Sustainable Agriculture News Bulletin
Volume 2, Number 22
December 10, 1993
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HEADLINES:
- EPA GIVES METHYL BROMIDE ONE MORE YEAR
- FRENCH FRY PRODUCTION UNSUSTAINABLE
- EUROPEAN REPORT PROMOTERS "HIGH NATURAL VALUE" FARMING
- ARKANSAS RESEARCHERS WORKING ON LESS-TOXIC PESTICIDES
- FLORIDA SCIENTIST CONCLUDES BENLATE DF AT FAULT
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News Summaries
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EPA GIVES METHYL BROMIDE ONE MORE YEAR
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last week
that farmers will be able to use the ozone-depleting fumigant methyl
bromide until the year 2001. Rules proposed by the EPA earlier this
year would have phased out the fumigant, which is commonly used
in fruit and vegetable production, by the year 2000 in order to meet
the requirements of the Clean Air Act. Under the extension, farmers
must freeze methyl bromide use at 1991 levels beginning in January
1994.
Environmental groups reacted with alarm at the change. "The
quicker you can ban methyl bromide, the better it is for the
atmosphere," said Ann Schonfield of the Pesticide Action network.
The decision sets "a bad precedent," according to Richard Wiles of the
Environmental Working Group. "We need to be working on
alternatives to methyl bromide, not delaying rules."
The agriculture sector was pleased with the change. "An extra year
helps. Our biggest concern is and will be to insure our growers have
access to a commercially viable soil fumigant ... That's what we're
going to lose when methyl bromide is gone," said Michael Stuart of
the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association. Agricultural and
environmental groups are reportedly working with the USDA on an
alternative to methyl bromide.
U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor allegedly promised he
would postpone overall phase out of methyl bromide in order to gain
the votes of Florida congressional representatives during the fight
over the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). A letter
from Kantor to the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association
said, "There will not be any restriction on the manufacture or use (of
methyl bromide) until the year 2000, by which time we hope to have
satisfactory alternatives." In a damage-control effort, Kantor then
promised environmentalists that the original 2000 deadline would
not be changed. The EPA insisted the additional one-year had
nothing to do with NAFTA. "The pre-NAFTA rule was the same as
the post-NAFTA rule," said David Cohen, a spokesperson for the EPA.
He said the only reason the extra year came up is because the Clean
Air Act allows for a seven-year phase out period. Under the
Montreal Protocol, to which the U.S. is a party, ozone depleting
chemicals must be phased out by the year 2000.
Source: "U.S. EPA Sets Methyl Bromide Phaseout by 2001," REUTER,
December 1, 1993; Rita Beamish, "Ozone Rule," AP November 30,
1993.
FRENCH FRY PRODUCTION UNSUSTAINABLE
The Columbia Basin Institute released a report last week that
concluded french fry production plants are harming the
environment. Half of the french fries consumed in the U.S. are
produced in a five-county area on the Washington-Oregon border.
The operations have contaminated local water supplies and
threatened the health of area citizens. The report concluded that
only about half of each potato grown is used in french fry production,
thereby leaving groundwater supplies at risk for contamination by
nitrates due to the massive decomposition of potato wastes. In
addition, the nearby farms rely on the heavy use of pesticides in
growing the potato crops and well water contaminants have often
exceeded federal limits. "Tax and economic development subsidies
are being unnecessarily provided to an industry which generates
considerable social and environmental costs that in turn require
public remediation with those same scarce public funds," the report
said. The group recommended that the water pricing structure
undergo a re-evaluation so that industry is provided with incentives
to conserve.
Source: "French Fry Processors Pollute Water, Report Says," REUTER,
December 7, 1993.
EUROPEAN REPORT PROMOTERS "HIGH NATURAL VALUE"
FARMING
A recent report by the independent Institute for European
Environmental Policy suggested that European farmers need to think
about moving to more sustainable methods of agriculture production
or not receive support under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The report calls for a series of new policies to promote sustainable
production, including grazing fewer animals, relying on fewer
pesticides and utilizing traditional cultivation methods. Such "high
natural value" systems support large areas of habitat that
conventional agriculture does not. The report calls for a system of
direct incentives for farmers who utilize more sustainable methods
of production.
European Union (EU) member states are currently working on an
"agri-environmental" program which will fall under the auspices of
the CAP reforms. Because of budget constraints, the report
recommends that these initiatives be incorporated into the CAP.
Subsidies aimed at environmental protection "might strengthen the
case for retaining direct payments within the CAP in the long term."
Other suggestions in the report include: an exemption from the
mandatory 15% set-aside rule for non-intensive farmers; payments
to livestock producers according to area rather than number of
animals; and marketing products with an environmentally-friendly
EU label. "The objective is not to make farmers into 'park keepers'
but to establish sustainable forms of agriculture," the report says.
Source: Alison Maitland, "EU Urged to Promote 'High Natural Value'
Agriculture," FINANCIAL TIMES, December 7, 1993.
ARKANSAS RESEARCHERS WORKING ON LESS-TOXIC
PESTICIDES
Researchers at the University of Arkansas are developing new types
of pesticides that can reduce the required amount of chemicals and
still fight weeds and other pests. Ford Baldwin, an extension agent at
the university, said farmers have been looking for ways to cut input
costs since the 1970s when commodity prices first sunk and
production costs increased. He said new products have lower
application rates because researchers have been able to target their
application times with the type and emergence of weeds and other
pests.. "The new products have very low toxicity. Many of them
work on enzymes in the plants that don't even exist in animals.
They're less toxic than table salt," Baldwin said. The university is
also reportedly working on incorporating a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)
gene into cotton plants.
source: "New Techniques Lead to Less Use of Toxic Chemicals in
Farming," JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, November 10, 1993.
FLORIDA SCIENTIST CONCLUDES BENLATE DF AT FAULT
In the continuing saga of whether or not the DuPont chemical
company's Benlate DF product was responsible for millions of dollars
in damages to specialty crops in the 1980s, a Florida scientist
recently announced that based on his studies, the product was
indeed at fault. Timothy Schubert who is employed with the Florida
Department of Agriculture, said plants treated with Benlate DF
exhibited stunted growth, mutated leaves and immature root
systems. "In summary, we can say at this point that the
experimental evidence ... is beginning to support the original
conclusion, based on circumstantial evidence, that Benlate DF can be
phytotoxic," Schubert told the Florida Pesticide Review council.
Source: "Florida Says DuPont's Benlate Damaged Crops," REUTER,
December 3, 1993.
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Resources
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CERES is a bi-monthly journal of the Rome-based Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO). The November/December 1993 issue
examines "Low-Input Farming: Merits and Limits." It is available by
subscription for $24.00 a year. For more information, contact Ceres,
FAO, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 1-00100 Rome, Italy.
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Events
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DECEMBER
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BUILDING PARTNERSHIPS IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE,
December 9-10, 1993, Bolton, VT. FFI, contact: Deb Heleba, Tel:
(802) 656-0233 or Kate Duesterberg, Tel: (802) 656-2924.
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JANUARY
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RIDGE TILL WORKSHOPS, January 1994, Minnesota (various dates
and locations). FFI, contact: George Rehm, University of Minnesota,
Tel: (612) 625-6210.
NATIONAL NO-TILLAGE CONFERENCE, January 11-13, 1994, St.
Louis, MO. FFI, contact: Tel: (414) 782-4480.
FOURTH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON GREAT LAKES RELATED
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, January 14-15, 1994, Syracuse, NY.
FFI, contact: Marie Balle, Conference Coordinator, Great lakes
Research Consortium, 24 Bray Hall, SUNY College of Environmental
Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210, Tel: (315) 470-6816, Fax:
(315) 470-6970.
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Produced by: Michelle Thom, Institute for Agriculture and Trade
Policy, 1313 5th Street SE Suite 303, Minneapolis, MN 55414, Tel:
(612) 379-5980 Fax: (612) 379-5982 EMail: mthom@igc.org or
mmthom@alex.stkate.edu. In addition to this news bulletin, the
Institute publishes a variety of news bulletins on agriculture, the
environment and international trade. These include:
Bio/Technology/Diversity Bulletin (weekly news bulletins on
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