Sustainable Agriculture News
The Week in Review
Produced by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade
Policy
Sustainable Agriculture News Bulletin
Volume 3, Number 3
January 21, 1994
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HEADLINES:
- EVERGLADES ISSUE REMAINS UNSETTLED
- DUPONT, TERRA RESOLVE DIFFERENCES OVER BENLATE
- FERTILIZER SALES, PRICES EXPECTED TO INCREASE
- DESERTIFICATION DISPUTED
- FINNS DEFEND LOGGING PRACTICES
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News Summaries
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EVERGLADES ISSUE REMAINS UNSETTLED
Last summer, the Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt announced
that an agreement had been reached between the government and
the sugar industry for cleaning up the Florida Everglades. Two
companies, Flo-Sun and U.S. Sugar each own approximately 30% of
the farmland in the Everglades. The industry has been criticized in
the past for high levels of phosphorous pollution found in the
waterways of the glades and Lake Okeechobee. Since the agreement
was reached last suummer, the industry has been fighting to include
a clause in the agreement that exempts them from further
responsibility for clean up. The government and environmental
groups continue to reject this proposal and the battle continues in
court.
In a breakthrough this month, the Flo-Sun company announced it
had reached an agreement with the Interior Department. Under that
agreement, the company will pay as much as $100 million over the
next 20 years toward clean up. George Frampton, assistant secretary
for fish, wildlife and parks, said the new deal was "actually quite a
bit better ... for the government than what we've been negotiating
for the last six months. He said that since Flo-Sun has dropped out of
the lawsuit, "litigation expenses have just doubled [for U.S. Sugar] ...
We're going to increase the pressure on anybody who doesn't sign."
U.S. Sugar refused to sign the most recent agreement and will
continue to fight it out in the court system. The company said it is
waiting for the release of a study on farmland use in the Everglades
commissioned by the Interior for the Army Corps of Engineers. The
company said that the study allegedly proposes sweeping limits on
the use of Everglades' farmland and that the department needs to
commit to not implementing the report's recommendations before
they will come back to the bargaining table. Donald Carson,
president of U.S. Sugar, said, "We are convinced we're doing the right
thing, and we hope the other farmers will join us."
In a recent speech to the Everglades Coalition, Babbitt called the
Everglades battle "the singular, most important, ultimate test case of
whether we are going to have the capability to do ecosystem
restoration." He added that the administration wants to undertake
an effort aimed at restoring the ecosystem of the entire southern
Florida. "We are not declaring victory on a hit-and-run basis."
Source: Bill Gifford, "The Government's Too Sweet Deal; Are Federal
Sugar Supports Killing the Everglades?" WASHINGTON POST, January
9, 1994; John Cushman, "U.S. and Florida Lean on Sugar Producers to
Restore Polluted Everglades," NEW YORK TIMES, January 16, 1994;
Timothy Noah, "Flo-Sun Negotiates Cleanup of Runoff From
Everglades," WALL STREET JOURNAL, January 14, 1994.
DUPONT, TERRA RESOLVE DIFFERENCES OVER BENLATE
The DuPont chemical company has reached an agreement with the
retailer Terra over responsibility for Benlate DF claims. Under the
settlement, Terra's two lawsuits against Benlate, pending in an Iowa
court, and DuPont's lawsuit against Terra, pending in a Delaware
court, will be dropped. DuPont has agreed to resume all
responsibility for claims against its Benlate product. In exchange,
Terra has agreed to continue selling DuPont products. "Terra is
looking forward to building a stronger business relationship with
DuPont and is happy, once again, to be able to offer Terra's customers
a full range of DuPont products." Several cases are currently pending
against DuPont by growers of specialty crops who claim the product
damaged their crops. The company has already paid out millions of
dollars in claims.
Source: "DuPont and Terra Put Benlate Differences Behind Them," AG
RETAILER, January 1994.
FERTILIZER SALES, PRICES EXPECTED TO INCREASE
Dealers are anticipating an increased demand and higher prices for
fertilizers this spring. Most of the increased demand is attributed to
the flooding last year, as crops were wiped out. The government has
set acreage reduction requirements at zero for corn and sorghum for
1994 after a miserable growing season last year. With increasing
demand, dealers expect prices to increase by as much as 10% for
nitrogen, and 5% to 8% for phosphorous while potash sales are
expected to remain idle.
Source: Paul Justis, "Fertilizer Volume Trending Up, and so Are
Prices," AG RETAILER, January 1994.
DESERTIFICATION DISPUTED
A recent NEW YORK TIMES article questioned the the belief that the
world's deserts are increasing in size through desertification. With
international talks currently taking place, the article goes so far as to
call desertification a myth. It says scientists have used satellite
photos from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), taken over 10 years, which indicate the boundary between
the Sahara and Sahel drylands, for instance, did not move south. The
vegetation line between the two regions in fact moved back and
forth with the rainfall, the article says. "No one denies that what is
taking place in the drylands is serious. But are the drylands turning
into permanent deserts? Not likely," the article states.
In another instance, Swedish scientists combined satellite and air
observation to determine that desertification was not occurring in
the Sahara-Sahel region of the Sudan. Changes that did take place in
the vegetative cover in the area could all be explained by rain and
weather-related patterns. "We know we can explain 70, perhaps 80
percent of food productivity variability with rainfall statistics, which
leaves another 20 to 30 percent we cannot explain," said Dr. Ulf
Hellden, a scientist at the University of Lund in Sweden. Dr. James
Ellis of the Center for Environment and Sustainable Agriculture said
he believes climate changes keep drylands in a constant state of
disequilibrium and plays a bigger role in desertification than human
activity.
Human activity is most likely responsible for playing some part in
food production variability. The biggest contributing factors include
overgrazing, and over-cultivation due to population pressures which
lead to soil erosion and reduced vegetation. In many countries facing
desertification problems, herders are nomadic, moving from one
region and back with the rains. Increasingly, when they return to
one region, they are finding the land plowed behind them by farming
interests. "There is no doubt in my mind that excessive grazing and
cultivation are causing serious land degradation in drylands," said Dr.
David Hillel at the University of Massachusetts.
W. Franklin Cardy, director of the desertification control program for
the United Nations Environment Program, calls the prospect of
encroaching deserts "largely invalid" -- so much so that he believes
the term desertification should no longer be used. However, a
solution is needed and Cardy said he doesn't believe simply moving
people is the answer as populations continue to grow. Cardy said
thought is being given to developing aid packages which cater to
local traditions and a population's historical ability to deal with
climatological variations. Items as simple as donkey carts for hauling
stone for building terraces to prevent erosion are being given
thought. Before any solution can be developed, scientists say we
need to understand the characteristics of drylands. Until then, "there
is a risk that the desertification issue will become political and
development fiction rather than a scientific fact."
Source: William K. Stevens, "Threat of Encroaching Deserts May Be
More Myth Than Fact," NEW YORK TIMES, January 18, 1994.
FINNS DEFEND LOGGING PRACTICES
An article in the German paper Der Spiegel last November entitled
"Plunderers in the North" accused Finland, Canada, Russia and Alaska
of destroying what was left of their ancient forests. Since then, the
Finnish lumber industry has been trying to defend the country's
logging practices, saying Finland has had regulations for decades, and
is now issuing warnings about "environmental imperialism." Kaj
Karlsson who works for a forestry cooperative said it makes no sense
to demand the protection of ancient forests as there are very few
left. "There is hardly any original forest left in Finland. What we
have now is new growth forest." Most Finns recognize that if the
lumber industry -- which accounts for 36% of their exports -- were
to fold, the economy would be in trouble. One farmer expressed
fears that stricter regulations would force him to thin, as opposed to
clearcut, which is more labor-intensive.
Despite the resistance from the logging community, the government
recently extended protection to 23,000 additional hectares of state-
owned old growth forest. The government says it will not extend to
protection to private farms where it could not afford the cost of
compensation.
Source: David Lascelles, "Finns on A Limb," FINANCIAL TIMES,
January 19, 1994.
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Resources
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AGRARIAN ADVOCATE is a publication of the Community Alliance
with Family Farmers (CAFF). The bi-monthly publication focuses on
local self-reliance issues in addition to sustainable agriculture,
organic farming and community-supported agriculture.
Memberships/subscriptions begin at $15.00. For more information,
contact CAFF, P.O. Box 464, Davis, CA 95617.
The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of
Minnesota has recently published a booklet which examines the role
and use of forage legumes such as clover, birdsfoot trefoil, alfalfa and
crownvetch in agricultural production. In FORAGE LEGUMES, the
authors, lead by Professor Craig Sheaffer of the Agronomy
Department, assert that these crops are essential to sustainable
agricultural systems as they provide livestock feed, nectar seed, a
green manure source through their ability to fix nitrogen and soil
cover. In addition, legumes are an excellent source of soil
replenishment and earthworm habitat. The text goes on to identify
different forage legumes and discuss how their efficient use
influences grazing and hay and silage harvest management practices.
Informaiton on preparing for and planting these crops is also
included. Charts, graphs and color pictures accompany the text. The
book may be purchased for $5.00 (item #SB-5963-EM1) from the
University's Distribution Center, 20 Coffey Hall, University of
Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108. Bulk prices available.
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Events
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JANUARY
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SOUTHERN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP
ANNUAL CONFERENCE, January 20-22, 1994, Austin, TX. FFI,
contact: Nessa Richman, Sustainable Food Center, 1715 East 6th
Street, Suite 200, Austin, TX 78702, Tel: (512) 472-2073, Fax: (512)
472-2075.
ANNUAL CALIFORNIA PLANT & SOIL CONFERENCE, January
24-25, 1994, San Luis Obispo, CA. FFI, contact: Jim Oster, Tel: (909)
787-5100 or Shannon Mueller, Tel: (209) 488-3261.
BIOBASED PRODUCTS EXPO, January 24-26, 1994, Kansas City, MO.
FFI, contact: Debbie Rubin, Tel: (314) 275-9915.
SOUTH CAROLINA SMALL FARMS CONFERENCE, January 28-29,
1994, Orangeburg, SC. FFI, contact: Verna DeVoe, South Carolina
Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 11280, Columbia, SC 29211, Tel:
(809) 734-2200.
ORGANIC AGRICULTURE CONFERENCE, January 28-29, 1994,
Guelph, Ontario. FFI, contact: Tomas Nimmo, Canadian Organic
Growers, Tel: (705) 444-0923.
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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. All bulletins may be
reproduced and distributed freely without prior permission as long
as proper attribution is included. A copy of any publication in which
an IATP bulletin is cited would be appreciated.