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

New Study Identifies Success Strategies for Natural Foods Market
European Protest on Biotech Food Get Results
USDA Launches Small Farm Campaign with Sustainable Ag Emphasis
Positions
USDA Criticized for Role in Developing "Terminator" Seeds
Successful Small Farmers Make the Most of Each Acre
Resources
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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.

The natural foods market is growing exponentially, but can only reach its full potential if it makes strong connections with the mass market foods industry, according to a new report from the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture entitled The Natural Foods Market: A National Survey of Strategies for Growth. The mass market foods industry, in turn, must discover how it can integrate natural foods into existing operations, the report concludes.

The report reveals the results of the Institute's 1998 Natural Foods Market Survey, which interviewed about 300 food industry businesses, including farmers, manufacturers, wholesalers, and retail supermarkets. The report analyzes current trends and major obstacles, as well as successful business strategies in the natural foods market.

The retail market for natural foods is growing at five times the rate of the total retail food market. "The natural foods market has the potential to make a positive impact on the environment and consumers' health and well-being," said Nessa Richman, the report's author, "but growing the market smart is just as important as growing the market fast in the long term."

Three major obstacles to success for the natural foods market are, according to the report:

• There are no widely accepted standards for defining and producing natural foods.
  
  
• Natural foods and mass market foods companies view the natural foods market and conduct business in critically different ways.
  
  
• Many natural foods and mass market foods businesses do not have the information they need to market and price natural foods.

While some of these obstacles will fade as the natural foods market matures, several public policy actions could enhance the market's potential benefit to private and public interests. They include developing commonly recognized standards for natural foods, collecting market and price information for natural foods, and creating generic marketing channels for natural foods.

Several strategies employed by natural and mass market foods companies are leading to success in the natural foods market for some market segments, among them developing a natural foods label, hiring special staff for natural foods, and increasing the scale of their natural foods operations, according to the report.

The report highlights several public policy themes that are important to success in the natural foods market, including:

• The natural foods market must be afforded the same type of assistance that the mass market foods enjoy, in relation to implementation of standards and minimally necessary regulations.
  
  
• Mass market channels need to be cleared of obstacles that limit access for natural foods businesses.
  
  
• Systematic processes for tracking the natural foods market must be put into place.

With the goal of helping the natural foods market reach its full potential, the report makes recommendations for government agencies, trade organizations, research and education institutions, and industry members.

The Natural Foods Market is available for $150 (non-profit rate available upon request) from the Wallace Institute, 9200 Edmonston Road, #117, Greenbelt, MD 20770; (301) 441-8777; an Executive Summary is available at no cost.

The waves of protests in Europe against the planting and use of genetically engineered food "appear to be working" as several fast food outlets and supermarket chains in England "promised to eliminate genetically modified foods and ingredients from their product lines," according to an article in The Washington Post (April 24, 1999).

"Those moves are alarming farmers and distributors in the United States, the leading producer of gene-altered foods, where regulatory agencies have deemed gene-modified crops 'substantially equivalent' to traditional crops and where consumers - knowingly or not - consume large quantities of engineered food every day."

In Europe, however, "massive negative reaction" is drawing attention to "lingering scientific uncertainties about the risks of agricultural biotechnology," and British consumer organizations are calling for a five-year moratorium on commercial planting of gene-altered crops.

The USDA last month launched an education campaign for small farmers that will provide "information to producers on sustainable agriculture practices that can help farmers succeed," according to the agency.

The SARE program is overseeing the campaign, "Farming for Profit, Stewardship & Community," in an effort to implement the recommendations of the National Commission on Small Farms. The campaign will provide 10 "tipsheets" that include tips and relevant resources available about those tips for producers and USDA employees.

The 10 tipsheets provide resources to: Improve soil quality; add value through marketing; prevent pest problems; explore organic production; cut livestock costs; manage weeds wisely; plan for profit; network; diversify crops; and use trees.

For copies of the tipsheet, see http://www.sare.org/san/tipsheet/index.htm or contact Valerie Berton in the SARE program, (301) 405-3186; e-mail vberton@wam.umd.edu.

• North Carolina State University seeks a Head, Department of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; contact Dr. T.J. Monaco, Crop Science Head Search Committee, Department of Horticultural Science, Campus Box 7609, NCSU, Raleigh, N.C. 27695-7609; (919) 515-3131; e-mail tom_monaco@ncsu.edu.
  
  
• National Catholic Rural Life Conference seeks several positions: Rural Life Community Organizer, Communications Coordinator, Rural Life Policy Coordinator, and Rural Pastoral Life Coordinator; send resume or written inquiries only to Executive Director, NCRLC, 4625 Beaver Avenue, Des Moines, IA 50310.
  
  
• Codman Community Farms, Inc. seeks a farm manager; send resume or inquiries to Search Committee, Codman Community Farms, c/o Lindsay Clemens, 24 Hillside Road, Lincoln, MA 01773.
  
  
• Institute for Local Self-Reliance seeks an Executive Director; send resume, three references, and cover letter to ILSR Director Search, 1313 5th St., SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.
  
  
• University of Maine seeks an Assistant Professor, Sustainable Crop Production, and an Assistant Professor, Weed Ecology & Management; send cover letter, vitae, transcripts, and three references to Dr. Gregory Porter, Department of Plant, Soil & Environmental Sciences, 5722 Deering Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5722; e-mail Porter@maine.edu.

The criticism of the "terminator" plant technology that makes plant seeds sterile includes denunciation of the USDA because of its role as co-sponsor of the research that led to the development of the technology, according to a story in The New York Times (April 19, 1999).

A researcher in the USDA's Lubbock, Texas, research station worked on the concept with funds from the Delta and Pine Land Company, a cottonseed producer, resulting in "withering criticism and thousands of angry letters for [the USDA's] role as a co-sponsor with Delta."

Critics of the technology see it as a threat to farmers' security, and "protests have ranged from angry letters to torched research crops....Monsanto, which has a pending agreement with Delta, has become so alarmed by the anti-biotechnology feelings stirred by the sterility technology that it wants a thorough, clearly independent international review of the costs and benefits of the technology and related inventions," according to the article.

In addition, critics say that because the new technology is switched on by spraying with chemicals just before the seed is planted, the seeds would make farmers ever more reliant on chemical companies. "The fact that Mr. Oliver [of the USDA] and his research team have yet to prove the concept works in field crops has become an almost irrelevant footnote,"the story adds.

Small farmers increase their chances of prosperity when they incorporate available options and alternatives that allow them to make the most of each acre, according to an article in The Furrow (Spring, 1999).

One Iowa farmer "rather than compete for additional acres...modified his operation to meet changing consumer demands. Switching part of his corn and soybean acreage to organic production has given him access to additional markets, and boosted his profit." He grows alfalfa to provide adequate nitrogen for his corn, and rotates his crops. With 60 acres now certified organic, he hopes to convert another 100 acres in the next few years.

Another poultry farmer feeds his chickens in portable coops that are easier to move to fresh pasture, and another farming family expanded their pumpkin crop to include apples "to add color and cash to their fall harvest."

• National Organic Directory is $47.95 plus $3.20 shipping from Community Alliance with Family Farmers, P.O. Box 363, Davis, CA 95617; 1-800-852-3832.
  
  
• "Eat A Real Tomato" promotional cards for markets are available in packs of 100 for $5 plus $4 shipping from Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture, P.O. Box 419, Millheim, PA 16854; (814) 349-9856.
  
  
• "Hot Peppers and Parking Lot Peaches: Evaluating Farmers' Markets in Low Income Communities" is $10 plus $2 shipping from Community Food Security Coalition, P.O. Box 209, Venice, CA 90294; (310) 822-5410.
  
  
• "Managing Cover Crops Profitably, 2nd Edition" is $19 from Sustainable Agriculture Publications, Hills Building, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0082.
  
  
• "Cover Cropping In Vineyards: A Grower's Handbook" is $20 plus shipping and tax from University of California, DANR Communication Services, 6701 San Pablo Ave., Oakland, CA 94608-1239; 1-800-994-8849 or (510) 642-2431.
  
  
• University of California Web site offers news and notices about agriculture, natural resources, family and consumer sciences, and youth issues, at http://danr.ucop.edu/news.
  
  
• "Educational and Training Opportunities in Sustainable Agriculture" is available from Alternative Farming Systems Information Center, National Agricultural Library, Room 304, 10301 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD 20705-2351; (301) 504-6559; e-mail afsic@nal.usda.gov; on the Internet, http://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic.

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

• May 25, conference on exotic pests and diseases, sponsored by the University of California Agricultural Issues Center, will be held in Sacramento; contact the Center at (530) 752-2320; e-mail agissues@ucdavis.edu.
  
  
• May 28-30, "The Agrarian Mind in an Industrial World -- The Industrial Mind in an Agrarian World," Prairie Festival 1999, will be held in Salina, KS; contact the Land Institute, (785) 823-5376; e-mail theland@midkan.com.
  
  
• May 31-June 2, Natural Products Expo Europe will be held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; contact New Hope International Media, (303) 939-8440; on the Internet, http://www.naturalproductexpo.com.
  
  
• June 3-6, the joint meetings of the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society and the Association for the Study of Food and Society will be held in Toronto, Canada; contact Elias Chu, (416) 979-5135; e-mail echu@acs.ryerson.ca.
  
  
• June 4-6, June 11-13, June 18-20, and June 25-27, "Planting the Future" will be held in Rutland, OH; contact United Plant Savers, P.O. Box 98, East Barre, VT 05649; (802) 479-9825; e-mail info@plantsavers.org.
  
  
• June 6-9, "Keep America Growing: Balancing Working Lands and Development," sponsored by USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service and others, will be held in Philadelphia, PA; contact conference coordinator at (802) 655-7769; e-mail delaney@together.net.
  
  
• June 7-9, "Eco 1999" will be held in Paris, France; contact Convergences-Eco '99, phone 33 (0) 1 43 64 77 77; e-mail convergences@convergences.fr.
  
  
• June 9-12, "Third National Workshop on Constructed Wetlands/BMPs for Nutrient Reduction and Coastal Water Protection" will be held in New Orleans, LA; contact Dr. Frank Humenik, Box 7927, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. 27695; (919) 515-6767; e-mail frank_humenik@ncsu.edu.
  
  
• June 11-13, "What Works, What Doesn't?," the 1999 Community Research Network Conference, will be held in Amherst, MA; contact the Loka Institute, (413) 559-5860; e-mail loka@amherst.edu.
  
  
• June 19-22, Bread for the World's National Gathering will be held in Washington, D.C.; contact Michelle Sinkgraven, 1-800-82-BREAD, ext. 219; e-mail national.gathering@bread.org.
  
  
• June 22-25, Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Trade Show will be held in Cedar Rapids, IA; contact Bryan & Bryan Inc., 5015 Red Gulch Road, Cotopaxi, CO 81223; (719) 942-4353; e-mail etoh85@aol.com.
  
  
• June 24-26, classes on "Chicken Tractors" and "Free Range Turkeys" will be held in Buena Vista, VA; contact Andy Lee, Good Earth Farm School, (540) 261-8775.
  
  
• June 24-25, "Better Ways to Develop Ohio" will be held in Columbus, OH; information is available on the Internet at http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~landuse/conference
  
  
• June 24-26, "Sheep Is Life" will be held in Tsaile, AZ; contact Sheep Is Life/Recursos, 826 Camino de Monte Rey, A3, Santa Fe, N.M. 87505; 1-800-732-6881; e-mail recursos@aol.com

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