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mxvifsisteacst4c- economist sunsuntribune saturday aug 6 suntnbune a metroland community newspaper 34 civic ave 3rd floor stouflville on l4a 7z5 publisher ian proudfoot editor inchief debora kelly business manager robert laziirko director production interactive media john futhey advertising director distribution director marketingpartnerships retail flyer sales nicole fletcher advertising director classified real estate events management cord paolucci circulation barry black director circulation systems lynnpashko- director debra welter york region printing general manager bob dean letters to the editor act of racial vandalism wont deter town re cultural groups condemn van dalism blacks chinese slurred on homes vehicles july 9 i would like all our residents to know the town recognized our cultural diver sity as one of our greatest assets and we have worked diligently with various cul tural groups york regional police and the boards of education to improve rela tionships in the community one of the initiatives put in place by the town to promote mutual under standing and respect is the markham race relations committee the committee is comprised of resi dents from various ethnic backgrounds and councillors who meet on a regular basis to discuss incidents like this and investigate ways the town can foster a greater understanding and harmony amongst the diverse cultural groups that make up our community in addition the town is an eager par ticipant in the york region character community initiative this program promotes the impor tance of demonstrating and fostering good character since launching this initiative four years ago we have come a long way in promoting good character in schools municipalities businesses families and wherever- the message will travel- some of the character attributes encouraged are respect compassion inclusiveness responsibility integrity and fairness we feel this is an isolated case and york police are committed to bringing those responsible to justice the town has taken may positive steps to improve relationships within our community and we will not be deterred by this ran dom act of vandalism you can be assured the town takes pride in its diversity and will continue to act in a responsible manner to strengthen our community don cousens mayor markham rough ride for passengers re air france jet accident at pearson airport it was extremely sad to read what the air france passengers went through the excited tourists anticipating great holidays the tired vacationers returning home the business people on work trips and all otlier passengers did not deserve to experience such a terri ble incident i hope those injured will make swift recoveries we can only imagine what those affected by the incident are going through right now nadiawarsi markham organic farming methods stand test of time it might seem like a hip new trend but various forms of organic agriculture have been around for some 6000 years although it practically disappeared in north america during the latter half of the 20th century organic farming has taken off recently as consumers and farmers have dis covered the benefits of a more holistic approach to agriculture organic fanning is rooted in ancient knowl edge passed down through generations long before science could tell us why certain farm ing methods would produce greater crop yields organic farmers were learning the hard way what worked and what didnt and shared their knowledge with others withtiie advent of industrial farming and the green revolution organic farming was rel egated to the status of quaint or oldfash ioned something practised by hippies on communes certainly not by serious farmers but while the green revolution initially pro duced higher crop yields it also created new problems from fertilizer and pesticide runoff to soil erosion and reduced soil fertility today new studies are showing organic agriculture can often match and sometimes exceed yields from conventional agriculture david suzuki while eliminating the need for pesticides and conserving soil quality the rodale farming systems trial is the longestrunning comparison of organic and conventional farjning in the united states for 22 years researchers have been planting crops at the rodale farm in pennsylvania using conventional agriculture as well as two organic farming systems one based on ani mal manure for fertilizer and the otlier based on nitrogenfixing legumes recently a review of the trial was pub lished in the journal biosience researchers measured the economic feasi bility of each farming system along with their environmental impacts energy consumption and other indicators they found for some crops such as corn and soybeans organic farming systems produced the same yields as conventional systems but used 30 per cent less energy less water arid no pesticides in fact during drought years corn yields in theorganic systems were 30 per cent high- erthan those in the conventional system researchers say that the organic systeriis were able to perform better in drought condi tions because their soils contained much larger amounts of carbon and organic matter increased organic matter also led to ari- increase the diversity of creatures in the organic plots including twicethe number of earthworms in turn increased diversity helped reduce damage from insect pests by introducing more natural predators one might expect the organic systems to have many beneficial environmental effects but the researchers also found the organic systems could be as profitable or more prof itable than conventional systems although the organic systems required more labour to remove weeds for example rather than spray them with a herbicide consumers were willing to pay a premium for organics so the profit margins were often better the researchers argue organic technolo gies such as using offseason crops using more extended crop rotations increasing the amount of organic matter in the soil and improving natural biodiversity should be more widely adopted some or all of these technologies have the potential to increase the ecological energetic and economic sustainability of all agricultur al cropping systems not only organic sys tems they conclude in other words many organic practices simply make sense regardless of what overall agricultural system is used far from being a quaint throwback to an earlier time organic agriculture is proving to be a serious contender in modern farming and a more environmentally sustainable sys tem over the long term with consumers expressing a preference for organics and farmers are seeing the benefits this is one trend thats likely to stay me the nature challenge and learn more at vmwdavidsuzukiorg letters policy the suntribune welcomes your letters submissions must be less than 400 words and include a daytime telephone number name and address the suntribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and edit tor clarity and space letters to the editor the suntribune 34 civic ave box 154 stounvilleon l4a7z5 jmason9yrngcom k 1 1 a i i editorial editor jim mason jmasonymgcom administration office manager vivian oneil voneilyrngcom events management manager bonnie rondeau- brondeauyrngcom production manager pain nichols pnicliokyrngcom advertising classified manager ann campbell acampbellyrngcom retail manager bonnie rondeau brondeauyrngcom managing director new business flyer sales dawna andrews dandrewsyrngcom new business manager steve kane skancyrngcom managing director real estate mike rogerson mrogersonyrngcom editorial 905294220018668461889 fnx 9052941538 advertising 9056402612 clarified 18007433353pax 9058531765 distribution 9052948244 canadian ontario l epilations hail press audit board member court suntnbune a york region newspaper group community newspaper the suntribune published every thursday and saturday is a member of the metroland printing publishing and distnbuting ltd a whollyowned subsidiary of torstar corporation metroland is comprised of 70 communfty publications across ontanothe york region newspaper group includes the liberal serving richmond hill andthornhillvaughan citizen the economist sun markham the erabanner newmarketaurora stouffville suntribune georgirvadvocateyork region business times north of the city yorkregioncom and york region printing vtkaaimtii 1