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

Sustainable Ag Groups Work to Improve New Initiative
Poultry Producers Try to Develop Voluntary Cleanup Plan
Two Publications Hail Composting's Benefits
Resources
EPA Issues New Guidelines for Testing Pesticides
Manure Mangement Could Reduce On-Farm Pollution
Two Awards Programs Seek Nominations
Merrigan Named Vice Chair of Organic Standards Board
Upcoming Events

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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 13, No. 2) features articles on:

• The start-up of a successful alternative dairy farm in Wisconsin.
• Feedlot manure nutrient loadings on South Dakota farmland.
• Organic vegetable production in the United States.
• Natural terrace formation through vegetative barriers on hillside farms in Honduras.
• Erosion effects on soil moisture and corn yield on two soils in Tanzania.
• A behavioral approach to alternative agriculture 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.

Sustainable agriculture organizations, including the Wallace Institute, are trying to direct the spending of the new Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems toward sustainable agriculture and small farm issues.

Congress has not yet approved an appropriation for the Initiative, but is expected to do so this month. USDA, however, has already started "moving quickly on its implementation," according to Ferd Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. The Initiative, created by Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), is a new five-year, $600 million competitive grants program.

"The potential is that most of it gets earmarked for genome mapping and biotechnology," said Hoefner. "But we will try to get the program to spend money on other initiatives as well." The Intitiative may also fund precision farming and food safety technology.

The Wallace Institute, Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, and others have made the following recommendations to the USDA for the Initiative:

• Set aside no less than 50 percent of Initiative funding for projects that help solve the most critical environmental and farm income problems simultaneously.
  
  
• Give high priority to the Initiative's special emphasis on the competitiveness of small and medium-sized farms.
  
  
• Include farmers in a very substantial way in the evaluation panels selected to review and rank proposals.
  
  
• Give significant attention to agroecological projects, as well as research and education on marketing alternatives and locally owned value-adding enterprise development.
  
  
• Implement the bulk of the Initiative through a nationally coordinated, but regionally administered structure.
  
  
• Achieve substantial progress on the research recommendations of the Secretary's National Commission on Small Farms.

Poultry producers across the country are trying to develop a voluntary plan to manage the waste from their operations in an attempt to avoid either federal or state-by-state regulations, according to The New York Times (August 25, 1998).

The EPA and USDA are working on a broad strategy for reducing runoff from livestock and poultry operations; a draft version of the report is due to be released in the next few weeks, with a final report in November. Some states, including Maryland, have been addressing problems associated with nutrient runoff from chicken manure with their own regulations.

Groups such as the National Broiler Council, National Turkey Federation, and the United States Poultry and Egg Association have been discussing for several months how to change their waste runoff management to better protect water and soil quality. But participants at a meeting last week could not agree on a plan.

"They are still grappling with questions about who will pay for research into new technologies and educational programs, as well as new nutrient management plans geared more for controlling phosphorous runoff, as opposed to current plans that focus on nitrogen," according to the article. "There are questions about alternative uses for chicken manure, such as burning it for energy instead of simply spreading it on farms as fertilizer."

Two new publications review the benefits of composting, as an environmental remediation technology and for manure management.

The EPA has published "An Analysis of Composting As An Environmental Remediation Technology," which summarizes the available information on the use of compost for managing hazardous waste streams and indicates possible areas for future investigations. "Research has indicated that the composting process and the use of mature compost also provide an inexpensive and technologically straightforward solution for managing hazardous industrial waste streams and for remediating soil contaminated with toxic organic compounds and inorganic compounds," it concludes.

Information about the publication is available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/osw.

"Composting for Manure Management," edited by the staff of BioCycle, describes the methods used to process and market composted manure, and "how specialized equipment and systems are being used to turn a disposal problem into a profit center." The report covers composting methods for poultry, hog, dairy and beef manure; water quality impacts; overcoming problems, from odors to leachates; and anaerobic digestion technology for managing manures.

The report is $39 from BioCycle, 419 State Ave., Emmaus, PA 18049; (610) 967-4135.

• 20 New Reports by the National Water-Quality Assessment Program, U.S. Geological Survey, summarize findings about water quality in 20 major river basins: Albemarle-Pamlico Drainage, Apalachicola-Chattachoochee-Flint Rivers, Central Columbia Plateaus, Central Nebraska Plateaus, Connecticut-Housatonic and Thames Rivers, Georgia-Florida Coastal Plain, Hudson River, Lower Susquehana River, Las Vegas Valley-Carson and Truckee Rivers, Ozark Plateaus, Potomac River, Red River of the North, Rio Grande Valley, San Joaquin-Tulare Rivers, South Platte River, Trinity River, Upper Snake River, Western Lake Michigan Drainage, White River, and Willamette River; they are available on the Internet at http:water.usgs.gov, then click on NAWQA, or from the NAWQA program at (703) 648-5716; e-mail nawqa_whq@usgs.gov
  
  
• "The Organic Pages, 1998 North American Resource Directory" is $44.95 plus $6 shipping; "Organic Cotton Directory" is $15 plus $3 shipping from Linda Lutz, Organic Trade Association, P.O. Box 1078, Greenfield, MA 01302; (413) 774-7511.
  
  
• "Generic Materials List," published by the Organic Materials Review Institute, is available by subscription or as a product review from OMRI, Box 11558, Eugene, OR 97440; (541) 343-7600.
  
  
• "A Guide to USDA and Other Federal Resources for Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry Enterprises" is free from the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, P.O. Box 3657, Fayetteville, AR 72702, (800) 346-9140; e-mail askattra@ncatark.uark.edu; on the Internet at http://www.attra.org
  
  
• "Small Farm Resource Guide" is available from USDA-Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, Plant and Animal Systems, Stop 2220, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. 20250; (202) 401-4385; e-mail sfp@reeusda.gov; or on the Internet at http://www.reeusda.gov/smallfarm
  
  
• "The Monitoring Tool Box" is $35 plus $7 shipping/handling from Land Stewardship Project, P.O. Box 130, Lewiston, MN 55952; (507) 523-3366.

The EPA has issued an updated set of test guidelines under the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act that apply when industry conducts laboratory studies to evaluate the safety of new and existing chemicals and pesticides.

The guidelines will provide the EPA with better information about the health effects of chemicals and pesticides, particularly their potential reproductive and developmental effects in infants and children; they will also provide guidance for conducting laboratory tests to determine the toxic effects of chemicals on the immune system.

The new guidelines are consistent with the testing programs administered by the EPA's Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, and international testing protocols agreed to by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Innovative manure management methods could solve on-farm pollution control problems while helping to save America's family farms, according to an article in BioCycle (July, 1998) by William Jewell, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Cornell University.

"We need to eliminate manure and related waste pollution," he wrote. "We need to try to make it cost-effective on the family farms....Cost-effective multiple pollution control alternative technologies to daily manure spreading need to be available, from complete destruction of the waste to complete recycling."

The options he recommends include daily spreading, year-round; soil activation and waste destruction; composting (conventional aerobic); biological nutrient removal; dry waste management system -- anaerobic composting; and anaerobic digestion with fiber recovery.

Two awards programs -- the Steward of the Land Award, and the World Food Prize -- are seeking nominations for their 1999 awards.

The Steward of the Land Award, sponsored by American Farmland Trust, offers a $10,000 award annually to farmers working to promote farmland conservation. AFT seeks nominees who are actively farming in the United States, and employ management practices or other farming methods consistent with good land stewardship on their farms or ranches.

For information, visit the AFT homepage on the Internet at http://www.farmland.org, or call (800) 886-5170. Applications may be submitted by mail or fax by 5 p.m., Monday, November 2, to Steward of the Land Award, AFT, P.O. Box 96982, Washington, D.C. 20077-7048; fax (202) 659-8339.

The World Food Prize seeks nominations for its $250,000 award, with a deadline of December 31, 1998. The prize recognizes outstanding individual achievement in improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. It emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people, and on nurturing the quality of land, water, forests, and other natural resources.

For applications, contact World Food Prize, Office of the Secretariat, David G. Acker, College of Agriculture, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-1050; (515) 294-2883; e-mail bjelland@iastate.edu

Kathleen Merrigan, the Wallace Institute's Senior Analyst, was elected Vice Chair of the National Organic Standards Board at the Board's last meeting in July. She was appointed to a five-year term in March, 1995.

At the July meeting, the Board discussed the USDA's proposed rule for national organic standards, and its statutory authority over the National List of approved synthetic materials. The Board will meet again in October in Washington, D.C.

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

• October 2-4, "Planting the Future" a conference on native plants will be held in Rutland, OH; contact United Plant Savers, P.O. Box 420, East Barre, VT 05649; (802) 479-9825.
  
  
• October 2-4, "Traditional Nutrition and Restorative Agriculture" will be held in Charles Town, W.V.; contact Biodynamic Conference, P.O. Box 3047, Shepherdstown, W.V. 25443; (304) 876-2373.
  
  
• October 3-7, Water Environment Federation's 71st annual meeting will be held in Orlando, FL; contact WEF, 601 Wythe St., Alexandria, VA 22314; 1-800-666-0206; e-mail confinfo@wef.org.
  
  
• October 4-7, "Farming the Agroforest for Specialty Products" will be held in Minneapolis, MN; contact Scott Josiah, University of Minnesota, 1530 Cleveland Ave. North, 115 Green Hall, St. Paul, MN 55108; (612) 624-7418; e-mail CINRAM@forestry.umn.edu
  
  
• October 7, "Edible Connections: A Food Communications Forum" will be held in Philadelphia, PA; contact Edible Connections, Pennsylvania State University, Office of Conferences and Short Courses, 306 Agricultural Administration Building, University Park, PA 16802; (814) 865-8301.
  
  
• October 14, "Human Nutrition & Livestock in the Developing World," and October 15-17, "A Cup of Milk...A World of Hope" will both be held in Little Rock, AR; contact Heifer Project International, P.O. Box 808, Little Rock, AR 72203; (501) 376-6836; e-mail ros@heifer.org
  
  
• October 16 is World Food Day; contact U.S. National Committee for World Food Day, 2175 K St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20437; (202) 653-2404.
  
  
• October 16-18, "Sustainable Wisconsin: How We Can Make It Happen" will be held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; contact Lynn Gottleib, CALS Outreach Services, 620 Babcock Dr., Madison, WI 53705; (608) 263-1672; e-mail heather.whitesell@ocmail.adp.wisc.edu
  
  
• October 18-23 and October 25-30, "Herbicide Action," an intensive course, will be held at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN; contact Course Director, S.C. Weller, (765) 494-1333; or Conference Coordinator Kathy Hyman, (765) 494-2758; on the Internet, http://www.hort.purdue.edu
  
  
• October 22-26, "Helping Small Towns Succeed" will be held in Jackson Hole, WY; contact Heartland Center for Leadership Development, 941 O St., #920, Lincoln, NE 68508; 1-800-927-1115 or (402) 474-7667.
  
  
• October 23-25, Community Food Security Coalition's Second Annual Meeting will be held in Pittsburgh, PA; contact Andy Fisher, CFS Coalition, P.O. Box 209, Venice, CA 90294; (310) 822-5410; e-mail afisher@aol.com
  
  
• October 28-31, "Sustainable Community Development Strategies" will be held in Aspen, CO; contact JoAnn Glassier, Rocky Mountain Institute, Economic Renewal Seminar, 1739 Snowmass Creek Rd., Snowmass, CO 81654; (970) 927-3807; e-mail joann@rmi.org

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