Home News & Events Alternative Agriculture News -- March '99

Consumers Union Finds 'Unacceptable' Pesticide Levels for Children
N.Y. Times Labels Avery 'Anti-Organic, and Flawed'
Proposed Budget Would Increase Some Sustainable Ag Funding
Controversial EPA Pesticide Brochure Is Now Available
Organic Farmers Plan to Expand, According to Survey
'Terminator' Seed System Sparks a 'Grass-Roots Protest'
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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. 4) features articles on:

• A comparison of alternative pest and soil management strategies for Maine potato production systems.
• A comparison of conventional and organic apple production systems during three years of conversion to organic management in coastal California.
• The response of corn, soybean, and wheat crops to fertilizer and herbicides in Ohio compared with low-input production practices.

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

In a first-of-its-kind study of USDA data, Consumers Union analyzed the amount of pesticides on produce and found "unacceptable levels of some especially toxic pesticides" for children. "With some fruits and vegetables, kids who eat a single serving can exceed the safe daily limit of certain pesticides," concluded the report, released last month and featured in Consumer Reports (March, 1999). The study also analyzed how toxic those pesticides are, and devised a "toxicity index" that integrates health risks and the actual amounts of pesticides on produce. Though the pesticide levels on all tested produce are within legal limits, many of those limits are at odds with what the government now deems safe for children, according to the report.

Of the 27 foods Consumers Union tested, seven had a toxicity index up to hundreds of times higher than the others: apples, grapes, green beans, peaches, pears, spinach, and winter squash. These products "are typically treated with more toxic pesticides and are often eaten unpeeled." The study also found that methyl parathion accounts for the "lion's share of the total toxicity of the foods we analyzed, and that domestic produce had more, or more toxic, pesticides than imported produce in two-thirds of the cases.

Consumers Union "has asked the EPA to restrict or ban specific pesticide uses that expose children to residues above safe limits." It also recommends that the government provide financial and educational support for farmers making the transition to "less toxic ways of controlling pests." The government should also "direct more research toward finding safer ways of managing pests now controlled by the most toxic pesticides."

The study, "Do You Know What You're Eating? An Analysis of U.S. Government Data on Pesticide Residues on Foods," is available on the Internet at http://www.consunion.org

"Dennis T. Avery wants organic food to go away. And he doesn't care what it takes," wrote Marian Burros in her "Eating Well" column entitled "Anti-Organic, and Flawed" in The New York Times (February 17, 1999). "Four years ago, he said that organic food could not feed the world without destroying the environment. Now, he says it's lethal."

In Avery's recent article in American Outlook, he charged that people who eat organic and "natural" food are more likely to "be attacked by a deadly new strain of E. Coli bacteria (0157:H7)." He wrote that organic farms use animal manure, do not use chemicals, or permit pasteurization.

But according to The New York Times, "The last assertion is untrue, as were several other statements in the article....The simplest definition of 'organic' is food grown without hormones, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. But Mr. Avery, whose work is financed by agribusiness, used the terms 'organic,' 'free range,' 'natural,' and 'unpasteurized' interchangeably....Mr. Avery said he had never 'bothered that much about consumer safety aspects of organic food until [E. coli] 0157:H7.' His goal, he continued, is to prevent organic agriculture from becoming the norm. 'My big concern is that we do not have room on the planet to feed ourselves organically,' he said.

"The attack on organic food by a well-financed research organization suggests that, though organic food accounts for only 1 percent of food sales in the United States, the conventional food industry is worried," the article concludes.

The USDA budget proposed by President Clinton for Fiscal Year 2000, which begins in October, contains increases for several sustainable agriculture programs. Here are the proposed appropriations for several sustainable agriculture discretionary programs:

• SARE: An $8.5 million appropriation is requested for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, an increase from the FY99 appropriation of $8 million.
  
  
• SAPDP: A $3.3 million appropriation is requested for the SARE (Chapter 3) Professional Development Program, the same as the FY99 appropriation.
  
  
• ATTRA: A $2 million appropriation is requested for the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas, an increase from the FY99 appropriation of $1.3 million.
  
  
• OFPA: A $1.4 million appropriation is requested for the Organic Foods Production Act, an almost three-fold increase from the FY99 appropriation of $500,000.

In addition, the following appropriations were requested for mandatory programs:

• CFO: No funds are requested for the Conservation Farm Option, which also received no funding in the FY99 budget.
  
  
• EQIP: A $300 million appropriation is requested for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, an increase from the FY99 appropriation of $174 million.
  
  
• WRP: A $209 million appropriation is requested for the Wetlands Reserve Program, an increase from the FY99 appropriation of $90 million.
  
  
• CFSA: A $2.5 million appropriation is requested for the Community Food Security Act, the same as the FY99 appropriation.
  
  
• FRA: A $60 million appropriation is requested for the Fund for Rural America, which received no funding in the FY99 budget. The Farm Bill did not authorize any FRA funds for FY98.
  
  
• IFAFS: A $120 million appropriation is requested for the new Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems, a competitive grants program which was proposed and then deleted from the final FY99 budget.

A controversial EPA brochure about pesticides on food, attacked in its draft form by both industry and environmentalists, is now available in 40,000 supermarkets and on the Internet. Of the brochure's seven topics, only one deals with organic food: "What's 'organically grown' mean?"


According to Mark Keating of the Wallace Institute, "The food safety pamphlet undervalues the role that organic and IPM produced food can play in a healthy diet. The brief mention of organic and IPM practices makes no reference to their safety relative to conventionally produced foods." The brochure, "Pesticides and Food," is available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/food.

"Exploding consumer support for organic products" is encouraging 56 percent of organic farmers surveyed by the Organic Farming Research Foundation to increase their organic acreage and the number of crops they grow. According to the Foundation's "Third Biennial National Organic Farmers' Survey," which surveyed 1,200 certified organic farmers in 44 states, 63 percent of those surveyed plan to increase their number of markets and buyers. Nearly 87 percent of the respondents are single-family operations or family partnerships, and 62 percent farm full-time.

The farmers' top research priority was weed management, and their most useful resource for information was other farmers. Asked to name current constraints to organic production, the farmers responded, in order, uncooperative or uninformed extension agents, cost of organically allowable inputs, and distance or transport of organically allowable inputs. Current constraints to organic marketing included lack of consumer understanding about organic food, lack of organic marketing networks, and the distance between producer and market or delivery point.

"Third Biennial National Organic Farmers' Survey" is $10 from OFRF, P.O. Box 440, Santa Cruz, CA 95061; (831) 426-6606. The Executive Summary of survey results is available on the Internet at http://www.ofrf.org.

Monsanto's seed-killing gene system, dubbed "Terminator" by critics, "has become the focus of a grass-roots protest," according to Time (February 1, 1999), and has also been the subject of several articles in national publications. "Farmers pay a premium for Monsanto seeds, and to make sure they keep paying, the company requires them to sign an agreement promising not to plant seeds their crops produce," Time wrote. "With the help of clever genes currently in development, future Monsanto crops may be designed with a new feature in mind: sterility. No sooner will the company's plants mature than the seeds they carry will lose the ability to reproduce."

According to The Washington Post (February 8, 1999), "The quest is either a sincere effort to solve the world hunger crisis or a corporate plot to impose economic slavery on the world's farmers....The debate over the technology has already become so polarized and emotional that farmers in India recently went on a rampage and burned several fields of crops rumored to harbor the deadly genes." A separate article in The Post (February 3, 1999) describes farmers "who stand accused by Monsanto of replanting the company's patented, gene-altered seeds fresh every year....Besides sending Pinkerton detectives into farmers' fields, the company sponsors a toll-free 'tip line' to help farmers blow the whistle on their neighbors."

• "Adding Value for Sustainability" is $8.50 plus $3 shipping from Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, ATTN: Kristen Markley, P.O. Box 419, 114 West Main St., Millheim, PA 16854; (814) 349-9856; e-mail ksm6@psu.edu.
  
  
• "Agricultural and Conservation Policies: 2002 and Beyond," proceedings from a workshop in honor of Norman A. Berg, is available from Center for Agriculture in the Environment, American Farmland Trust, P.O. Box 987, DeKalb, IL 60115; 1-800-370-4879, or (815) 753-9347.
  
  
• "Regional Trade Agreements and U.S. Agriculture" is available on the USDA's Economic Research Service Website at http://www/econ.ag.gov, or from the USDA, 1-800-999-6779.
  
  "Statewide IPM Project/University of California," the 1998 annual report, is available from the University of California Statewide IPM Project at (530) 752-7691.
  
  "1999 National Organic Directory" is $47.95 plus $3 shipping from Community Alliance with Family Farmers, P.O. Box 363, Davis, CA 95617; 1-800-852-3832.

• Community Alliance with Family Farmers seeks an Executive Director responsible for all major management areas among staff and Board of Directors; a Development Director; and a Grants Assistant; for application packets, contact CAFF, P.O. Box 363, Davis, CA 95617; (530) 756-8518; e-mail caff@caff.org
  
  
• Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association seeks applicants for its apprenticeship program; contact MOFGA, Dept. H, P.O. Box 2176, Augusta, ME 04338-2176; (207) 622-3118.
  
  Center for Rural Affairs seeks a Leader for its Marketing Alliance Project; for applicant packet, contact the Center, P.O. Box 406, Walthill, NE 68067; (402) 846-5428; e-mail info@CRA.org.
  
  
• Good Earth Farm School seeks applicants for five internships from March to December; for application, contact GEFS, 1702 Mountain View Road, Buena Vista, VA 24416; (540) 261-8775; e-mail goodearth@rockbridge.net
  
  
• University of Minnesota seeks a temporary (two-year) Assistant Scientist for Organic Conversion Project at the Southwest Research and Outreach Center; contact Southwest Experiment Station, Lamberton, MN; (507) 752-7372.

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

• March 20-25, "Holistic Management for Natural Resource Managers" will be held in Sunrise Springs, N.M.; contact Center for Holistic Management, 1010 Tijeras NW, Albuquerque, N.M. 87102; (505) 842-5252.
  
  
• March 27-28, "Enhancing Organic Dairy Operations" will be held in South Royalton, VT; contact Lisa McCrory, Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, (802) 434-4122, or (802) 728-4416.
  
  
• April 1, "Frontiers of Biology: The Future of Agricultural Biotechnology" will be held in Madison, WI; contact College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Outreach Services, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 620 Babcock Drive, Madison, WI 53706; (608) 263-1672.
  
  
• April 1 is the deadline for abstracts for "Sustaining Agriculture in the 21st Century: Thinking 'Outside the Box,'" to be held October 20-23 in Guelph, Ontario; contact Ellen Wall, Farming Systems Research, University of Guelph, (519) 824-4120; e-mail ewall@envsci@uoguelph.ca
  
  
• April 2-4, "Design and Create a Profitable, Organic Garden and Permaculture Greenhouse" will be held in Buena Vista, VA; contact Andy Lee, Good Earth Farm School, (540) 261-8775.
  
  
• April 15-18, Draft Horse, Mule, and Horsedrawn Equipment Auction and Swap Meet will be held in Redmond, OR; contact Small Farmer's Journal Auction, P.O. Box 1627, Sisters, OR 97759; (541) 549-2064.
  
  April 19, "First Asia-Pacific Conference and Trade Exposition on Ground and Water Bioengineering for Erosion Control and Slope Stabilization" will be held in Manila, the Philippines; contact International Erosion Control Association, 1-800-455-4322; e-mail ecinfo@ieca.org.

Home News & Events Alternative Agriculture News -- March '99