberries become polyploid by freezing the seeds and making them sterile.

So, to ask a farmer, if you can answer the above question, and as well what polyploidy chromosome number are your potatoes?
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AFAIK, there are no GMO strawberries. Now, GMO is really an awful branding term. Scientists suck at marketing. ALL crops, ALL OF EM, are genetically modified. A select few, are genetically engineered. So aGO just means that something has been inserted to it, to change how it functions. It has not changed species. Still in the same family.

Polyploidy obviously, does not refer to a GMO. Anybody who says they do, is wrong. Tell them a farmer told you so. Funny enough, years back I wrote a research paper that involved polyploidy properties within potatoes. I'll have to look for that. Short story, commercial potatoes are typically 4n=48, meaning they are tetraploid. Wild cultivars can range from diploid to hexaploid.
 
When marijuana becomes legal in Montana, would you ever consider learning how to grow it if you knew you could do way better in profits?
 
JustTheTip said:
AFAIK, there are no GMO strawberries. Now, GMO is really an awful branding term. Scientists suck at marketing. ALL crops, ALL OF EM, are genetically modified. A select few, are genetically engineered. So aGO just means that something has been inserted to it, to change how it functions. It has not changed species. Still in the same family.

Polyploidy obviously, does not refer to a GMO. Anybody who says they do, is wrong. Tell them a farmer told you so. Funny enough, years back I wrote a research paper that involved polyploidy properties within potatoes. I'll have to look for that. Short story, commercial potatoes are typically 4n=48, meaning they are tetraploid. Wild cultivars can range from diploid to hexaploid.
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Thanks for the feedback. And FYI, I think everyone understands your point about GMO (artificial selection/breeding) vs. GE (i.e. Monsanto). There hasn't been a single poster to question you on that. My only question to the anti-GE people is what the hell is the difference? The only logical response I've ever heard is that we aren't growing naturally and in the future things might blow up. Well what the hell do you think happened during the Irish Potato Blight or the Black Plague?

The fear mongering over GE is nothing different than those loading up with 20,000 rounds of ammo. "****'s gonna hit the fan, I'm telling you right now mark my words".
 
franklin said:
Thanks for the feedback. And FYI, I think everyone understands your point about GMO (artificial selection/breeding) vs. GE (i.e. Monsanto). There hasn't been a single poster to question you on that. My only question to the anti-GE people is what the hell is the difference? The only logical response I've ever heard is that we aren't growing naturally and in the future things might blow up. Well what the hell do you think happened during the Irish Potato Blight or the Black Plague?

The fear mongering over GE is nothing different than those loading up with 20,000 rounds of ammo. "****'s gonna hit the fan, I'm telling you right now mark my words".
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GMOs refer to genetically engineered crops, I believe. Not selectively bread crops, which applies to all crops used today.
 
Siro said:
GMOs refer to genetically engineered crops, I believe. Not selectively bread crops, which applies to all crops used today.
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That's an incorrect layman's interpretation of the wording. The FDA and food science community differentiates, as they should:

https://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/GEPlants/ucm461805.htm

While genetic engineering is sometimes referred to as “genetic modification” producing “genetically modified organisms (GMOs),” FDA considers “genetic engineering” to be the more precise term.
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GMO is modified by unnatural sources i.e. selective breeding. GE is biotech inserting genes from other species into an organism's DNA. But yes GMO is often used incorrectly to discuss GE as I did above.
 
JustTheTip said:
It's not something I view as right, so I'm not going to change my moral standards just so I can make more money. If other people want to grow it, that's fine, but I just couldn't do it and be able to look in the mirror and be proud of who I am.
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What's not right about it in your viewpoint?
 
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