- Tell Gore why organic standards are important to you.
- Recommend that the USDA revised rule be posted for another round of public
comment.
- It is not enough that the USDA simply addresses the "Big Three"
issue. The revision must be true to the Organic Food Production Act (OFPA)
and all NOSB recommendations, recognize the authority of NOSB as recognized
in the OFPA, include the determinations of the NOSB of approved and prohibited
substances for the National List, and keep faith with consumer demands expressed
in the comments.
- The revision must respect current certification systems and establish
an effective enforcement system. The revised rule should not be biased against
small and medium-sized organic farms and certification programs that built
the organic industry.
- Organic livestock standards must require organic feed, limit the use
of antibiotics and not allow factory farming.
- USDA should not attempt to prohibit eco-labels that describe different methods of production.
- Dyremple Marsh, Lincoln University, Jefferson City, MO; Phone: 573-681-5550
- Norlin Hein, University of Missouri, Columbia. Phone: 573-882-9385
- Denis Ebodaghe, USDA-CSREES, Phone: 202-401-4385, email: debodaghe@reeusda.gov
- Mickie Swisher, USDA-CSREES/UFL, Phone: 202-401-4900
- Information sharing
- Innovative approaches to small farm programming
- Skills development, such as "how to develop your tool kit for direct
marketing"
- Follow-up reports on issues of the "1st Annual" Nashville conference
- Progress report on strategies for implementing the recommendations as
outlined by the National Commission on Small Farms
- Special emphasis on collaboration and partnership as a method to achieve a competitive market advantage
- ATTRA: $1.3M, the same as FY98.
- CFO (Conservation Farm Option): All funds deleted. FY98's appropriation
was $15M.
- CFSA (Community Food Security Act): $2.5M by both House and Senate.
- EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentives Program): $200M approved by Senate
(the same amount as FY98) and $174M allocated by the House.
- FPP (Farmland Protection Program): All funds deleted.
- FRA (Fund for Rural America): All funds deleted. The Farm Bill did not
authorize any FRA funds for FY98.
- OFPA (Organic Food Production Act): $1M by both House and Senate, an increase
of $500,000 from the FY98.
- SA-PDP (SARE Professional Development Program): $3.3M, the same as FY98.
- SARE (Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program): $8M, by
Senate and House, the same as FY98.
- WRP (Wetlands Reserve Program): $90.2M by the Senate and $97.7M by the House. FY98 funding was $219M.
ATTRAnews
DIGEST
The Electronic
ATTRA Newsletter
|
September 1998
|
Appropriate
Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) CONTENTS: NCSA urges Gore to insure "strong, credible" organic rule
In a letter-writing campaign launched by the National Campaign for Sustainable
Agriculture (NCSA), Vice President Al Gore is being urged to exert his influence
on the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) to enact a "strong,
credible" National Organic Program (NOP) Rule. The NCSA appeal comes on the wings of a landmark number of comments that
USDA received last spring concerning its draft of the Rule. Many of the
250,000 individuals and organizations offering public comment were upset
that the USDA had ignored recommendations put forth by the respected National
Organic Standards Board (NOSB), that was created in 1992 by Congress to
write the Rule. In response to the protests, Secretary of Agriculture Dan
Glickman said the USDA would issue a new proposed Rule later this year and
that the draft would not contain three items (called the "Big Three")
that garnered the fiercest protests - genetically engineered food, irradiated
food and food grown in municipal sewage sludge. The NCSA is distributing fliers that urge people to send Gore - a potential
presidential hopeful -a letter, fax or email message. NCSA staffers suggest that people writing to Gore, "Be brief and
to the point." People with little time to write are reminded: "A
quick note is much better than none at all." Talking-points They offer the following talking-points for messages to Gore: To obtain the Action Alert flier and a sample letter to VP Gore, contact
NCSA at P.O. Box 396, Pine Bush, NY 12566 Phone (914)744-8448, Fax (914)744-8477,
Email: campaign@ magiccarpet.com Plans underway for National Small Farm Conference Oct. 12-15, '99 ATTRA is one of many agricultural organizations around the U.S. helping
to plan the Second Annual USDA National Small Farm Conference from Oct.
12-15, 1999, at the Regal Riverfront Hotel in St. Louis. Titled "Building Partnerships for the 21st Century," the conference
will provide an opportunity for those who work closely with small farmers
to share ideas and examine new approaches. Audience participants would include
leaders from the small farm community, educators, government personnel and
officials, and non-governmental organizations. Solicitations for poster papers and exhibit booth space reservations will
be sent this fall. A small number of scholarships are available (expense
paid travel) for students making presentations and small farmers and ranchers
who can take good ideas back to their communities or organizations. For further information or to submit conference suggestions, please contact: The Second Annual National Small Farm Conference will
include sessions on:
38 ATTRA info packets downloadable on our WWW homepage
Readers with Internet access can now download 38 ATTRA informational packets
on the World Wide Web at: www.attra.org. Also on the homepage is the latest
edition of the ATTRA Materials List which describes all 66 of ATTRA's standard
materials. The website materials are:
Horticulture: Marketing: Livestock: Pest Management: Alternative Farming Systems: Sustainable Ag Resources: Varied farm backgrounds help ATTRA staffers to empathize, put best foot
forward for farm families
A recent caller to ATTRA asked if any of our staff members had actual
farm experience. "To tell it like it is, you got to know how it is,"
he quipped. Well yes, many of us were raised on farms, have served in the
Cooperative Extension Service, worked as Peace Corps volunteers in foreign
fields, and been involved in agribusiness. A few of us also spend some of
our time on a commercial basis in the soil, barnyard and truck patch.
ATTRA technical specialist Guy Ames and his wife, Carolyn, ship nursery
fruit plants nationwide from their Ames' Orchard & Nursery, located
in the Ozark Mountains near ATTRA offices. The extensive nursery and an
orchard operation, which they developed as a "bootstrap" farm
business venture over the past 15 years, specializes in disease-resistant
fruit varieties for environmentally-minded fruit growers on the home scale
and commercial levels. Guy's love for farming - burnished, of course, through the years by bouts
of bad weather, crop pests and other setbacks - is something which other
ATTRA staffers share. Most staff members have farm backgrounds, have served
in the Cooperative Extension Service, worked as Peace Corps volunteers in
foreign farm fields, and been involved with various agribusinesses. Several
pursue farming endeavors in their free time, though not nearly to the extent
of Guy and Carolyn. Sheep & cattle to veggies & herbs Project manager Teresa Maurer and her husband, Jim, raise Katahdin sheep
for meat and ewelamb production. Public information specialist David Zodrow
and his wife, Brenda, produce cross-bred Salars cattle. Technical specialist
Janet Bachmann markets produce at a local farmer's market from her truck
farm. Technical specialist Lane Greer has operated a U-pick flower farm
the past three years. Information specialist Katherine Adam experiments
with herbs and heirloom vegetables on a large lot near the Fayetteville
(AR) town square. Technical specialist Steve Diver has a demonstration roadside
flower bed featuring wildfowers, prairie plants, natives, herbaceous perennials
and unusual annuals. "Our catalog currently describes 70 different varieties of the standard
fruits: apples, peaches, plums, berries, etcetera," Guy says. "On
the orchard front, we grow and sell apples for the most part, although we
also produce blackberries, pears and other fruits. We try to grow things
in the most sustainable fashion possible. We market the fruit at the Fayetteville
Farmers Market and directly to restaurants. This year, thanks to God and
the FDA, we are making and selling apple cider." Guy has an MS in horticulture, and before joining ATTRA worked as an educational
specialist with the Missouri Fruit Experiment Station and as a research
associate with the University of Arkansas Department of Plant Pathology.
He draws from these pools of experience - along with his eight years of
information research at ATTRA - as he tracks down information about sustainable
horticulture production for farmers and other agriculture professionals
who call ATTRA. Additionally, Guy's extensive hands-on farm experience enables
him to pass along valuable firsthand information to callers and make value
judgments about the accuracy and usefulness of information he counters from
other sources. Technical specialist Lane Greer is in her third year of production in
a pick-your-own flower and produce operation on a farm east of Fayetteville.
Named Summer's Garden, the farm offers an acre of a variety of cut flowers
and vegetables. New this year is the farmstand, where already-picked items
are available for sale. Flower business blooms The farm opens each year around Memorial Day and closes at Halloween.
Customers usually live near the farm, in a growing section of Fayetteville.
The amount of business increased five-fold from the first year to the second.
This encouraged Lane to increase her initial half-acre plot to a full acre. Most of Lane's advertising is done by word-of-mouth, but her farm was
featured by a local TV station as the only place in the area to grow pick-your-own
flowers. Location is key to her operation, since her farm is located on
a busy highway. The experience helped Lane to better empathize with farmers who call ATTRA.
"What a learning curve there is the first year! I never knew how hard
farmers worked until now," Lane says. "Just getting ready for
the growing season involves a lot of work, like growing your own plugs and
scheduling holiday events well ahead of time. It's encouraging to be able
to use my training in horticulture to do something I love, and I'm hopeful
I'll make money at it some day." Urban herb production Another ATTRA information specialist, Katherine Adam, who
handles ATTRA inquiries about herb production, experiments with herbs, heirloom
vegetables, and native vegetation on a half-acre homesite near the historic
Fayetteville (AR) Square. "Since the days when I had the first snowpeas of the season at the
Fayetteville Farmers' Market, occasionally hauled a gallon of dried red
clover blossoms to the Natural Foods Co-op, and painstakingly winnowed dried
poke and maypop seeds to sell to a mailorder seedsman, I have been curious
about different plants, especially those with culinary uses," she says. For the Seed Savers Exchange, Katherine (a Life Member) has done trials
and grow-outs, and once established the provenance of some "Trail of
Tears" bean seed for members of the Cherokee Nation in Oregon. Some
of her cultivar descriptions have been appropriated for seed company catalogs.
Senate/House to conference on sustainable ag program FY99 budgets Most federally-supported sustainable agriculture programs will have level or
reduced funding in FY99. The Senate and House are expected to conference on
funding amounts in September.
Amounts approved thus far by Senate and House ag appropriations committees
for various sustainable ag programs are:
NCSA volunteers needed to promote federal sustainable ag policies
People are needed to serve as advocates for the National Campaign for Sustainable
Agriculture, a network of more than 200 organizations working for federal policies
that support sustainable ag. Volunteers would respond to "Campaign Action
Alerts" by taking on such tasks as making phone calls, writing letters
or contacting their Congressional representatives.
Recently, Campaign staff members and volunteers played an important role in
convincing the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service to reconsider proposed National
Organic Program (NOP) standards. Faced with more than 200,000 protests, the
USDA is expected to issue a revised proposal later this year.
ATTRA staff members Janet Bachmann and Richard Earles are serving as Southern
region organizers for the Campaign. They are also working with the policy committee
of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG) to help develop
and promote policies that support sustainable ag in the region.
For more information or to volunteer for service, please contact Janet or
Richard at P.O. Box 3657, Fayetteville, AR 72702, (501)442-9824, janetb@ncatark.uark.edu.
Readers may also contact: National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, P.O.
Box 396, Pine Bush, NY 12566, Phone : (914) 744-8448, Fax: (914) 744-8477, email:
campaign@magiccarpet.com.
New report profiles farmers using alternative pest management
Fields of Change: A New Crop of American Farmers Find Alternatives, a report
released in July by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), profiles 22
farmers (fruits, vegetables, grains, cotton and dairy) in 16 states who are
switching from conventional pest management practices, which are heavily reliant
on pesticides, to profitable alternative ag practices that substantially reduce
pesticide use.
"All of the farmers made the conversion from conventional pest management
systems to alternative pest management systems while maintaining, and in many
cases improving, the profitability of their operations," the report found.
The farmers now use alternative techniques such as scouting and monitoring for
pest and natural enemy population levels; using precision pesticide application
equipment; rotating crops and planting cover crops; switching to biologically-based
pest control products; and using conservation tillage, irrigation management,
and soil-building.
"Fields of Change" is $14, plus $3 shipping, from NRDC, Publications
Department, 40 West 20th St., New York, N.Y. 10011; (212) 727-4486.
SAN issues second edition of Managing Cover Crops Profitably
To help farmers boost their bottom line while enhancing the environment, a
new book from USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) greatly expands field-ready
information on cover crop species and practices proven to build soil and provide
a host
of agronomic benefits. The 212-page Managing Cover Crops Profitably, 2nd Edition
features information gleaned from the latest cover crop field trials, lab tests
and on-farm experiences from every region of the U.S. It includes management
details such as seeding rates and best killing methods, as well as broader considerations
of how to design rotations to maximize benefits.
Fully indexed guide
Comprehensive chapters on the 18 most promising cover crop species, fact-filled
charts and lists of seed suppliers, expert contacts and other relevant publications
make the fully indexed guide invaluable for both newcomers and cover crop veterans.
Range maps for the 18 cover crops help farmers zero in on which ones are best
suited for their region. They then can turn to chapters on each species that
detail the unique role each cover crop can play. Each chapter provides specific
management information about soil preferences, seeding rates, field operations,
managing and planting into residue, and cover crop mixtures with other species.
Comparing species
The book also features four comprehensive charts that make it easy to compare
cover crop species. This section provides recommendations for the best cover
crops in 14 bioregions and details 55 factors for each cover crop, describing
its benefits, roles, traits and management.
To order Managing Cover Crops Profitably, 2nd Edition, send $19 to Sustainable
Agriculture Publications, Hills Building, University of Vermont, Burlington,
VT 05405-0082 (802) 656-0471. Visit the SAN/SARE web site at http://www.sare.org.
Bulk discounts are available for 10 or more copies.
Today's quote
"When we think of the loss of farmland, we often think only of a reduction
in our ability to produce food and fiber. But rural landscapes have many other
functions...Imagine enclosing a city such as New York under a huge plastic dome
that allows light to pass but nothing else. The city is cut off from the surrounding
countryside. Now imagine the effect of this enclosure on the environment of
the city. The air grows stale and polluted, sewage accumulates, and supplies
of clean water, raw materials, and food are depleted. Of less immediate concern
to the trapped residents, their world no longer includes most other species,
opportunities for recreation and aesthetic enjoyment of rural areas, or an environment
conducive to rural cultures (can you imagine the Amish maintaining their culture
within the dome?). Rural landscapes provide many functions other than food production."
-- Richard Olson of the Center for Sustainable Agricultural Systems (CSAS)
in a new book by Westview Press titled, Under the Blade: The Conversion of Agricultural
Landscapes, that he co-edited with Tom Lyson. Here he also quotes from the 1996
book, Our Ecological Footprint.
P.O. BOX
3657
FAYETTEVILLE,
AR 72702
PHONE:
1-800-346-9140 --- FAX: (501) 442-9842
NCSA urges Gore to insure "strong, credible"
organic rule
Plans underway for National Small Farm Conference Oct.
12-15, '99
38 ATTRA info packets downloadable on our WWW homepage
Varied farm backgrounds help ATTRA staffers to empathize,
put best foot forward for farm families
Senate/House to conference on sustainable ag program FY99
budgets
NCSA volunteers needed to promote federal sustainable ag policies
New report profiles farmers using alternative pest management
SAN issues second edition of Managing Cover Crops Profitably
Today's quote
Lavender as an Alternative Crop
Organic Blueberry Production
Organic Culture of Bramble Fruit
Organic Cranberry Production
Herb Production & Marketing
Mushroom Cultivation & Marketing
Organic Potting Mixes
Overview of Organic Fruit Production
Postharvest Handling of Fruits &
Vegetables
Season Extension Techniques for Market
Gardeners
St. Johnswort as an Alternative
Crop
Sustainable Pecan Production
Sustainable Small-Scale Nursery Production
Alternative Beef Marketing
Community Supported Agriculture
Direct Marketing
Marketing Channels: Pick-Your-Own & Agri-Entertainment
Organic Certification
Resources for Organic Marketing
Beef Farm Sustainability Check Sheet
Sustainable Beef Production
Dairy Products On-Farm
Matching Livestock and Forage Resource
in Controlled Grazing
Worms for Composting (Vermicomposting)
Alternative Nematode Control
Compost Teas for Plant Disease Control
Disease Suppressive Potting Mixes
Farmscaping to Enhance Biological
Control
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
Introduction to Permaculture
Making the Transition to Sustainable Farming
Alternative Seed Suppliers -- Untreated,
Heirloom, Organic
Alternative Soil Testing Laboratories
Internships, Apprenticeships, & Sustainable
Curricula
Sources for Organic Fertilizers &
Amendments
Sustainable Ag Organizations & Publications
Sustainable Agriculture Curricula-K-12
University Programs and Contacts in
Sustainable Agriculture
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