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 start-up of a successful alternative dairy farm in Wisconsin
is profiled in an article in the newest issue of AJAA (Volume 13, No. 2,
1998). Other articles cover 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, and a behavioral approach to alternative agriculture
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
Table of Contents:
Report Profiles Profitable Alternative Farming Practices, p. 1
Most Sustainable Ag Funding Survives Senate Vote, p. 2
Land Institute Redefines Agriculture, p. 3
EPA Awards Grants to Reduce Pesticide Use, p. 3
Position, p. 4
Europe Steers Clear of Genetically Altered Food, p. 4
Honeybee Populations Are At Lowest Levels in Decade, p. 4
Resources, p. 5
Upcoming Events, p. 5
REPORT PROFILES PROFITABLE ALTERNATIVE FARMING PRACTICES
Innovative and successful farmers around the country are
"switching from conventional pest management practices, which are heavily
reliant on pesticides, to profitable alternative agricultural practices
that substantially reduce pesticide use," concludes a report published
last month by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). The report,
"Fields of Change: A New Crop of American Farmers Find Alternatives to
Pesticides," profiles 22 farmers who produce fruits, vegetables, grains,
cotton, and dairy in 16 states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois,
Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New York,
North Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. "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 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.
The report makes five policy recommendations that would
facilitate the widespread adoption of alternative pest management
practices: implement an education and technical assistance program;
increase investment in sustainable and organic farming systems research
and extension programs; salvage the Administration's Integrated Pest
Management initiative; increase availability of technical and financial
cost-share assistance and incentive programs; and define terms and create
rewards in the marketplace for foods grown using alternative pest
management methods.
"Fields of Change" is $14 plus $3 shipping from NRDC,
Publications Department, 40 West 20th St., New York, N.Y. 10011; (212)
727-4486.
MOST SUSTAINABLE AG FUNDING SURVIVES SENATE VOTE
Federal funding in Fiscal Year 1999 for most sustainable
agriculture programs, which was cut in several areas by the U.S. House of
Representatives in June, survived a vote by the Senate last month. Here
are the appropriations approved by the Senate for several sustainable
agriculture programs: SARE: $8 million appropriation approved for the
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, the same as
FY98. SAPDP: $3.3 million appropriation approved for the SARE (Chapter
3) Professional Development Program, the same as FY98. ATTRA: $1.3
million appropriation approved for the Appropriate Technology Transfer
for Rural Areas, the same as FY98. OFPA: $1 million appropriation
approved for the Organic Food Production Act, the same as the House
appropriation and an increase from the FY98 appropriation of $500,000.
CFO: All funds deleted for the Conservation Farm Option, the same as the
House. FY98's appropriation was $15 million. EQIP: $200 million
appropriation approved for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program,
an increase from the House appropriation of $174 million, and the same as
the FY98 appropriation of $200 million. WRP: $90.2 million appropriation
approved for the Wetlands Reserve Program, a decrease from the House
appropriation of $97.7 million and from the FY98 appropriation of $219
million. CFSA: $2.5 million appropriation approved for the Community
Food Security Act, the same as the House appropriation. FRA: All funds
deleted for the Fund for Rural America, the same as the House. The Farm
Bill did not authorize any FRA funds for FY98.
LAND INSTITUTE REDEFINES AGRICULTURE, SAYS NEWSWEEK
The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, is "the spiritual home for
a growing group of farmers, scientists and prairie visionaries who are
quietly redefining the meaning of agriculture," according to an essay in
"The Millennium Notebook" of Newsweek (July 6, 1998). Farmers are now
using "heavy machinery and an ever-expanding arsenal of fertilizers and
insecticides. But the machines destroy the soil, and modern agriculture
has been blamed for everything from bland tomatoes to poisoned water and
the death of the family farm. Researchers at The Land Institute think
they see a way out. They call it natural-systems agriculture,' the idea
being that we can farm more effectively, and less destructively, by
mimicking nature, not subduing it." Natural prairies are made up of a mix
of different plants, most of them perennials. But grain farmers have
selected annual varieties of grains, and fewer of them. The article
asks, "Couldn't stable mixes of grains, legumes and oil seeds be grown
together in the same field, keeping pests and weeds to a minimum just as
a natural prairie does?" Today, however, experiments at The Land
Institute show that mixed fields can actually outproduce single crops,
under some conditions. "If [Institute Director Wes] Jackson can persuade
the world to re-examine the way we farm, he might just buy us another
millennium or two."
EPA AWARDS GRANTS TO REDUCE PESTICIDE USE
The EPA last month awarded grants totaling almost $500,000 as
part of its Pesticide Environmental Stewardship Program, whose goal is to
reduce pesticide risk in agricultural and non-agricultural settings.
Many of the grants emphasize integrated pest management. Grant
recipients and their projects are: University of Maine, to evaluate less
toxic pesticide alternatives; Vermont Department of Agriculture, to
educate homeowners about safe pesticide use; New York State Agricultural
Experiment Station, Cornell University, to develop a spraying structure
to improve pesticide use in apple orchards; University of Delaware, to
reduce herbicide applications on irrigated corn; University of Georgia,
to use IPM in mid-season peach production; North Carolina State
University, to demonstrate effectiveness of biopesticides in apple
orchards; Michigan State University, to develop pest ecology and
management training materials for farmers; Texas Agricultural Experiment
Station, to promote the use of contour filter strips that reduce
agricultural runoff; University of Nebraska, to provide farmers with
information on organic grain farming; Iowa State University, to reduce
pesticide use and increase IPM with support of weather data; Montana
State University, to test effectiveness of aeration as a method of
controlling insects in large grain containers; Lodi-Woodbridge Winegrape
Commission, to develop and implement integrated farming programs for
winegrape growers; University of California Agriculture Research and
Education Program, to develop and distribute information on integrated
farming systems for field and row crops; and Washington State Department
of Agriculture, to establish a state program to assist growers with
sustainable farming practices.
POSITION
Massachusetts Audubon Society's Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, MA,
seeks a crop production manager for 13-acre organic operation; send cover
letter, resume, and references to Stacy Miller, Drumlin Farm, South Great
Road, Lincoln, MA 01773; fax (781) 259-7941.
EUROPE STEERS CLEAR OF GENETICALLY ALTERED FOOD
Throughout the world last year, more than 30 million acres of
commercial farmland were planted with genetically modified seeds -- 10
times as much as the year before -- "but not one of those acres was in
the 15 countries of the European Union," according to The New York Times
(July 20, 1998). European consumers "are in open revolt over the
prospect of a future in which nature has somehow been altered by people
holding test tubes....The debate here about how -- and whether -- to
unleash the most powerful tools of modern biology says much about the
cultural and philosophical differences between pragmatic and risk-ready
American, where genetic technology that focuses on food has largely been
accepted, and the far more reticent people of Europe." There are several
reasons for the European conservatism, according to the article: " a
strong environmental movement rooted in the 19th-century philosophy that
nature is as wise as man, a fear of drastic change, and the unusually
large number of small farms still run by families who are reluctant to
end practices that have been honed over centuries."
HONEYBEE POPULATIONS ARE AT LOWEST LEVELS IN DECADE
Throughout the country, a combination of parasites, disease, and
pesticides has sent bee populations plummeting to their lowest levels in
decades, according to The Washington Post (July 20, 1998). Honeybees are
the primary pollinators for 90 fruit and vegetable crops, from almonds to
avocados, contributing directly or indirectly to a third of the food
Americans eat. "The number of managed bee colonies dropped by 25 percent
in the United States in a single season, from 1995 to 1996, with similar
declines noted in several European countries," the article said. In
Pennsylvania, apple growers are scrambling to find imported bees to
pollinate their orchards, and commercially managed bee colonies suffered
losses of 50 percent in three years. Some experts "see the decline of
the bees and other pollinators as evidence of more profound disturbances
in the natural world. They are the canaries in the coal mine,' said
Stephen L. Buchmann, a research entomologist with the USDA-Carl Hayden
Bee Research Center in Tucson."
RESOURCES
"Integrated Pest Management Program," the 1998 Annual Report of
the New York State IPM Program, is free from NYS IPM Program, NYSAES,
Geneva, N.Y. 14456; (315) 787-2353, or on the Internet at
http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/ipmnet/ny/
"The Economic Merit of Animal Manures as a Source of Plant
Nutrients or Energy Generation" is $13 from UC Agricultural Issues
Center, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; (530) 752-2320.
"Whole Farm Planning: Combining Family, Profit and Environment"
is $2.50 from Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture,
1-800-876-8636.
UPCOMING EVENTS
August 27-29, "Philosophy of Design 98: Focus on the Land" will
be held at Whispering Crane Institute, 1651 Calks Ferry Road, Lexington,
S.C. 29072.
August 31-September 2, "Making A Profit In Organics Recycling"
will be held in Columbus, OH; contact BioCycle, (610) 967-4135.
September 12-19, Practical Farmers of Iowa Field Days will be
held; September 12, farms of Kenneth Rosmann, Harlan, (712) 627-4217, and
Ron and Maria Rosmann and Sons, Harlan, (712) 627-4653; September 13,
farm of Tom Wahl and Kathy Dice, Mapello, (319) 729-5905; September 15,
farm of Larry and Judy Jedlicka, Solon, (319) 644-2686; September 19,
Virginia Moser, Garrison, (319) 477-8261.
September 5, Farm Tour of Buckskin Valley Farms will be held in
Greenfield, OH; contact Charles and Jamie Eselgroth, (937) 981-2030.
September 9, "Natural Products Expo East" will be held in
Baltimore, MD; contact New Hope Natural Media; (303) 939-8440; e-mail
expo@newhope.com
September 9-10, "It's Just Common Sense: Practical Approaches to
Better Groundwater Management," the 14th Annual Groundwater Foundation
Fall Symposium, will be held in San Antonio, TX; contact Susan Seacrest,
Groundwater Foundation, P.O. Box 22558, Lincoln, NE 68542; 1-800-858-4844.
September 10, Thompson On-Farm Research Field Day will be held at
the Thompson Farm, Boone, IA; contact Dick and Sharon Thompson, 2035
190th St., Boone, IA 50036; (515) 432-1560.
September 17-20, 19th Annual Conference of the American Community
Gardening Association will be held in Seattle, WA; contact Susan Casey,
Friends of P-Patch, 700 3rd Ave., #400, Seattle, WA 98104; (206)
684-0264; e-mail p-patch.don@ci.seattle.wa.us
September 25 is the deadline for presentation proposals for "The
State of North America's Private Land," to be held in Chicago, IL,
January 19-21, 1999; contact Soil and Water Conservation Society, 7515 NE
Ankeny Road, Ankeny, IA 50021; (515) 289-2331; e-mail swcs@swcs.org
September 25-26, "Wildlife, Pesticides, and People" will be held
in Fairfax, VA; contact Rachel Carson Council, 8940 Jones Mill Road,
Chevy Chase, MD 20815; (301) 652-1877; e-mail rccouncil@aol.com
September 26, Country Living Field Day will be held in Augusta,
OH; call Ohio State University Extension, (330) 627-4310.
September 28-30, "Making Connections," the International
Conference of the Society for Ecological Restoration, will be held in
Austin, TX; contact SER, 1207 Seminole Highway, #B, Madison, WI 53711;
(608) 262-9547; e-mail ser@vms2.macc.wisc.edu
September 28-October 6, "Village Design Permaculture Practicum"
will be held at Culture's Edge, 1025 Camp Elliott Road, Black Mountain,
N.C. 28711; (828) 298-2399; e-mail culturesedge@earthaven.org
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