I am interested in putting together a 'fact sheet', primarily to educate people
regarding the need for work in sustainable agriculture. I am interested in
documented facts and statistics relating to 1) food safety, 2) aquifer
depletion, 3) soil erosion & salinization, 4) bioaccumulation in humans, 5)
increasing inputs w/o increasing yields, etc., etc. I guess I have to admit
that what I'm looking for here are 'soundbites'. Gag.
I see many examples of this kind of information from time to time, both here
and elsewhere, but unfortunately the information is frequently lacking sources.
I want to compile a small, well-documented reference which can be used
effectively in debating the subject of sustainable agriculture.
My general impression here is that folks in the 'conventional' camp are better
prepared than those in the 'alternative' camp regarding facts and figures (or
at least regarding sound bites!). I hope you prove me wrong.
So, here's the challenge. Is there such a thing in existence today? Would such
a thing be useful to you in your work? If such a thing does not exist, I
volunteer to keep track of the responses this post generates,
and to share my findings with the list.
Regards,
Robert Stevahn
Boise Food Connection, Inc.
p.s. I would be interested in compiling a version with a more 'conventional'
slant as well, in order to better understand the kinds of questions we should
expect and the kind of data that will be used to support other positions.