"Rudy Canoza" > wrote in message ink.net...
> Derek wrote:
<..>
> > Nevertheless, you refused to believe what this
> > producer claimed about his product
>
> Because the nature of his claim is absurd. He doesn't
> know anything about collateral deaths; the sleazily
> loaded question put to him
....
> Lundberg, caught entirely off-guard by
> Lesley's loaded and sleazy and undoubtedly dishonestly
> composed question, didn't know what he was talking
> about concerning CDs.

This is what I wrote Lundberg:

"It has come to my attention that during the harvesting of rice,
birds and amphibians may be caught up in the machinery. I
have heard to my horror and dismay, from one source- an
'organic' rice farmer, that it can get very messy indeed. "

Their reply:

"There is an "article" circulating on the Internet that describes how
thousands of frogs and other animals are killed in the mechanized
harvesting of grain crops. This "collateral animal deaths" story is an
elaborate hoax. The author, a "Texas organic rice farmer" is a gifted
writer, but he should use his talents elsewhere.

The author's numbers describe a plague of frogs of biblical
proportions. However, it is questionable if he has even been on a rice
farm. The major point that our author has missed is that rice fields
are harvested dry. The irrigation water is drained, and the ground is
left to dry before the harvesters go out in the field (otherwise, they'd
sink in the mud). There just aren't that many amphibians in the field.

Regrettably, there probably are some small animal deaths. However, the
number of deaths in a mile of rice harvesting pales in comparison to the
road kill on a mile of highway. Harvesters move slowly, and they are
not the high speed machines described in this article.

At Lundberg Family Farms, we care deeply for the animals that we share
our fields with. For example, every spring before field work begins, we
search the fields for nests, rescuing eggs for a local incubation
centers (mature pairs re-nest when the nests are disturbed like this).
After hatching, the fledglings are raised and released back into the
wild. Last year, we rescued over 3,000 duck eggs. After harvest, we
flood our fields to provide habitat for winter migratory birds and
waterfowl. They eat the rice that is left in the fields and contribute
fertilizer for next spring. There are autumn days when the sky is
blackened by canadian geese (and the sound is beautiful)! We see ducks,
geese, cranes, rails, pheasants, egrets, herons, swans, and even bald
eagles resting in our fields.

We are committed to sustainable and organic farming techniques. We see
our farming operation as a "partnership with nature," and would not
continue if rice harvesting resulted in the "death toll" that this hoax
suggests.

--> Kent Lundberg.

Kent Lundberg
Lundberg Family Farms
http://www.lundberg.com


Judge for yourselves. End of my participation in this thread.