Home News & Events Alternative Agriculture News -- May '98

Proposed Organic Standards Are "Fatally Flawed"
Scientists Think Earth Is In Midst of Biological Extinction
Resources
Gore Orders EPA to Work With USDA on Pesticide Approval
Maryland Legislature Votes to Curb Fertilizer Use
Local Farmers Custom-Plant for Gourmet Chefs
BioCycle Reports Major Progress in Composting, Recycling
Positions
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This newsletter is also available to subscribers to the sanet-mg discussion group. To subscribe, send a message to: almanac@ces.ncsu.edu. Leave the subject line blank and in the body of the message type only: subscribe sanet-mg

Subscription information for the hard-copy version is available at the Wallace Institute website.

In addition to this monthly newsletter, the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture publishes the American Journal of Alternative Agriculture, a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of research on alternative agriculture. It is a scientific forum for disseminating technical, economic, and social research findings about the character and requirements of alternative agriculture systems.

The current issue (Volume 12, No. 4) features articles on:

• The effects of clover and small grain cover crops, and tillage techniques on seedling emergence of some weed species.
• The growth of apple trees, nitrate mobility, and pest populations.
• The growth of corn roots under low-input and conventional farming systems.
• The effects of pearl millet in an arid region.
• A regional approach to soil erosion and productivity research.

Subscriptions to AJAA are $44 for libraries; $24 for individuals; and $12 for students. Find more information about AJAA at he Wallace Institute website.

The proposed national organic standards are "fatally flawed" and "must change substantially," according to comprehensive public comments filed by the Wallace Institute before the public comment period closed on May 1. The Institute's comments covered every aspect of the proposed standards for the national organic program and filled 125 pages. Among the key points made in the comments were:

• The program should better reflect a public-private partnership by providing more authority to existing state and private certification organizations.
• The proposal disregards the authority granted to the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) to determine the materials that may be placed on the National List of allowable synthetics in organic production. The Institute's comments advise the USDA to uphold that authority, a view reflected in a legal memorandum written by the Wallace Institute and submitted as an official NOSB document to the USDA Secretary, which provides a solid legal argument for upholding the Board's authority to determine the National List.
• The USDA should delete its proposed addition of genetically engineered organisms, ionizing radiation, and biosolids as acceptable materials, and follow the NOSB recommendations severely limiting the use of National List materials.
• The program should include a progressive fee structure that takes into account the size of farm, handling, and certification operations. The proposal does not account for differences in the size of farms or certification agents.
• The proposed rules on livestock fail to meet international standards or industry expectations. The Institute recommended revisiting every component of the livestock proposal.
• The proposed prohibition on eco-labeling should be deleted; the USDA should defer eco-labeling concerns to the Federal Trade Commission, which has been monitoring the issue.

As the next step, the Wallace Institute recommended submitting a re-proposal to the Federal Register by October 1, 1998, to allow sufficient time for USDA staff to analyze the public comments and make necessary adjustments. It also recommended a comment period on the re-proposal of at least 90 days, which would allow final rules to be published in the Federal Register in the spring of 1999, with a goal of final implementation in the growing season of 2000. Rewriting the proposal should not be overwhelming and would lead to popular support, if the new rules reflect the NOSB recommendations, the Institute wrote.

"Everyone understands the headlines about the proposal, so now let's roll up our sleeves and get to work on the details so we can have a program in place by 2000," said Kathleen Merrigan, the Wallace Institute's Senior Analyst and a member of the National Organic Standards Board. "The vast majority of public comments urged the Secretary to adopt the NOSB recommendations, which is a credit to this volunteer board and the public dialogue."

On Capitol Hill, 31 Senators signed a letter urging USDA Secretary Dan Glickman to rewrite the proposed standards "so that they reflect industry norms as represented by existing private, state, and international standards," and to "return to the recommendations of the National Organic Standards Board as a model for your overhaul of the Proposed Rules." Forty-eight members of the House of Representatives signed a similar letter. The text of the Wallace Institute's public comments is available on the Institute's Web site at http://www.hawiaa.org. These and other public comments are available for review on the National Organic Program's Web site at http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop.

Seven out of ten biologists believe that "we are in the midst of a mass extinction of living things, and that this loss of species will pose a major threat to human existence in the next century," according to a nationwide survey by the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, conducted by Louis Harris and Associates.

The survey interviewed 400 experts in the biological sciences who are members of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. According to the scientists' estimates, this mass extinction is the fastest in the earth's history. Unlike prior extinctions, this "sixth extinction" is mainly the result of human activity, and not natural phenomena.

According to the survey, scientists identified the key causes of this extinction as the increasing human population and the rate at which humans consume resources. They said those problems cause a loss of biodiversity through habitat destruction and degradation, overexploitation of plant and animal species, introduction of non-native species into habitats, pollution and contamination, and global warming. In the survey, scientists identified the maintenance of biodiversity as critical to human well-being, and rated biodiversity loss as a more serious environmental problem than the depletion of the ozone layer, global warming, or pollution and contamination.

• "Urban Agriculture: An Abbreviated List of References and Resource Guide" is available from Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, National Agricultural Library, ARS, USDA, 10301 Baltimore Ave., #304, Beltsville, MD 20705; (301) 504-6559; or on the Internet at http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic
• "The Future Agenda for Organic Trade," proceedings of the 1997 Organic Trade Conference, are $30 from IFOAM, fax +49-6853- 30110, or e-mail ifoam@T-Online.de
• "Sustaining Profits and Forests" is $10 from Island Press, Box 7, Dept. 2AU, Covelo, CA 95428; 1-800-828-1302; e-mail ipwest@igc.apc.org; on the Internet, http://www.islandpress.org
• Four films: "An Introduction to Ecological Economics" ($25); "Investing in Natural Capital" ($29.95); "Conversation for a Sustainable Society" ($25); and "Costa Rica Counts the Future" ($39.95) are available from Grieslinger Films, 7300 Old Mill Road, Gates Mills, OH 44040; 1-800-872-4456; e-mail Prgfilms@ix.netcom.com
• "Using Cover Crops in Oregon" is $5.50 from Publication Orders, Extension and Station Communications, Oregon State University, 422 Kerr Administration, Corvallis, OR 97331.
• "Michigan Field Crop Ecology," 92 full-color pages, is $12 (E-2646) from Michigan State University Bulletin Office, 10-B Agriculture Hall, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824-1039.
• "Learning from the BIOS Approach: A Guide for Community Based Biological Farming Programs" is free; "National Organic Directory" is $44.95 plus $6 shipping/handling from Community Alliance with Family Farmers, P.O. Box 363, Davis, CA 95617; 1- 800-852-3832.
• "Sustainable Agriculture: Taking Stock, Moving Forward," 1997 Tenth Anniversary Conference Proceedings of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, is available from the Center, 209 Curtiss Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011; (515) 294-3711; e-mail leocenter@iastate.edu
• "The Winter-Harvest Manual: Farming the Back Side of the Calendar" is $15 from Four Season Farm, RR Box 14, Harborside, ME 04642.

Vice President Al Gore last month issued a directive telling the EPA to work more closely with USDA on reviewing whether to approve new pesticides or to allow the continued use of existing ones.

Gore's directive "follows an escalating lobbying campaign by the agriculture and chemical industries and their allies in Congress, who have complained that the agency is too zealous in carrying out a food safety law that Congress passed unanimously in 1996," wrote The New York Times (April 8, 1998), referring to the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA). The directive also ordered the EPA to base regulatory decisions on "the best science and data" available. The two agencies then announced the formation of a new FQPA advisory committee, and pledged to provide "appropriate reasonable transition mechanisms that will reduce risk but not jeopardize our nation's agriculture and its farm communities."

A House Agriculture subcommittee is soon expected to schedule hearings on the FQPA "that could lead to legislative changes if EPA does not change direction in the way it is implementing the law," according to Regulation, Law & Economics (April 28, 1998).

The Maryland legislature last month approved the nation's most comprehensive mandatory limits on the use of fertilizers in order to protect the Chesapeake Bay from pollutants believed to cause the toxic microbe Pfiesteria.

The program focuses on limiting the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus reaching the water. Farmers agreed to accept the mandatory limits in exchange for a delay in their introduction and milder penalties for those who do not comply. By 2001, most farmers will be required to test their soil and draft plans limiting their fertilizer use. All farmers must have plans by 2004.

The new law applies to any farmers who use commercial fertilizer, animal waste, or sludge. Although other states have programs aimed at curbing nitrogen fertilizers, Maryland is the only state to limit phosphorus use. The program also requires the enzyme phytase to be included in chicken feed to reduce phosphorus in manure.

Farmers in the Washington, D.C., region are increasingly custom-growing specialty fruits and vegetables for the city's gourmet restaurants, "an arrangement that benefits small farmers struggling to make a go of it, chefs looking for just-picked flavor, and diners hooked on eating local," according to an article in The Washington Post (April 22, 1998).

The trend has grown for several reasons, including "chefs looking for higher- quality ingredients, growers getting savvier about marketing, and consumers raising the freshness standard through their experiences at farmers' markets." In addition to developing close relationships with who is growing their food, restaurants "become much more in touch with what's available when," and in many cases, develop their menus according to the available local produce.

Among the farmers custom-growing for these restaurants is Cass Peterson, a member of the Wallace Institute's Board of Directors, who is growing 80 varieties of heirloom tomatoes, New Zealand spinach, black salsify, and a special variety of pea sprouts for eight area restaurants.

The last 10 years have brought about great progress in composting and recycling, and a major change in the country's fundamental solid waste management system, according to BioCycle's 10th Annual Nationwide Survey on recycling and composting (April, 1998).

Ten years ago, "landfills were disappearing at an alarming rate....Recycling and composting -- well, most decision makers did not consider them legitimate components of the system," the magazine wrote. The recycling and composting rate is now close to 30 percent.

"If anyone would have suggested ten years that half of the people in the country would have access to curbside programs and that almost a third of their waste stream would be handled through recycling and composting, they would have been a laughing stock," according to the magazine.

• Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, Policy Studies Program, seeks an Agricultural Resource and Environmental Economist with a Ph.D. and 2-5 years experience, to conduct research and education on agricultural resource conservation and environmental issues; send resume, names and addresses of three references, and three publications or examples of education programs, or to obtain full job description, contact Dr. David Ervin, Director, Policy Studies Program, Wallace Institute, 9200 Edmonston Road, #117, Greenbelt, MD 20770; (301) 441-8777; e-mail hawiaa@access.digex.net (put Ervin in subject).
• University of Maine, Department of Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, seeks an Assistant/Associate Professor in Sustainable Agriculture; for full description, contact Dr. Gregory Porter, Dept. of Applied Ecology and Environmental Sciences, 5722 Deering Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5722; e-mail Porter@maine.edu
• Earthwatch Institute seeks volunteers to measure residential exposure to pesticides in the Mississippi Delta during the summer; contact Earthwatch, 680 Mt. Auburn, P.O. Box 9104, Watertown, MA 02272; 1-800-776-0188; on the Internet, http://www.earthwatch.org

For additional listings, see the Sustainable Agriculture Network's Calendar of Events.

• May 28-31, Sustainable America will hold its second annual general assembly in Portland, OR; contact Kim Chaloner, SA, (212) 239-4221; e-mail sustamer@sanetwork.org
• June 3-6, "Who Owns America? How Land and Natural Resources Are Owned and Controlled" will be held in Madison, WI; contact Lynn Meinholz or Robin Gigot, North American Program, Land Tenure Center, 1357 University Ave., Madison, WI 53715; e-mail ltc-nap@facstaff.wisc.edu; on the Internet, http://ltcweb.ltc.wisc.edu/nap
• June 3-6, "Skill-Building for Stronger Communities" will be held in Jackson Hole, WY; contact Heartland Center for Leadership Development, 941 O St., #920, Lincoln, NE 68508; (402) 474-7667; on the Internet, http://www.4w.com/heartland
• June 4-7, the joint annual meetings of the Association for the Study of Food and Society, and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society will be held in San Francisco, CA; contact Barbara Gordon, San Jose State University, Nutrition and Food Science Dept., 1 Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192; (408) 924-3105; e-mail bgordon@cruzio.com
• June 9-12, "Agbiotech: The Science of Success," the Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference, will be held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada; contact by e-mail, siggroup@sk.sympatico.ca
• June 17-19, "Summit on Organic Food Technology" conference and trade show will be held in Gilroy, CA; contact Diane Joy Goodman, (415) 752-1751.
• June 25, "Farming for the Future -- AgTech '98" and the 10th annual field day of the UC Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems Project will be held in Davis, CA; contact Miriam Volat or Kelly Brewer at (530) 752-8940; e-mail mavolat@ucdavis.edu or kjbrewer@ucdavis.edu
• June 25-28, "Sheep Is Life" will be held in Farmington, N.M.; contact Recursos de Santa Fe, 826 Camino del Monte Rey, A3, Santa Fe, N.M. 87505; 1-800-732-6881; e-mail recursos@aol.com
• June 29-August 20, "Sustainable Agriculture: Principles and Practices," a summer course, will be held at the University of California, Davis; contact Mark Van Horn, Student Farm-Pomology Dept., University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616; (530) 752-7645.

Home News & Events Alternative Agriculture News -- May '98