carrots-organic/non organic from the supermarket

[Protea]

QUOTE=Snadger
Hi Protea

To further complicate the situation, what or who dictate that a variety is a Heritage variety I don't know! and will a modern variety eventually become a heritage variety? Probably!I always thought that any variety that wasn't an F1 or F2 etc and was open pollinated, and came true from seed was a Heritage variety? No: not all OP varieties are heritage varieties
If a heritage or modern variety is grown organically for seed, without inorganic fertilisers,weedkilllers and fungiscides will this not make it a stronger variety, easier to be grown organically in the future? Possibly, but only if you were to at the same time select only the best, strongest plants, which in reality when you are multiplying seed commercially isn't going to happen - it needs to be uniform, unless you are breeding new varieties of course! Organic seed will naturally be more expensive than inorganic seed because of the extra work involved in hand weeding, applying muck and generally more 'hands on' attention, but I would have thought the quality would have been superior? i've attached a picture of a field of seed crops - its quite large and in somewhere like Italy - i doubt they hand weed it
Hmmmm......Interesting! Indeed!

[Snadger]

QUOTE=Snadger
Hi Protea

To further complicate the situation, what or who dictate that a variety is a Heritage variety I don't know! and will a modern variety eventually become a heritage variety? Probably!I always thought that any variety that wasn't an F1 or F2 etc and was open pollinated, and came true from seed was a Heritage variety? No: not all OP varieties are heritage varieties
If a heritage or modern variety is grown organically for seed, without inorganic fertilisers,weedkilllers and fungiscides will this not make it a stronger variety, easier to be grown organically in the future? Possibly, but only if you were to at the same time select only the best, strongest plants, which in reality when you are multiplying seed commercially isn't going to happen - it needs to be uniform, unless you are breeding new varieties of course! Organic seed will naturally be more expensive than inorganic seed because of the extra work involved in hand weeding, applying muck and generally more 'hands on' attention, but I would have thought the quality would have been superior? i've attached a picture of a field of seed crops - its quite large and in somewhere like Italy - i doubt they hand weed it
Hmmmm......Interesting! Indeed!

Ahhh! But is it field of organically grown seed? If I personally had to organically grow seed I would leave areas in between rows to allow for hand weeding or using a hoe! (more reasons for expensive organic seed) I know it's feasible because I used to earn a few bob as a kid hoeing and thinning swedes for a local farmer! Anyway, if it is an organic seed crop, how else could they organically weed it?

[sewer rat]

There are many ways to weed organically - hand weeding, hoeing, brush weeders, inter row weeders, scarifiers etc. Up here the carrot boys use flat bed weeders, whereby a tractor, moving in super slow crawler gear, pulls a large flat frame behind it. Upon this frame are between ten and fifteen people, lying on their bellies, hand weeding the crop as they pass over it - can't think of a worse job in the cold and rain !!