ATTRAnews DIGEST
The Electronic ATTRA Newsletter

June 1998

 

Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA)
P.O. BOX 3657
FAYETTEVILLE, AR 72702
PHONE: 1-800-346-9140 --- FAX: (501) 442-9842

CONTENTS:
Congressional subcommittees eye budgets for sustainable ag programs
ATTRA joins 200,000 others, responds to NOP proposals
Campaign for Sustainable Ag: 5 recommendations on NOP rule
"Linking People, Purpose & Place": New CSAS handbook
MAC debuts Extension links page
There’s a new NE SARE homepage
Jill Shore Auburn is new SARE director
Project Manager’s Notebook: In CSARE, tough policy issues addressed
ATTRA staff in Southern SARE project aid farm enterprise development
ATTRA/EPA project targets whole farm nutrient planning
Southern PDP leadership to visit ATTRA
Who's calling ATTRA?
Today’s Quote

Congressional subcommittees eye budgets for sustainable ag programs

During the week of June 8, Senate and House agriculture appropriations subcommittees recommended level or reduced federal funding for FY99 for several USDA sustainable agriculture programs.

Though action is still pending from full appropriations committees at press time, both subcommittees recommended $1.3 million for ATTRA. This represents a reduction from the President’s and USDA’s budgets, which recommended $2 million for the program, but is equal to its FY98 funding.

Level funding vs increasing demand

"We are very disappointed that key programs in sustainable agriculture, including ATTRA, did not receive support from the subcommittees for the increased funding that USDA recommended," said Teresa Maurer, ATTRA Project Manager. " I am pleased that both subcommittees recommended continued funding, but the reductions and level funding means that ATTRA and USDA’s sustainable agriculture programs are less able to meet greatly increased interest from farmers, educators and researchers."

The Fund for Rural America was cut entirely for FY99, despite the $100 million recommended by USDA. SARE received $2M less than USDA proposed, with the result that the SARE research program and SARE-PDP (Professional Development Program) were funded at $8M and $3.3M, respectively, the same as FY98.

The Conservation Farm Option (CFO) was cut to $0 in Senate subcommittee action, but recommended at USDA’s proposed level $25M by House subcommittee. EQIP also received differing recommendations from the subcommittees, at $176M and $200M, well below USDA’s recommendation for $300M.

One program, the Direct Farm Operating Loan program in Farm Services Administration (FSA) was sustained at the $500M level recommended by USDA and the President’s budget on the House side, and given an increase to $560M on the Senate side.

The agriculture appropriations process is moving extremely rapidly, and information is changing almost daily.

Back To Top

ATTRA joins 200,000 others, responds to National Organic Program proposals

ATTRA in April joined more than 200,000 individuals and organizations filing responses to the National Organic Program (NOP) Proposed Rule. In its response, ATTRA urged the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to adhere to the directives of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA) and re-write the Rule according to recommendations of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB).

Responding to the landmark number of protests, Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman said USDA would issue a revised proposal later this year. He said the new proposal would not contain three items which garnered the fiercest protest from people — genetically engineered food, irradiated food and food grown in municipal sewage sludge.

Glickman comments

"If organic farmers and consumers reject our national standards, we have failed," Glickman said. "Our task is to stimulate the growth of organic agriculture, ensure that consumers have confidence in the products that bear the organic label, and develop export markets for this growing industry."

The avalanche of protests began last December when the USDA Proposed Rule was issued. People were given until May 1 to express their opinion via faxes, email and snail-mail, and a series of USDA hearings across the U.S.

In Washington, 31 Senators and 48 members of the House of Representatives also signed letters urging USDA to return to the drawing board to redraft the Rule.

In its response, ATTRA stated that, "The proposed rule, which permits use of now prohibited inputs and technologies, falls well below the expectations of consumers and producers. It fails further by restraining certifiers from electing to prohibit any such inputs and technologies if they are approved under the national standards."

The ATTRA response cited a host of unacceptable technologies in the USDA proposal, ranging from irradiation of organic foods for postharvest preservation to excessive allowance of confinement livestock production. It conjectured that the proposal would not only damage the credibility of organic agriculture in the U.S., but undermine the marketability of American organic products overseas and increase demand for imported organic products in the U.S.

Organic Foods Production Act

The USDA became involved with writing a national organic rule as a result of the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990. The current 33 private and 11 state organic certification agencies — through the organic industry trade association — had unsuccessfully attempted to establish a national voluntary organic certification program. The agencies petitioned Congress to establish a mandatory national organic program. Enacting the OFPA in 1990, Congress in 1992 created the 14-member NOSB to write the Rule. NOSB, consisting of organic farmers, retailers, environmentalists, conservationists and representatives of consumer and public interest groups, presented its draft of the Rule last year.

Public comments are expected to be posted at the National Organic Program’s website at http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop.

Back To Top

Campaign for Sustainable Ag: 5 recommendations on NOP rule

Members of the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture have issued five recommendations to Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman on the National Organic Program (NOP) Proposed Rule. They are:

Back To Top

Farmer’s Bookshelf: "Linking People, Purpose & Place": New CSAS handbook

"Linking People, Purpose, and Place: An Ecosystem Approach to Agriculture" — a 266-page handbook by the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Systems at the University of Nebraska — addresses the components of a trinity whose disintegration has led to many of our current problems in agriculture and whose reintegration offers a path toward a truly sustainable agriculture.

Edited by Heidi Carter, Richard Olson and Charles Francis, the handbook is Volume 7 in the university's series of Extension and Education Materials for Sustainable Agriculture and contains materials from the North Central SARE Professional Development Program workshops held in the summer of 1997.

Agriculture's a place

The handbook relates how in an era of increasing globalization of food systems and dominance by multinational corporations, we often forget that the purpose of agriculture is to feed and clothe people while protecting the environment, and that agriculture ultimately is pursued in a particular place.

The place is a landscape or region with a unique combination of soils, climate, farming systems, people, infrastructure, and social organization. Together they form an agroecosystem or agroecoregion. By recognizing and working with the structures and processes that confer sustainability on the ecosystems that underlie our farming systems, we can effectively match our purpose to each place to achieve a lasting agriculture.

To farm and live sustainably requires that each of us be receptive to the lessons that nature teaches and share these lessons with others.

To order, send a check for $10 payable to the University of Nebraska for (note it is for Volume 7) to Center for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Nebraska, PO Box 830949, Lincoln, NE 68583-0949. (Price includes s&h in U.S.) For questions, contact the CSAS office, 402-472-2056, csas003@unlvm.unl.edu.

Information about other volumes in the series can be found at http://ianrwww.unl.edu/ianr/csas/vol1-5.htm

Back To Top

MAC debuts Extension links page

The Missouri Alternatives Center (MAC), located at the University of Missouri—Columbia, has developed a new links page to Extension information on alternatives in agriculture.

MAC Project Manager Debi Kelly says web visitors may click on "Extension Information on Alternatives" and then click on appropriate alphabetical letters for information on such topics as ginseng, hydroponics or community supported agriculture. Kelly has requested that people with additional Extension guidesheets or links on such alternative ag topics contact her at: Missouri Alternatives Center, 628 Clark Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, 573-882-1905, kellyd@ext.missouri.edu.

The Internet address is: http://www.ext.missouri.edu/agebb/mac.

Back To Top

There’s a new NE SARE homepage

The Northeast Region SARE has a new website which features reports on SARE/ACE regional projects, 1998 calls for proposals, archives of the region's newsletter, Innovations, and links to other sustainable farming websites. Visit: http://www.uvm.edu/~nesare/.

Back To Top

Jill Shore Auburn is new SARE director

Dr. Jill Shore Auburn has been named new director of the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program.

Auburn is a well-known figure in sustainable agriculture circles. Prior to accepting the SARE directorship, she served as associate director of the University of California SARE Program (SAREP) and since 1994 has been regional training coordinator for USDA’s Professional Development Program (PDP) in the Western Region.

Chairing the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) Management Committee from 1991 to 1995, Auburn helped to launch the sanet-mg listserv which now has more than 1000 subscribers across the U.S

People may contact her at:
Dr. Jill Shore Auburn
Office of Sustainable
Agricultural Programs
USDA-CSREES
1400 Independence Ave.
Ag Box 2223
Washington, DC 20250-2223
Phone: 202/720-5203
Fax: 202/720-6071
Email: jsauburn@reeusda.gov

Back To Top

Project Manager’s Notebook: In CSARE, tough policy issues addressed

By Teresa Maurer
ATTRA Project Manager

Over the last few months, I’ve had the honor and pleasure of learning more about the Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (CSARE), by serving as a member of its Governing Council, which includes farmers, extensionists, researchers and policy activists from across the U.S. In May, I participated in a Washington, DC meeting of the Research Policy Task Force, and had a chance to meet and work face to face with CSARE members whose names, accomplishments, voices and emails I knew, but never had met. I was reinforced in my opinion that CSARE represents a unique national effort, and thought I’d spend this column telling you a little about the group.

Launched in 1993

CSARE was initiated in 1993 by the Center for Rural Affairs with the guidance and support of a diverse steering committee, who felt that it was important for research scientists, farmers and extensionists to be able to have more effective ways to join together in changing institutional and federal policies.

With support from the Center, Kellogg Foundation, SARE-PDP, and modest membership dues, CSARE has thrived and grown, and tackled: USDA research priority setting, public accountability, rewards structures, farmer-researcher networking and other issues that promote/prevent research, extension and collaboration in sustainable agriculture and food systems.

Outstanding newsletter

One of the most useful resources I’ve found as an outcome of CSARE’s work, is their wonderful newsletter, "Inquiries in Action: Learning Partnerships for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Communities". It is well edited and features diverse, very timely articles from farmers, researchers, nonprofit activists, extensionists, and consultants.

From the mountain of mail I get at work and at home each month, it is one of several that I read as soon as it comes! I’ll use my last few column words to encourage those of you feeling discouraged about the potential for change in the fields, pastures, agency offices, labs legislative hallways and academia, to find out more about CSARE by calling 1-608-265-6483.

Back To Top

ATTRA staff in Southern SARE project aid farm enterprise development

Several ATTRA specialists will participate in a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) project to accelerate farmer-driven, value-added enterprise development for sustainably produced farm products in the Southern region. ATTRA will maintain an information bank generated during the project and disseminate project information to U.S. farmers, agricultural information providers, farm cooperatives, researchers and educators.

Three-year project

Coordinated by Keith Richards, marketing coordinator for the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG) and editor of Southern Sustainable Farming, the three-year project from this summer through 2001, will identify both the keys and barriers to the successful development and marketing of farmer-driven, value-added products by conducting a survey of current farm-based enterprises producing and marketing value added agricultural products; create an information bank of programs, services, facilities, and other business and entrepreneurial resources available to support these enterprises; and create a model incubator service to help hatch or expand businesses that add value to sustainably produced farm products.

Other project partners include SSAWG and the Sustainable Food Center in Austin, TX.

Project participants

Participants will include Ben Burkett, owner-operator of B & B Farms, Petal, MS, and marketing specialist with Mississippi Association of Cooperatives; Dr. Barry Colley, President of Delta Integrated Business Enterprise Services and co-owner of God’s Little Acre Greenhouse at Forrest City, AR; Dr. Robert Jenkins, co-owner of Highland View Orchard and professor of Fruit & Vegetable Marketing, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Keith Jones, president, Keith Jones and Associates, Buda, TX, an agricultural economist; Marty Mesh, executive director of Florida Organic Growers and Consumers, Gainesville, FL, and co-owner of Bellevue Gardens Organic Farm; Martin Richards, owner-operator of Eartheart Farm, Versailles, KY, and board member of the Organic Kentucky Producers Association, Community Farm Alliance, and the Federal Kentucky Agricultural Development Association; Michael Sligh, Sustainable Agriculture Program Director of Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA; Gus Townes, director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives Rural Training Center, Epes, AL; and Hollis Watkins, president of Southern Echo, Jackson, MS, and owner-operator of Watkins Farm.

Back To Top

ATTRA/EPA project targets whole farm nutrient planning

Two ATTRA technical specialists will use an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to help farmers and educators in northwest Arkansas learn how to develop and implement whole farm nutrient management planning to benefit water quality and watersheds. Though the project will have a local focus, it will generate information used on a national basis by ATTRA staff members.

During the one-year project from summer, 1998 through spring, 1999, ATTRA staffers Ann Wells and Ron Morrow will lead a collaborative learning process with the area’s farmers, Extension and NCRS personnel, agribusinesses, conservation groups and farm educators aimed at improving water quality and better protecting watersheds. Northwest Arkansas, located in the Ozark foothills, is heavily involved with production of broilers and beef.

Study circles, master grazers program

Under the project, a learning community will be established through the use of study circles and a master grazers program, which will help farmers to train other farmers.

The EPA "Learning Community" project will provide further technical support to another project launched by Wells and Morrow — the Northwest Arkansas Grassroots Grazing Group. The Grazing Group is an educational and networking organization dedicated to encouraging better forage production and utilization through emphasis on grazing management and proper nutrient utilization.

Back To Top

Southern PDP leadership to visit ATTRA

State Coordinators and members of the Leadership Committee of the Southern Region Professional Development Program (PDP) plan to visit ATTRA while attending meetings at Fayetteville, AR, from Oct. 7-10. ATTRA is located at the University of Arkansas campus there.

The meeting will mark the first occasion that the Southern Leadership Committee and State Coordinators have assembled jointly. The Extension Sustainable Agriculture Coordinators meet annually to discuss how the regional PDP supports their state plans for sustainable agriculture training, to suggest ways the PDP could be improved, and to share success stories and problems with each other.

The Leadership Committee meets twice a year as the principle decision-making group on issues of PDP design and implementation. The Leadership Committee at the October meeting will also review this year’s PDP preproposals and select new Leadership Committee members to replace rotating members.

Back To Top

Who's calling ATTRA?

A database search of ATTRA files shows that 70% of the total 10,616 requests for sustainable ag information during the period of January through May of 1998 came from farmers. Farmer requests totaled 7,373, with the most calls coming from "diversified," vegetable, beef and fruit operations.

The remainder of the requests came from Extension personnel, agribusinesses, university researchers, other agricultural groups and assorted organizations.

Back To Top

Today’s Quote

"We are encouraged by your commitment to 'fundamental changes' in the proposed regulation, and by your historic recognition that USDA's task is to 'stimulate the growth of organic agriculture'. A clear road map to these goals has been provided by the public comments and the work of the NOSB, and your statement marks the first stride in the right direction....We stand willing to assist the Department in achieving these purposes."
-- Letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman concerning USDA's National Organic Program (NOP) Proposed Rule, from the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, consisting of more than 200 sustainable farming organizations (including ATTRA), May, 1998.

Back To Top

webmaster@attra.org