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Alternative Agriculture News For
September 1998, from the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative
Agriculture.
Sustainable Ag Groups Work to Improve New Initiative Poultry Producers Try to Develop Voluntary Cleanup Plan Two Publications Hail Composting's Benefits Resources EPA Issues New Guidelines for Testing Pesticides Manure Mangement Could Reduce On-Farm Pollution Two Awards Programs Seek Nominations Merrigan Named Vice Chair of Organic Standards Board Upcoming Events
Back Issues
©1998, Henry A. Wallace Institute
for Alternative Agriculture, 9200 Edmonston Road, #117, Greenbelt, MD 20770.
Phone: (301) 441-8777. E-mail:
hawiaa@access.digex.net.
This newsletter is also available to subscribers to the
sanet-mg discussion
group. To subscribe, send a message to:
almanac@ces.ncsu.edu. Leave the
subject line blank and in the body of the message type only: subscribe sanet-mg
Subscription information
for the hard-copy version is available at the Wallace
Institute website.
In addition to this monthly newsletter, the Henry A. Wallace Institute for
Alternative Agriculture publishes the American Journal of Alternative
Agriculture, a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of research on
alternative agriculture. It is a scientific forum for disseminating technical,
economic, and social research findings about the character and requirements of
alternative agriculture systems.
The current issue (Volume
13, No. 2) features articles on:
- The start-up of a successful alternative dairy farm in Wisconsin.
- Feedlot manure nutrient loadings on South Dakota farmland.
- Organic vegetable production in the United States.
- Natural terrace formation through vegetative barriers on hillside farms in
Honduras.
- Erosion effects on soil moisture and corn yield on two soils in Tanzania.
- A behavioral approach to alternative agriculture research.
Subscriptions to AJAA are $44 for libraries; $24 for individuals; and $12
for students. Find more information
about AJAA at he Wallace Institute
website.
Sustainable Ag Groups Work to Improve New Initiative
Sustainable agriculture organizations, including the Wallace Institute, are
trying to direct the spending of the new Initiative for Future Agriculture and
Food Systems toward sustainable agriculture and small farm issues.
Congress
has not yet approved an appropriation for the Initiative, but is expected to do
so this month. USDA, however, has already started "moving quickly on its
implementation," according to Ferd Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture
Coalition. The Initiative, created by Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), is a new
five-year, $600 million competitive grants program.
"The
potential is that most of it gets earmarked for genome mapping and
biotechnology," said Hoefner. "But we will try to get the program to
spend money on other initiatives as well." The Intitiative may also fund
precision farming and food safety technology.
The Wallace Institute, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National
Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, and others have made the following
recommendations to the USDA for the Initiative:
- Set aside no less than 50 percent of Initiative funding for projects that
help solve the most critical environmental and farm income problems
simultaneously.
- Give high priority to the Initiative's special emphasis on the
competitiveness of small and medium-sized farms.
- Include farmers in a very substantial way in the evaluation panels
selected to review and rank proposals.
- Give significant attention to agroecological projects, as well as research
and education on marketing alternatives and locally owned value-adding
enterprise development.
- Implement the bulk of the Initiative through a nationally coordinated, but
regionally administered structure.
- Achieve substantial progress on the research recommendations of the
Secretary's National Commission on Small Farms.
Poultry Producers Try to Develop Voluntary Cleanup Plan
Poultry producers across the country are trying to develop a voluntary plan
to manage the waste from their operations in an attempt to avoid either federal
or state-by-state regulations, according to The New York Times (August
25, 1998).
The EPA and USDA are working on a broad strategy for
reducing runoff from livestock and poultry operations; a draft version of the
report is due to be released in the next few weeks, with a final report in
November. Some states, including Maryland, have been addressing problems
associated with nutrient runoff from chicken manure with their own regulations.
Groups such as the National Broiler Council, National Turkey
Federation, and the United States Poultry and Egg Association have been
discussing for several months how to change their waste runoff management to
better protect water and soil quality. But participants at a meeting last week
could not agree on a plan.
"They are still grappling with
questions about who will pay for research into new technologies and educational
programs, as well as new nutrient management plans geared more for controlling
phosphorous runoff, as opposed to current plans that focus on nitrogen,"
according to the article. "There are questions about alternative uses for
chicken manure, such as burning it for energy instead of simply spreading it on
farms as fertilizer."
Two Publications Hail Composting's Benefits
Two new publications review the benefits of composting, as an environmental
remediation technology and for manure management.
The EPA has
published "An Analysis of Composting As An Environmental Remediation
Technology," which summarizes the available information on the use of
compost for managing hazardous waste streams and indicates possible areas for
future investigations. "Research has indicated that the composting
process and the use of mature compost also provide an inexpensive and
technologically straightforward solution for managing hazardous industrial
waste streams and for remediating soil contaminated with toxic organic
compounds and inorganic compounds," it concludes.
Information
about the publication is available on the Internet at
http://www.epa.gov/osw.
"Composting
for Manure Management," edited by the staff of BioCycle, describes the
methods used to process and market composted manure, and "how specialized
equipment and systems are being used to turn a disposal problem into a profit
center." The report covers composting methods for poultry, hog, dairy and
beef manure; water quality impacts; overcoming problems, from odors to
leachates; and anaerobic digestion technology for managing manures.
The
report is $39 from BioCycle, 419 State Ave., Emmaus, PA 18049; (610) 967-4135.
Resources
- 20 New Reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment Program, U.S.
Geological Survey, summarize findings about water quality in 20 major river
basins: Albemarle-Pamlico Drainage, Apalachicola-Chattachoochee-Flint Rivers,
Central Columbia Plateaus, Central Nebraska Plateaus, Connecticut-Housatonic
and Thames Rivers, Georgia-Florida Coastal Plain, Hudson River, Lower
Susquehana River, Las Vegas Valley-Carson and Truckee Rivers, Ozark Plateaus,
Potomac River, Red River of the North, Rio Grande Valley, San Joaquin-Tulare
Rivers, South Platte River, Trinity River, Upper Snake River, Western Lake
Michigan Drainage, White River, and Willamette River; they are available on the
Internet at http:water.usgs.gov, then click
on NAWQA, or from the NAWQA program at (703) 648-5716; e-mail
nawqa_whq@usgs.gov
- "The Organic Pages, 1998 North American Resource Directory" is
$44.95 plus $6 shipping; "Organic Cotton Directory" is $15 plus $3
shipping from Linda Lutz, Organic Trade Association, P.O. Box 1078, Greenfield,
MA 01302; (413) 774-7511.
- "Generic Materials List," published by the Organic Materials
Review Institute, is available by subscription or as a product review from
OMRI, Box 11558, Eugene, OR 97440; (541) 343-7600.
- "A Guide to USDA and Other Federal Resources for Sustainable
Agriculture and Forestry Enterprises" is free from the Appropriate
Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, P.O. Box 3657, Fayetteville, AR 72702,
(800) 346-9140; e-mail askattra@ncatark.uark.edu;
on the Internet at http://www.attra.org
- "Small Farm Resource Guide" is available from USDA-Cooperative
State Research, Education and Extension Service, Plant and Animal Systems, Stop
2220, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. 20250; (202) 401-4385;
e-mail sfp@reeusda.gov; or on the Internet
at
http://www.reeusda.gov/smallfarm
- "The Monitoring Tool Box" is $35 plus $7 shipping/handling from
Land Stewardship Project, P.O. Box 130, Lewiston, MN 55952; (507) 523-3366.
EPA Issues New Guidelines for Testing Pesticides
The EPA has issued an updated set of test guidelines under the 1996 Food
Quality Protection Act that apply when industry conducts laboratory studies to
evaluate the safety of new and existing chemicals and pesticides.
The
guidelines will provide the EPA with better information about the health
effects of chemicals and pesticides, particularly their potential reproductive
and developmental effects in infants and children; they will also provide
guidance for conducting laboratory tests to determine the toxic effects of
chemicals on the immune system.
The new guidelines are consistent
with the testing programs administered by the EPA's Office of Prevention,
Pesticides and Toxic Substances, and international testing protocols agreed to
by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Manure Mangement Could Reduce On-Farm Pollution
Innovative manure management methods could solve on-farm pollution control
problems while helping to save America's family farms, according to an article
in BioCycle (July, 1998) by William Jewell, professor in the Department
of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Cornell University.
"We
need to eliminate manure and related waste pollution," he wrote. "We
need to try to make it cost-effective on the family farms....Cost-effective
multiple pollution control alternative technologies to daily manure spreading
need to be available, from complete destruction of the waste to complete
recycling."
The options he recommends include daily spreading,
year-round; soil activation and waste destruction; composting (conventional
aerobic); biological nutrient removal; dry waste management system -- anaerobic
composting; and anaerobic digestion with fiber recovery.
Two Awards Programs Seek Nominations
Two awards programs -- the Steward of the Land Award, and the World Food
Prize -- are seeking nominations for their 1999 awards.
The Steward
of the Land Award, sponsored by American Farmland Trust, offers a $10,000 award
annually to farmers working to promote farmland conservation. AFT seeks
nominees who are actively farming in the United States, and employ management
practices or other farming methods consistent with good land stewardship on
their farms or ranches.
For information, visit the AFT homepage on
the Internet at
http://www.farmland.org, or call (800)
886-5170. Applications may be submitted by mail or fax by 5 p.m., Monday,
November 2, to Steward of the Land Award, AFT, P.O. Box 96982, Washington, D.C.
20077-7048; fax (202) 659-8339.
The World Food Prize seeks nominations for its $250,000 award, with a
deadline of December 31, 1998. The prize recognizes outstanding individual
achievement in improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the
world. It emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food
supply for all people, and on nurturing the quality of land, water, forests,
and other natural resources.
For applications, contact World Food
Prize, Office of the Secretariat, David G. Acker, College of Agriculture, Iowa
State University, Ames, IA 50011-1050; (515) 294-2883; e-mail
bjelland@iastate.edu
Merrigan Named Vice Chair of Organic Standards Board
Kathleen Merrigan, the Wallace Institute's Senior Analyst, was elected Vice
Chair of the National Organic Standards Board at the Board's last meeting in
July. She was appointed to a five-year term in March, 1995.
At the
July meeting, the Board discussed the USDA's proposed rule for national organic
standards, and its statutory authority over the National List of approved
synthetic materials. The Board will meet again in October in Washington, D.C.
Upcoming Events
For additional listings, see the
Sustainable Agriculture
Network's Calendar of Events.
- October 2-4, "Planting the Future" a conference on native plants
will be held in Rutland, OH; contact United Plant Savers, P.O. Box 420, East
Barre, VT 05649; (802) 479-9825.
- October 2-4, "Traditional Nutrition and Restorative Agriculture"
will be held in Charles Town, W.V.; contact Biodynamic Conference, P.O. Box
3047, Shepherdstown, W.V. 25443; (304) 876-2373.
- October 3-7, Water Environment Federation's 71st annual meeting will be
held in Orlando, FL; contact WEF, 601 Wythe St., Alexandria, VA 22314;
1-800-666-0206; e-mail confinfo@wef.org.
- October 4-7, "Farming the Agroforest for Specialty Products" will
be held in Minneapolis, MN; contact Scott Josiah, University of Minnesota,
1530 Cleveland Ave. North, 115 Green Hall, St. Paul, MN 55108; (612) 624-7418;
e-mail CINRAM@forestry.umn.edu
- October 7, "Edible Connections: A Food Communications Forum" will
be held in Philadelphia, PA; contact Edible Connections, Pennsylvania State
University, Office of Conferences and Short Courses, 306 Agricultural
Administration Building, University Park, PA 16802; (814) 865-8301.
- October 14, "Human Nutrition & Livestock in the Developing World,"
and October 15-17, "A Cup of Milk...A World of Hope" will both be
held in Little Rock, AR; contact Heifer Project International, P.O. Box 808,
Little Rock, AR 72203; (501) 376-6836; e-mail ros@heifer.org
- October 16 is World Food Day; contact U.S. National Committee for World
Food Day, 2175 K St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20437; (202) 653-2404.
- October 16-18, "Sustainable Wisconsin: How We Can Make It Happen"
will be held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; contact Lynn Gottleib,
CALS Outreach Services, 620 Babcock Dr., Madison, WI 53705; (608) 263-1672;
e-mail heather.whitesell@ocmail.adp.wisc.edu
- October 18-23 and October 25-30, "Herbicide Action," an
intensive course, will be held at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN;
contact Course Director, S.C. Weller, (765) 494-1333; or Conference Coordinator
Kathy Hyman, (765) 494-2758; on the Internet,
http://www.hort.purdue.edu
- October 22-26, "Helping Small Towns Succeed" will be held in
Jackson Hole, WY; contact Heartland Center for Leadership Development, 941 O
St., #920, Lincoln, NE 68508; 1-800-927-1115 or (402) 474-7667.
- October 23-25, Community Food Security Coalition's Second Annual Meeting
will be held in Pittsburgh, PA; contact Andy Fisher, CFS Coalition, P.O. Box
209, Venice, CA 90294; (310) 822-5410; e-mail
afisher@aol.com
- October 28-31, "Sustainable Community Development Strategies"
will be held in Aspen, CO; contact JoAnn Glassier, Rocky Mountain Institute,
Economic Renewal Seminar, 1739 Snowmass Creek Rd., Snowmass, CO 81654; (970)
927-3807; e-mail joann@rmi.org
©1998 Committee for
Sustainable Farm Publishing
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