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Alternative Agriculture News
For March '99, from the Henry A. Wallace Institute for
Alternative Agriculture.
Consumers Union Finds 'Unacceptable' Pesticide Levels for Children
N.Y. Times Labels Avery 'Anti-Organic, and Flawed'
Proposed Budget Would Increase Some Sustainable Ag Funding
Controversial EPA Pesticide Brochure Is Now Available
Organic Farmers Plan to Expand, According to Survey
'Terminator' Seed System Sparks a 'Grass-Roots Protest'
Resources
Positions
Upcoming Events
Back Issues
©1999, 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
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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. 4) features articles on:
- A comparison of alternative pest and soil management strategies for Maine
potato production systems.
- A comparison of conventional and organic apple production systems during
three years of conversion to organic management in coastal California.
- The response of corn, soybean, and wheat crops to fertilizer and herbicides
in Ohio compared with low-input production practices.
Subscriptions to AJAA are $44 for libraries; $24 for individuals; and $12
for students. Find more information
about AJAA at he Wallace Institute
website.
Consumers Union Finds 'Unacceptable' Pesticide Levels for Children
In a first-of-its-kind study of USDA data, Consumers Union analyzed the
amount of pesticides on produce and found "unacceptable levels of some
especially toxic pesticides" for children. "With some fruits and
vegetables, kids who eat a single serving can exceed the safe daily limit of
certain pesticides," concluded the report, released last month and featured
in Consumer Reports (March, 1999). The study also analyzed how toxic
those pesticides are, and devised a "toxicity index" that integrates
health risks and the actual amounts of pesticides on produce. Though the
pesticide levels on all tested produce are within legal limits, many of those
limits are at odds with what the government now deems safe for children,
according to the report.
Of the 27 foods Consumers Union tested, seven
had a toxicity index up to hundreds of times higher than the others: apples,
grapes, green beans, peaches, pears, spinach, and winter squash. These products
"are typically treated with more toxic pesticides and are often eaten
unpeeled." The study also found that methyl parathion accounts for the "lion's
share of the total toxicity of the foods we analyzed, and that domestic produce
had more, or more toxic, pesticides than imported produce in two-thirds of the
cases.
Consumers Union "has asked the EPA to restrict or ban
specific pesticide uses that expose children to residues above safe limits."
It also recommends that the government provide financial and educational
support for farmers making the transition to "less toxic ways of
controlling pests." The government should also "direct more research
toward finding safer ways of managing pests now controlled by the most toxic
pesticides."
The study, "Do You Know What You're Eating? An Analysis of U.S.
Government Data on Pesticide Residues on Foods," is available on the
Internet at http://www.consunion.org
N.Y. Times Labels Avery 'Anti-Organic, and Flawed'
"Dennis T. Avery wants organic food to go away. And he doesn't care
what it takes," wrote Marian Burros in her "Eating Well" column
entitled "Anti-Organic, and Flawed" in The New York Times
(February 17, 1999). "Four years ago, he said that organic food could not
feed the world without destroying the environment. Now, he says it's lethal."
In
Avery's recent article in American Outlook, he charged that people who
eat organic and "natural" food are more likely to "be attacked by
a deadly new strain of E. Coli bacteria (0157:H7)." He wrote that organic
farms use animal manure, do not use chemicals, or permit pasteurization.
But
according to The New York Times, "The last assertion is untrue, as
were several other statements in the article....The simplest definition of
'organic' is food grown without hormones, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.
But Mr. Avery, whose work is financed by agribusiness, used the terms 'organic,'
'free range,' 'natural,' and 'unpasteurized' interchangeably....Mr. Avery said
he had never 'bothered that much about consumer safety aspects of organic food
until [E. coli] 0157:H7.' His goal, he continued, is to prevent organic
agriculture from becoming the norm. 'My big concern is that we do not have room
on the planet to feed ourselves organically,' he said.
"The attack on organic food by a well-financed research
organization suggests that, though organic food accounts for only 1 percent of
food sales in the United States, the conventional food industry is worried,"
the article concludes.
Proposed Budget Would Increase Some Sustainable Ag Funding
The USDA budget proposed by President Clinton for Fiscal Year 2000, which
begins in October, contains increases for several sustainable agriculture
programs. Here are the proposed appropriations for several sustainable
agriculture discretionary programs:
- SARE: An $8.5 million appropriation is requested for the
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, an increase from the
FY99 appropriation of $8 million.
- SAPDP: A $3.3 million appropriation is requested for the SARE
(Chapter 3) Professional Development Program, the same as the FY99
appropriation.
- ATTRA: A $2 million appropriation is requested for the Appropriate
Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, an increase from the FY99 appropriation of
$1.3 million.
- OFPA: A $1.4 million appropriation is requested for the Organic
Foods Production Act, an almost three-fold increase from the FY99 appropriation
of $500,000.
In addition, the following appropriations were requested for mandatory
programs:
- CFO: No funds are requested for the Conservation Farm Option, which
also received no funding in the FY99 budget.
- EQIP: A $300 million appropriation is requested for the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program, an increase from the FY99
appropriation of $174 million.
- WRP: A $209 million appropriation is requested for the Wetlands
Reserve Program, an increase from the FY99 appropriation of $90 million.
- CFSA: A $2.5 million appropriation is requested for the Community
Food Security Act, the same as the FY99 appropriation.
- FRA: A $60 million appropriation is requested for the Fund for
Rural America, which received no funding in the FY99 budget. The Farm Bill did
not authorize any FRA funds for FY98.
- IFAFS: A $120 million appropriation is requested for the new
Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems, a competitive grants program
which was proposed and then deleted from the final FY99 budget.
Controversial EPA Pesticide Brochure Is Now Available
A controversial EPA brochure about pesticides on food, attacked in its draft
form by both industry and environmentalists, is now available in 40,000
supermarkets and on the Internet. Of the brochure's seven topics, only one
deals with organic food: "What's 'organically grown' mean?"
According to Mark Keating of the Wallace Institute, "The
food safety pamphlet undervalues the role that organic and IPM produced food can
play in a healthy diet. The brief mention of organic and IPM practices makes no
reference to their safety relative to conventionally produced foods." The
brochure, "Pesticides and Food," is available on the Internet at
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/food.
Organic Farmers Plan to Expand, According to Survey
"Exploding consumer support for organic products" is encouraging
56 percent of organic farmers surveyed by the Organic Farming Research
Foundation to increase their organic acreage and the number of crops they grow.
According to the Foundation's "Third Biennial National Organic Farmers'
Survey," which surveyed 1,200 certified organic farmers in 44 states, 63
percent of those surveyed plan to increase their number of markets and buyers.
Nearly 87 percent of the respondents are single-family operations or family
partnerships, and 62 percent farm full-time.
The farmers' top research
priority was weed management, and their most useful resource for information was
other farmers. Asked to name current constraints to organic production, the
farmers responded, in order, uncooperative or uninformed extension agents, cost
of organically allowable inputs, and distance or transport of organically
allowable inputs. Current constraints to organic marketing included lack of
consumer understanding about organic food, lack of organic marketing networks,
and the distance between producer and market or delivery point.
"Third
Biennial National Organic Farmers' Survey" is $10 from OFRF, P.O. Box 440,
Santa Cruz, CA 95061; (831) 426-6606. The Executive Summary of survey results
is available on the Internet at http://www.ofrf.org.
'Terminator' Seed System Sparks a 'Grass-Roots Protest'
Monsanto's seed-killing gene system, dubbed "Terminator" by
critics, "has become the focus of a grass-roots protest," according to
Time (February 1, 1999), and has also been the subject of several
articles in national publications. "Farmers pay a premium for Monsanto
seeds, and to make sure they keep paying, the company requires them to sign an
agreement promising not to plant seeds their crops produce," Time
wrote. "With the help of clever genes currently in development, future
Monsanto crops may be designed with a new feature in mind: sterility. No sooner
will the company's plants mature than the seeds they carry will lose the ability
to reproduce."
According to The Washington Post (February
8, 1999), "The quest is either a sincere effort to solve the world hunger
crisis or a corporate plot to impose economic slavery on the world's
farmers....The debate over the technology has already become so polarized and
emotional that farmers in India recently went on a rampage and burned several
fields of crops rumored to harbor the deadly genes." A separate article in
The Post (February 3, 1999) describes farmers "who stand accused by
Monsanto of replanting the company's patented, gene-altered seeds fresh every
year....Besides sending Pinkerton detectives into farmers' fields, the company
sponsors a toll-free 'tip line' to help farmers blow the whistle on their
neighbors."
Resources
- "Adding Value for Sustainability" is $8.50 plus $3 shipping from
Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, ATTN: Kristen Markley,
P.O. Box 419, 114 West Main St., Millheim, PA 16854; (814) 349-9856; e-mail
ksm6@psu.edu.
- "Agricultural and Conservation Policies: 2002 and Beyond,"
proceedings from a workshop in honor of Norman A. Berg, is available from Center
for Agriculture in the Environment, American Farmland Trust, P.O. Box 987,
DeKalb, IL 60115; 1-800-370-4879, or (815) 753-9347.
- "Regional Trade Agreements and U.S. Agriculture" is available on
the USDA's Economic Research Service Website at
http://www/econ.ag.gov, or from the USDA,
1-800-999-6779.
"Statewide IPM Project/University of
California," the 1998 annual report, is available from the University of
California Statewide IPM Project at (530) 752-7691.
"1999
National Organic Directory" is $47.95 plus $3 shipping from Community
Alliance with Family Farmers, P.O. Box 363, Davis, CA 95617; 1-800-852-3832.
Positions
- Community Alliance with Family Farmers seeks an Executive Director
responsible for all major management areas among staff and Board of Directors; a
Development Director; and a Grants Assistant; for application packets, contact
CAFF, P.O. Box 363, Davis, CA 95617; (530) 756-8518; e-mail
caff@caff.org
- Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association seeks applicants for its
apprenticeship program; contact MOFGA, Dept. H, P.O. Box 2176, Augusta, ME
04338-2176; (207) 622-3118.
Center for Rural Affairs seeks a
Leader for its Marketing Alliance Project; for applicant packet, contact the
Center, P.O. Box 406, Walthill, NE 68067; (402) 846-5428; e-mail
info@CRA.org.
- Good Earth Farm School seeks applicants for five internships from March to
December; for application, contact GEFS, 1702 Mountain View Road, Buena Vista,
VA 24416; (540) 261-8775; e-mail goodearth@rockbridge.net
- University of Minnesota seeks a temporary (two-year) Assistant Scientist
for Organic Conversion Project at the Southwest Research and Outreach Center;
contact Southwest Experiment Station, Lamberton, MN; (507) 752-7372.
Upcoming Events
For additional listings, see the
Sustainable Agriculture
Network's Calendar of Events.
- March 20-25, "Holistic Management for Natural Resource Managers"
will be held in Sunrise Springs, N.M.; contact Center for Holistic Management,
1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, N.M. 87102; (505) 842-5252.
- March 27-28, "Enhancing Organic Dairy Operations" will be held in
South Royalton, VT; contact Lisa McCrory, Northeast Organic Farming Association
of Vermont, (802) 434-4122, or (802) 728-4416.
- April 1, "Frontiers of Biology: The Future of Agricultural
Biotechnology" will be held in Madison, WI; contact College of Agricultural
and Life Sciences Outreach Services, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 620
Babcock Drive, Madison, WI 53706; (608) 263-1672.
- April 1 is the deadline for abstracts for "Sustaining Agriculture in
the 21st Century: Thinking 'Outside the Box,'" to be held October 20-23 in
Guelph, Ontario; contact Ellen Wall, Farming Systems Research, University of
Guelph, (519) 824-4120; e-mail ewall@envsci@uoguelph.ca
- April 2-4, "Design and Create a Profitable, Organic Garden and
Permaculture Greenhouse" will be held in Buena Vista, VA; contact Andy Lee,
Good Earth Farm School, (540) 261-8775.
- April 15-18, Draft Horse, Mule, and Horsedrawn Equipment Auction and Swap
Meet will be held in Redmond, OR; contact Small Farmer's Journal Auction, P.O.
Box 1627, Sisters, OR 97759; (541) 549-2064.
April 19, "First
Asia-Pacific Conference and Trade Exposition on Ground and Water Bioengineering
for Erosion Control and Slope Stabilization" will be held in Manila, the
Philippines; contact International Erosion Control Association, 1-800-455-4322;
e-mail ecinfo@ieca.org.
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