Hey sam.

[Jackalope]

Think you can find me a seed cleaner. mischeif.gif

 

[Ohiosam]

I'll do some lookin. How many bu per hour you want to run through it?

 

[Jackalope]

I'll do some lookin. How many bu per hour you want to run through it?

Don't rightfully know. I hear since monsanto started being a prick there should be plenty of them in barns collecting dust. I've never been good at toeing the line. And humans have never been good at being honest. Soooooooo sounds like there is some money to be made between the two. Is there a market if a guy was willing to clean seed?

 

[Jackalope]

Could be used for farms that want to hold back seed. But also to start selling deer corn cheaper than tractor supply at 9.99 a bag.

 

[Ohiosam]

For the amount to do you want look for an old "fanning mill". Something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/JA-COHOON-WHEAT...ultDomain_0&hash=item587dfd1928#ht_1165wt_892

That one is IMO over priced and probably incomplete. Just showing you what to look for. They had screens for different size seed. Might find one at a antique shop or auction.

If you want to do more there is this one. http://cgi.ebay.com/150-BPH-New-See...aultDomain_0&hash=item2c5bfea397#ht_500wt_900

 

[Jackalope]

For the amount to do you want look for an old "fanning mill". Something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/JA-COHOON-WHEAT...ultDomain_0&hash=item587dfd1928#ht_1165wt_892

That one is IMO over priced and probably incomplete. Just showing you what to look for. They had screens for different size seed. Might find one at a antique shop or auction.

Thanks. I was just thinking.. 15 years ago a very small percentage of farmers grew patented GMO.. There had to be tons of seed cleaners around for hold back. But now something like 90+ % of farms are GMO... And monsanto has a habit of harassing, suing, and general thuggery towards non GMO growers, seed cleaners etc...

So I figure there should be plenty of useless seed cleaners around.

With the absolute explosion towards "organics" i can see a rising need for once again having a traveling seed cleaning man in the future. I think demand for Organics by consumers is growing at a rate of 20% per year. Those people don't use GMO and will more than likely hold back seed.

 

[Ohiosam]

I'm almost 50, even when I was a kid most seed was bought and not saved. Corn has been mostly hybrid seed since the 50's and you can't save it. It cost too much to grow a crop (land, fertilizer, equipment, pesticides) to risk it with cheap seed. The other part is how much seed is needed because farmers grow so many more acres. The 80's pretty much wiped out little seed producers. This was before the "issue" of Monsanto enforcing their patents. What happened with beans and GMOs was all of a sudden the price per bag tripled and some farmers got the bright idea of using beans out of the bin, something most didn't do much of before. You can still grow beans that aren't round-up ready and save your seed, you just can't have it both ways.

I occasionally will combine an acre or 2 of rye and get it cleaned to use as a cover crop, closest place to get it cleaned is about 25 miles away in PA.

 

[Jackalope]

Here is a quick article about what Monsanto has done to the Seed industry.. I'm sure i don;t need to tell you, but for others perspective. In some parts of the country seed cleaning is actually illegal under the guise of "food safety". No doubt the big lobbying pockets of Monsanto have had much to do with this. They have simply made it their business to eliminate non GM farmers through lobbying legislation, lawsuits against farmers and seed cleaners and so on..

Professional seed cleaners who work with farmers have had to change the way they do business since patented genetically modified seeds have entered the market. “In the early 1980s, we processed a lot more soybeans,” says Parker. “Back then, only conventional soybeans were produced. Now, most soybeans are Roundup-ready, and seed processors cannot process Roundup-ready beans. The soy business has decreased dramatically, but everything else has grown.”
Parr entered the seed cleaning business in 1983. “In my part of the Midwest, the main crop that’s cleaned is soy. As soon as Monsanto introduced their GM soy, my business started to decrease.” Parr says that when Monsanto introduced Roundup-ready soybean, the company required farmers who wanted to purchase it sign a user agreement relinquishing the right to save their own seed.
“I’m not what you would call a huge force,” says Parr, who used to clean approximately 200,000 bushels of seed a year. He never asked his customers whether they were having him clean GM soy, but he now suspects that some may have been bringing him the patented material.
A few years ago, Monsanto sued Parr, alleging that he had cleaned their Roundup-ready soy. Since then, he has lost about 90 percent of his business.
The lawsuit against Parr dramatically changed the way he does business. The judge instructed him to modify his methods or pay $40,000 to Monsanto. Per court order, Parr’s machine now bears a sign that says, “Do not ask me to clean Roundup-ready seed. All varieties of Roundup-ready seed are patented. Replanting is illegal.” He must also have each farmer sign a paper saying their seed is not Roundup-ready. Finally, he must take a sample of every load of soybeans he cleans to the state seed commissioner and chemist’s office at Purdue University. After the chemists test the seed they send the sample to Monsanto to prove it is not Roundup-ready.
Parr intends to remain in the seed cleaning and processing business. “I am going to do everything I can to stay within the law, but I am going to do everything I can to convince farmers to get off this bandwagon, because they are being enslaved and going back into serfdom,” he asserts. Since the lawsuit, reports have surfaced about other lawsuits and injunctions against seed cleaners suspected of processing GM seed.
In Alabama, Ronnie Parker is keenly aware that helping farmers save GM seed is dangerous business. In the last few years, he has turned away dozens of farmers who approached him with genetically modified soybeans. “The farmer could be sued and the seed processor could be sued. I won’t fool with it; it’s not worth the risk.”
While soy is perhaps the most notable GM crop currently, researchers are working to develop an assortment of GM vegetables. Thus far, the corporations developing GM seeds have patented each as intellectual property, which negates a farmer’s right to save those seeds.

But here is what I'm seeing also.. A massive move towards "organics".. Corn and soy is in 95+% of the products we eat. Right down to grape jelly.. Before any manufacturer can slap a "organic" sticker on their product all ingredients must actually be organic. That includes not using GMOs. Currently demand for organics is higher than the supply. With demand increasing at a rate of about 20% per year.. In the very near future there will once again be a need for seed cleaning, holdback, and other non GMO services. Weather monsonto likes it or not consumers are demanding a change in our farming practices. But our reliance on corn and beans is indispensable due to it being in about 95% of the food products we buy. The more people want organic anything, the more non GMO corn and beans will need to be produced. Currently about 90+ of beans and corn is GMO.

 

[Beentown]

Reading the article, it would have to be a MAJOR movement to change the currrent use of GM seed. The demand may be up 20%, but that number is still insignificant compared to the demand for what output GM seeds produce and supply the world with. Sure there is a niche market but non-GM (organic) seed is still very low in demand and will remain so compared to what we are asking for production in our Ag community to provide. We use corn and soy in practically every aspect of our lives now. From toothpaste, animal feed, glues, TOO books. There is such a demand that without the use of GM seeds we couldn't meet demand.

I think for a guy with a bit of acreage to get into the "organic" market he could make a decent amount of money. Especially, if he gets in with that crowd. Huge scale? No. At least not in the forseeable future. I am going to save seeds from my gardens this year to replant next. Just doing my part

Beentown

 

[Jackalope]

I'm not saying it will change the whole industry. There will always be a massive demand for non organic products. While the demand for organics is still small in comparison. It is still massive and massively expanding. Think back 10 years what the organic department looked like in the grocery store. It was tiny to nonexistant. Now it takes up a large space in produce. And a couple hundred square feet of shelves. Places like whole foods grocer didn't exist. Even Walmart is jumping on the organic bandwagon..

While it will be a tiny part of the food industry as a whole. It is still a multi billion dollar demand and increasing 20% per year. So much so that production can't keep up. People everyday are switching from gmo to organic to jump on the bandwagon and fill demand..

 

[Beentown]

I agree. The article made me jump between thoughts so I didn't convey it very well. Good money to be made by the connected person.

I would be curious to see, of the products being sold in the organic isle how much of it uses corn or soybeans. Corn took the place of most sweet ingredients in todays foods via corn syrup. My guess is that they just use sugar/sugar cane instead.

I trimmed and laid down 21 gallons of paint by myself yesterday. I am whooped and not exactly on point this morning. So if it is hard to follow my point....excuse me.

Beentown

 

[Dannmann801]

This is an interesting and enlightening thread.

The general public (the "herd") has NO idea of what's involved in the production and marketing of the products that they buy, or the infrastructure they take for granted which allows them to flip on a light switch, drink clean water, and shit into a porcelain throne that magically takes away the waste.

The herd (of which I'm a part) is blissfully ignorant.

Sorry for the hijack, but this is an interesting and enlightening thread.

 

[Redhunter1012]

Jack, I work for Heritage Cooperative here in NW Ohio. We've discontinued our seed cleaning. We have two of our local facilities that still have 2 cleaners that they have lined up to take out. Basically they had been trashing and scrapping whatever they could. If you are interested, I can PM you my managers number and see if you guys can figure something out. IIRC, they would do around 200-250 BPH

 

[Jackalope]

This is an interesting and enlightening thread.

The general public (the "herd") has NO idea of what's involved in the production and marketing of the products that they buy, or the infrastructure they take for granted which allows them to flip on a light switch, drink clean water, and shit into a porcelain throne that magically takes away the waste.

The herd (of which I'm a part) is blissfully ignorant.

Sorry for the hijack, but this is an interesting and enlightening thread.

Oh we've just barely scratched the surface man. We haven't gotten into "why" corn and beans are in 95+% of everything we eat. One word, subsidies. We can produce corn so cheaply due to subsidies that many times it's actually sold below it's cost to produce. We produce corn so cheaply that we have basically collapsed the corn ag business in Mexico. Yeah, we actually produce corn cheaper than Mexicans in Mexico can.

This has led to other issues also. One of those is we feed our meat producing livestock more corn than they were ever designed to eat. We've removed them from the grassy field and put them in feedlots to feed them corn.. But it's cheap and it fattens them up very fast. Which leads to other issues. Mostly increased bacteria in their digestive tracts. Namely E-coli. New strands of E-coli that are not only deadly but resistant to antibiotics. Pfttt, so what some might say. we'll this wouldn't be a problem in a larger grassy field where the animals can spread out. But in a feedlot it concentrates the feces which gets on the animal, which gets into the slaughter houses, and eventually into your meet.. Yes. Your commercially mas produced burger contains feces. This is how recalls for contaminated beef containing E-Coli happen.. Salmonella in Peanut butter.. Feces.. Spinich.. feces.. Letuce, peppers, all of them.. feces..

There's a larger problem at hand than some GM seeds.. And a larger problem than some super strain of food poisoning. The biggest one being many people are losing faith in our mass produced, chemical laden, food supply. And many of them are demanding "organics" or local ag.

 

[Jackalope]

Jack, I work for Heritage Cooperative here in NW Ohio. We've discontinued our seed cleaning. We have two of our local facilities that still have 2 cleaners that they have lined up to take out. Basically they had been trashing and scrapping whatever they could. If you are interested, I can PM you my managers number and see if you guys can figure something out. IIRC, they would do around 200-250 BPH

Thanks man. But I was looking for a portable one. Something that can be towed to a location. I appreciate you keeping an eye out though.

 

[camofry]

Just a few months to late Joe. I just sold ours in May. It was a 8ft, with two sets of screens. I may know where one is , I think it is a 6 ft .If your still looking, I will talk to him this weekend and ask if he still has it.

 

[camofry]

I have a 7 ring grain bin left Joe if you know someone looking for one.CHEAP. Has top spreader, stirators and unloader in floor and LP drier.

 

[Jackalope]

Just a few months to late Joe. I just sold ours in May. It was a 8ft, with two sets of screens. I may know where one is , I think it is a 6 ft .If your still looking, I will talk to him this weekend and ask if he still has it.

If you don't mind me asking bud what do they even go for? The seed Cleaner that is..

 

[camofry]

I sold this one for $350 with the motor

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

We haven't gotten into "why" corn and beans are in 95+% of everything we eat. One word, subsidies. We can produce corn so cheaply due to subsidies that many times it's actually sold below it's cost to produce. We produce corn so cheaply that we have basically collapsed the corn ag business in Mexico. Yeah, we actually produce corn cheaper than Mexicans in Mexico can.

I actually read an article not too long ago that said that the market was out-pacing subsidies and the economist expected it continue to do so and overcome it (huh, imagine that? supply and demand is smarter than the government!). I'll have to look for it.

-----

I have a 7 ring grain bin left Joe if you know someone looking for one.CHEAP. Has top spreader, stirators and unloader in floor and LP drier.

Oh that'd be a good time. 24" diameter?