In response to the recent queries about USDA Deputy Secretary Richard
Rominger's attitudes toward organic and sustainable ag, you might
want to check out the address he gave at the 19th Annual Ecological
Farming Conference in Pacific Grove, CA, in January of '99.
For an audiotape, order from this Web source:
http://www.csa-efc.org/tapes99.html
For a printed copy, pick up the Summer, 1999 (#6) issue of the
Organic Farming Research Foundation's information bulletin. Ask for
subscription/order information:
research@ofrf.org
Among his other comments, he said:
"The growth and prosperity of the small farmer is a key aspect of
organic farming. Like sustainable farming and farmers' demonstrated
capacity to do right both by the environment and their own economics,
it's an excellent reason why organic agriculture is an idea whose
time as come. At its core, certifying products as organic is about
choice--choice for American consumers and the opportunity for small
farmers and ranchers to build a solid niche for themselves and expand
their growing markets."
He mostly talks about USDA programs that deal with organics. From my
reading, he doesn't come across as "pro" or "con"--but that's not
surprising. That's not his job. But he certainly doesn't sound like
he's negating organics, or unaware of some of the key research,
policy, and practice issues (from his agency's perspective). That
could simply mean he has a good speechwriter.
I don't mean that to sound cynical. Part of our job as sustainable
and organic action-takers and vision-makers is to educate people
within agencies, universities, and other institutions about why we do
what we do--our vision, our actions, our beliefs. We can honk about
"government" not being aware, or "the Land Grants" ignoring our
concerns, but input into places of power has always required energy,
focus, and creativity. Seems to me that taking common sense to high
places is an intentional effort, not an automatic one.
peace
misha
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michele Gale-Sinex
Communications manager
Center for Integrated Ag Systems, UW-Madison
http://www.wisc.edu
UW voice mail: 608-262-8018
Home office: 415-504-6474 (504-MISH)
Home office fax: Same as above, phone first for enabling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you knew what life was worth, you would look for yours
on earth. And now you see the light--you stand up for your
rights. --Bob Marley, Peter Tosh
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail