BROWN BAG LUNCH ANNOUNCEMENT FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16,
1994
February 4, 1994
Dear Colleague,
Please join us on Wednesday, March 16 for the next in our
series of WSAA Brown Bag lunches, (rescheduled from January 28)
which will focus on Latin America. Two experts from the Inter-
American Foundation will be with us to speak on the issues,
prospects and barriers to sustainable agriculture in that region.
Mr. Jim Adriance will discuss several experiences in Central
America and Mexico with community-oriented NGOs and farmer
groups working on new approaches to agriculture, including an
emphasis on sustaining natural resources. He will be joined by Mr.
John Garrison, who will focus primarily on Brazil, with reference
to other southern cone countries, in describing governmental
agriculture policies and how they are detrimental to
sustainability. He will also talk about the progress and dilemmas
of an alternative movement of small scale farmers and groups
focusing on more sustainable production techniques, information
sharing, local self reliance, and research led by NGOs
(non-governmental organizations) in conjunction with farmers.
Jim studied Natural Resource Economics at the University of
Rhode Island and received his Master's Degree in Agricultural and
Resource Economics from the University of Maryland. He
was a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica, working with farmers to
diversify agriculture by introducing new crops in a primarily
coffee producing area. In his work at the Inter-American
Foundation he worked for five years in Peru and Ecuador with
projects in community health, microenterprise, land-use planning
and rural development. In the last two years he has focused on
sustainable agriculture and regional integration in Central America.
John has a M.A. degree in Latin American Studies from
Vanderbilt University. He worked for three years with the
Universidade Metodista de Peracicaba in Sao Paulo and 1 year with
Instituto de Estudos Socioeconomicos, a Brazilian NGO promoting
grassroots organization and civic participation in Brazil's political
process. John also worked for three years with Catholic Relief
Services on Development and Human Rights in Brazil and Mexico.
He has been at the IAF for six years in the Brazil office where he has
focused on sustainable agriculture, and the role of NGOs in Brazil's
civil society.
We hope you will be able to join us on Wednesday, March
16th.
Sincerely,
Roger Blobaum, Associate Director, WSAA
Linda Elswick, Ass't Director, Washington Office
DIRECTIONS TO THE MARCH 16 MEETING
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is located
at 1800 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, 1/2 block from the Dupont
Circle Metro Station (use the South escalator). The meeting will
be held in the Boardroom on the Main Floor from 12:30 - 2:00 pm.
RSVP not necessary but appreciated. Please feel free to invite
others, particularly those working on Latin American issues, and
bring any materials you would like to share.
P.S. Please mark your calendars for Brown Bag meeting dates which
have been set for Friday, February 18, Wednesday, March 16, and
Friday, April 29. Meeting announcements and minutes of meetings
will be posted electronically on SANET (Internet) via messages to the
sanet.mailgroup (sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu) and to susag.news on
econet.