Henry A. Wallace Institute for
Alternative Agriculture
9200 Edmonston Road, #117
Greenbelt, MD 20770
(301) 441-8777
E-mail: hawiaa@access.digex.net
World Wide Web: http://www.hawiaa.org
* * *
If You Are Interested in Sustainable Agriculture...
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 latest issue (Volume 12, No. 4) features an article on
the effects of clover and small grain cover crops, and tillage
techniques on seedling emergence of some weed species. Other
articles cover the growth of apple trees, nitrate mobility, and
pest populations; growth of corn roots under low-input and
conventional farming systems; effects of pearl millet in an arid
region; and a regional approach to soil erosion and productivity
research.
Subscriptions to AJAA are $44 for libraries; $24 for
individuals; and $12 for students; contact the Wallace Institute,
9200 Edmonston Road, #117, Greenbelt, MD 20770; (301) 441-8777;
e-mail hawiaa@access.digex.net; Web site, http://www.hawiaa.org.
Table of Contents:
Proposed Organic Standards Are "Fatally Flawed," p. 1
Scientists Think Earth Is In Midst of Biological Extinction, p.3
Resources, p. 3
Gore Orders EPA to Work With USDA on Pesticide Approval, p. 4
Maryland Legislature Votes to Curb Fertilizer Use, p. 4
Local Farmers Custom-Plant for Gourmet Chefs, p. 5
BioCycle Reports Major Progress in Composting, Recycling, p. 5
Positions, p. 5
Upcoming Events, p. 6
PROPOSED ORGANIC STANDARDS ARE "FATALLY FLAWED," SAYS WALLACE
INSTITUTE
The proposed national organic standards are "fatally flawed"
and "must change substantially," according to comprehensive
public comments filed by the Wallace Institute before the public
comment period closed on May 1. The Institute's comments covered
every aspect of the proposed standards for the national organic
program and filled 125 pages. Among the key points made in the
comments were:
-- The program should better reflect a public-private
partnership by providing more authority to existing state and
private certification organizations.
-- The proposal disregards the authority granted to the
National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to determine the
materials that may be placed on the National List of allowable
synthetics in organic production. The Institute's comments
advise the USDA to uphold that authority, a view reflected in a
legal memorandum written by the Wallace Institute and submitted
as an official NOSB document to the USDA Secretary, which
provides a solid legal argument for upholding the Board's
authority to determine the National List.
-- The USDA should delete its proposed addition of
genetically engineered organisms, ionizing radiation, and
biosolids as acceptable materials, and follow the NOSB
recommendations severely limiting the use of National List
materials.
-- The program should include a progressive fee structure
that takes into account the size of farm, handling, and
certification operations. The proposal does not account for
differences in the size of farms or certification agents.
-- The proposed rules on livestock fail to meet
international standards or industry expectations. The Institute
recommended revisiting every component of the livestock proposal.
-- The proposed prohibition on eco-labeling should be
deleted; the USDA should defer eco-labeling concerns to the
Federal Trade Commission, which has been monitoring the issue.
As the next step, the Wallace Institute recommended
submitting a re-proposal to the Federal Register by October 1,
1998, to allow sufficient time for USDA staff to analyze the
public comments and make necessary adjustments. It also
recommended a comment period on the re-proposal of at least 90
days, which would allow final rules to be published in the
Federal Register in the spring of 1999, with a goal of final
implementation in the growing season of 2000. Rewriting the
proposal should not be overwhelming and would lead to popular
support, if the new rules reflect the NOSB recommendations, the
Institute wrote.
"Everyone understands the headlines about the proposal, so
now let's roll up our sleeves and get to work on the details so
we can have a program in place by 2000," said Kathleen Merrigan,
the Wallace Institute's Senior Analyst and a member of the
National Organic Standards Board. "The vast majority of public
comments urged the Secretary to adopt the NOSB recommendations,
which is a credit to this volunteer board and the public
dialogue."
On Capitol Hill, 31 Senators signed a letter urging USDA
Secretary Dan Glickman to rewrite the proposed standards "so that
they reflect industry norms as represented by existing private,
state, and international standards," and to "return to the
recommendations of the National Organic Standards Board as a
model for your overhaul of the Proposed Rules." Forty-eight
members of the House of Representatives signed a similar letter.
The text of the Wallace Institute's public comments is
available on the Institute's Web site at http://www.hawiaa.org.
These and other public comments are available for review on the
National Organic Program's Web site at
http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop.
SCIENTISTS BELIEVE EARTH IS IN MIDST OF MASS BIOLOGICAL
EXTINCTION
Seven out of ten biologists believe that "we are in the
midst of a mass extinction of living things, and that this loss
of species will pose a major threat to human existence in the
next century," according to a nationwide survey by the American
Museum of Natural History in New York City, conducted by Louis
Harris and Associates. The survey interviewed 400 experts in the
biological sciences who are members of the American Institute of
Biological Sciences. According to the scientists' estimates,
this mass extinction is the fastest in the earth's history.
Unlike prior extinctions, this "sixth extinction" is mainly the
result of human activity, and not natural phenomena.
According to the survey, scientists identified the key
causes of this extinction as the increasing human population and
the rate at which humans consume resources. They said those
problems cause a loss of biodiversity through habitat destruction
and degradation, overexploitation of plant and animal species,
introduction of non-native species into habitats, pollution and
contamination, and global warming. In the survey, scientists
identified the maintenance of biodiversity as critical to human
well-being, and rated biodiversity loss as a more serious
environmental problem than the depletion of the ozone layer,
global warming, or pollution and contamination.
RESOURCES
"Urban Agriculture: An Abbreviated List of References and
Resource Guide" is available from Alternative Farming Systems
Information Center, National Agricultural Library, ARS, USDA,
10301 Baltimore Ave., #304, Beltsville, MD 20705; (301) 504-6559;
or on the Internet at http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic
"The Future Agenda for Organic Trade," proceedings of the
1997 Organic Trade Conference, are $30 from IFOAM, fax +49-6853-
30110, or e-mail ifoam@T-Online.de
"Sustaining Profits and Forests" is $10 from Island Press,
Box 7, Dept. 2AU, Covelo, CA 95428; 1-800-828-1302; e-mail
ipwest@igc.apc.org; on the Internet, http://www.islandpress.org
Four films: "An Introduction to Ecological Economics" ($25);
"Investing in Natural Capital" ($29.95); "Conversation for a
Sustainable Society" ($25); and "Costa Rica Counts the Future"
($39.95) are available from Grieslinger Films, 7300 Old Mill
Road, Gates Mills, OH 44040; 1-800-872-4456; e-mail
Prgfilms@ix.netcom.com
"Using Cover Crops in Oregon" is $5.50 from Publication
Orders, Extension and Station Communications, Oregon State
University, 422 Kerr Administration, Corvallis, OR 97331.
"Michigan Field Crop Ecology," 92 full-color pages, is $12
(E-2646) from Michigan State University Bulletin Office, 10-B
Agriculture Hall, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824-1039.
"Learning from the BIOS Approach: A Guide for Community
Based Biological Farming Programs" is free; "National Organic
Directory" is $44.95 plus $6 shipping/handling from Community
Alliance with Family Farmers, P.O. Box 363, Davis, CA 95617; 1-
800-852-3832.
"Sustainable Agriculture: Taking Stock, Moving Forward,"
1997 Tenth Anniversary Conference Proceedings of the Leopold
Center for Sustainable Agriculture, is available from the Center,
209 Curtiss Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011; (515)
294-3711; e-mail leocenter@iastate.edu
"The Winter-Harvest Manual: Farming the Back Side of the
Calendar" is $15 from Four Season Farm, RR Box 14, Harborside, ME
04642.
GORE ORDERS EPA TO WORK WITH USDA ON PESTICIDE APPROVAL
Vice President Al Gore last month issued a directive telling
the EPA to work more closely with USDA on reviewing whether to
approve new pesticides or to allow the continued use of existing
ones. Gore's directive "follows an escalating lobbying campaign
by the agriculture and chemical industries and their allies in
Congress, who have complained that the agency is too zealous in
carrying out a food safety law that Congress passed unanimously
in 1996," wrote The New York Times (April 8, 1998), referring to
the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). The directive also
ordered the EPA to base regulatory decisions on "the best science
and data" available. The two agencies then announced the
formation of a new FQPA advisory committee, and pledged to
provide "appropriate reasonable transition mechanisms that will
reduce risk but not jeopardize our nation's agriculture and its
farm communities." A House Agriculture subcommittee is soon
expected to schedule hearings on the FQPA "that could lead to
legislative changes if EPA does not change direction in the way
it is implementing the law," according to Regulation, Law &
Economics (April 28, 1998).
MARYLAND LEGISLATURE VOTES TO CURB FERTILIZER USE
The Maryland legislature last month approved the nation's
most comprehensive mandatory limits on the use of fertilizers in
order to protect the Chesapeake Bay from pollutants believed to
cause the toxic microbe Pfiesteria. The program focuses on
limiting the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus reaching the
water. Farmers agreed to accept the mandatory limits in exchange
for a delay in their introduction and milder penalties for those
who do not comply. By 2001, most farmers will be required to
test their soil and draft plans limiting their fertilizer use.
All farmers must have plans by 2004. The new law applies to any
farmers who use commercial fertilizer, animal waste, or sludge.
Although other states have programs aimed at curbing nitrogen
fertilizers, Maryland is the only state to limit phosphorus use.
The program also requires the enzyme phytase to be included in
chicken feed to reduce phosphorus in manure.
LOCAL FARMERS CUSTOM-PLANT FOR GOURMET CHEFS
Farmers in the Washington, D.C., region are increasingly
custom-growing specialty fruits and vegetables for the city's
gourmet restaurants, "an arrangement that benefits small farmers
struggling to make a go of it, chefs looking for just-picked
flavor, and diners hooked on eating local," according to an
article in The Washington Post (April 22, 1998). The trend has
grown for several reasons, including "chefs looking for higher-
quality ingredients, growers getting savvier about marketing, and
consumers raising the freshness standard through their
experiences at farmers' markets." In addition to developing
close relationships with who is growing their food, restaurants
"become much more in touch with what's available when," and in
many cases, develop their menus according to the available local
produce. Among the farmers custom-growing for these restaurants
is Cass Peterson, a member of the Wallace Institute's Board of
Directors, who is growing 80 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, New
Zealand spinach, black salsify, and a special variety of pea
sprouts for eight area restaurants.
BIOCYCLE REPORTS MAJOR PROGRESS IN COMPOSTING, RECYCLING
The last 10 years have brought about great progress in
composting and recycling, and a major change in the country's
fundamental solid waste management system, according to
BioCycle's 10th Annual Nationwide Survey on recycling and
composting (April, 1998). Ten years ago, "landfills were
disappearing at an alarming rate....Recycling and composting --
well, most decision makers did not consider them legitimate
components of the system," the magazine wrote. The recycling and
composting rate is now close to 30 percent. "If anyone would
have suggested ten years that half of the people in the country
would have access to curbside programs and that almost a third of
their waste stream would be handled through recycling and
composting, they would have been a laughing stock," according to
the magazine.
POSITIONS
Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture,
Policy Studies Program, seeks an Agricultural Resource and
Environmental Economist with a Ph.D. and 2-5 years experience, to
conduct research and education on agricultural resource
conservation and environmental issues; send resume, names and
addresses of three references, and three publications or examples
of education programs, or to obtain full job description, contact
Dr. David Ervin, Director, Policy Studies Program, Wallace
Institute, 9200 Edmonston Road, #117, Greenbelt, MD 20770; (301)
441-8777; e-mail hawiaa@access.digex.net (put Ervin in subject).
University of Maine, Department of Applied Ecology and
Environmental Sciences, seeks an Assistant/Associate Professor in
Sustainable Agriculture; for full description, contact Dr.
Gregory Porter, Dept. of Applied Ecology and Environmental
Sciences, 5722 Deering Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME
04469-5722; e-mail Porter@maine.edu
Earthwatch Institute seeks volunteers to measure residential
exposure to pesticides in the Mississippi Delta during the
summer; contact Earthwatch, 680 Mt. Auburn, P.O. Box 9104,
Watertown, MA 02272; 1-800-776-0188; on the Internet,
http://www.earthwatch.org
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 28-31, Sustainable America will hold its second annual
general assembly in Portland, OR; contact Kim Chaloner, SA, (212)
239-4221; e-mail sustamer@sanetwork.org
June 3-6, "Who Owns America? How Land and Natural Resources
Are Owned and Controlled" will be held in Madison, WI; contact
Lynn Meinholz or Robin Gigot, North American Program, Land Tenure
Center, 1357 University Ave., Madison, WI 53715; e-mail ltc-
nap@facstaff.wisc.edu; on the Internet,
http://ltcweb.ltc.wisc.edu/nap
June 3-6, "Skill-Building for Stronger Communities" will be
held in Jackson Hole, WY; contact Heartland Center for Leadership
Development, 941 O St., #920, Lincoln, NE 68508; (402) 474-7667;
on the Internet, http://www.4w.com/heartland
June 4-7, the joint annual meetings of the Association for
the Study of Food and Society, and the Agriculture, Food, and
Human Values Society will be held in San Francisco, CA; contact
Barbara Gordon, San Jose State University, Nutrition and Food
Science Dept., 1 Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192; (408)
924-3105; e-mail bgordon@cruzio.com
June 9-12, "Agbiotech: The Science of Success," the
Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference, will be held
in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; contact by e-mail,
siggroup@sk.sympatico.ca
June 17-19, "Summit on Organic Food Technology" conference
and trade show will be held in Gilroy, CA; contact Diane Joy
Goodman, (415) 752-1751.
June 25, "Farming for the Future -- AgTech '98" and the 10th
annual field day of the UC Sustainable Agriculture Farming
Systems Project will be held in Davis, CA; contact Miriam Volat
or Kelly Brewer at (530) 752-8940; e-mail mavolat@ucdavis.edu or
kjbrewer@ucdavis.edu
June 25-28, "Sheep Is Life" will be held in Farmington,
N.M.; contact Recursos de Santa Fe, 826 Camino del Monte Rey, A3,
Santa Fe, N.M. 87505; 1-800-732-6881; e-mail recursos@aol.com
June 29-August 20, "Sustainable Agriculture: Principles and
Practices," a summer course, will be held at the University of
California, Davis; contact Mark Van Horn, Student Farm-Pomology
Dept., University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA
95616; (530) 752-7645.
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