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

Bioengineered Corn May Be Killing Monarch Butterflies
British Medical Group Calls for Gene-Altered Food Labeling
Maryland Hog Farm Causes Problems Raised Nationwide
Merrigan to Head USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service
Animal Antibiotics Linked to Human Illnesses
Researchers Find New Use for Alfalfa
World Food Prize Seeks Nominations
Positions
Resources
Upcoming events

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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 14, No. 1) features articles on:

• Factors, challenges, and obstacles in organic farmers' decision-making.
• Farmers' perceptions of soil quality indicators, farmers' attitudes towards sustainable agriculture issues and environmental quality in a selected area of Bangladesh.
• Rice and wheat production in Pakistan with effective microorganisms.
• A profile of an organic farm in Sweden.
• Commentary on whether precision agriculture is sustainable.

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

A variety of genetically altered corn produces a poison that may be killing monarch butterflies during their annual migration, according to an article published in Nature (May 20, 1999). Known as Bt corn, the variety has been genetically modified to exude a poison fatal to corn-boring caterpillars, and now accounts for more than one-quarter of the nation's corn crop, being planted on an estimated 10 to 20 million acres out of the country's 80 million acres of corn.

"Pollen from the plants can blow onto nearby milkweed plants, the exclusive food upon which monarch larvae feed, and get eaten by the tiger-striped caterpillars," according to The Washington Post (May 20, 1999). "Monarchs - which already face ecological pressures but have so far managed to hold their own - may soon find themselves on the endangered species list."

The research provides the first evidence that pollen from a bioengineered plant can harm non-pest species, according to The New York Times (May 20, 1999). "Butterfly or moth species other than the monarch could be affected by the transgenic plant, particularly those that live on plants like milkweeds that are often found in and around cornfields and could be dusted by Bt corn pollen," the article said.

Monarch butterflies migrate from Mexico and Southern California to northern states in the spring, and their offspring return south in the fall. About half of the monarchs that winter in Mexico grow up as caterpillars in the U.S. corn belt.

According to Newsweek (May 31, 1999), "Viewing the new crops as useful alternatives to pesticides, most scientists want work on them to continue, if more cautiously. The message from the monarchs, meanwhile, is that even the most well-intentioned biotechnologies are not risk-free."

Adding to opposition in Europe to bioengineered food products, the British Medical Association last month recommended that genetically altered foods be labeled to inform consumers about their origins, and that those crops be processed separately from conventional crops, rather than mixed together as is done today in the United States. "If growers in the United States or other countries continue to refuse to segregate gene-modified products, the association concluded, then Britain should consider banning imports of those foods," reported The Washington Post (May 18, 1999). "Concerns about genetically engineered corn have already halted virtually all corn exports from the United States to Europe, costing U.S. farmers about $200 million a year."

England's largest grocery chain last month announced it would phase out genetically modified foods and try to switch to suppliers whose foods are not made from gene-altered crops. In addition, two large British food processors said they would stop using genetically modified ingredients "for the time being," according to a previous article in The Post (April 29, 1999).

Two other articles last month chronicled Europe's opposition to genetically altered food. Newsweek (May 31, 1999) described "a noisy debate raging over what the London tabloids like to call 'Frankenstein foods.'" According to a front-page article in The Wall Street Journal (May 11, 1999), "Monsanto has done something quite remarkable for a U.S. company in Europe. It has gone from obscurity to infamy in just a few years" because of its production of genetically altered seeds, particularly soybeans imported from the United States.

A local controversy over a Maryland farmer's decision to run a concentrated hog feeding operation has raised issues seen across the country, as more and more family farmers become contract farmers for huge corporate farming operations, according to an article in The Washington Post (May 23, 1999). The Maryland farmer decided "to turn from small-time dairy farming in favor of hog production on a grand scale," built two big barns, and filled them with 4,000 hogs, the article said.

Now neighbors are complaining about the odor emanating from the farm, and the operation has "raised a stink with environmental groups, who fear that Maryland is ill-prepared to handle the threat to air and water posed by hogs and their excrement." State and local officials are also concerned, particularly since there are similar large-scale hog operations in place or being planned in Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. But supporters of the corporate takeover of hog farming say that "farming needs to evolve that way to survive in the global marketplace."

"What's happening in Frederick County reflects how large-scale operations are transforming American agriculture," according to the article. "State and local governments have been slow to recognize the coming of such large-scale farms and their possible consequences."

According to the USDA, the number of U.S. hog farms has fallen from one million in 1967 to 114,000 in 1998. Operations of 1,000 or more hogs now account for 64 percent of the national inventory, and about half of all hogs are raised under some form of contractual agreement.

Kathleen Merrigan, the Wallace Institute's senior policy analyst for the past five years, has left the Institute to become the new administrator of the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service. The AMS has a staff of 3,500. Merrigan was formerly an aide to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) when he served as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. She has been a member of the National Organic Standards Board since 1993.

"Same agenda, different location," said Merrigan. "This is a great opportunity to go back inside government and work with an agency responsible for many of the issues at the forefront of sustainable agriculture, notably the new organic standards, farmers markets, farmers' cooperatives, mandatory price reporting, and pesticide data collection."

The use of antibiotics in animals has been linked to human illnesses, according to several medical reports published last month. A study from Minnesota in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the use of antibiotics in food animals such as chickens can lead to drug-resistant diarrhea in humans. It also found that some people who acquired the illness picked up the germ overseas, where antibiotics have been used more widely than in the United States.

"Increasing foreign travel and the internationalization of the food trade make the use of antibiotics in food production a public health issue of global dimensions," said an editorial in the Journal. Two other studies from California and Washington, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, linked outbreaks of drug-resistant salmonella to unpasteurized milk and antibiotic use in dairy cattle.

Researchers at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service in Madison, Wisconsin, have found a way to make lactic acid from alfalfa fiber, according to an article in Agricultural Research (May, 1999). Lactic acid, now used in foods as a flavoring or preservative, could become a key ingredient in biodegradable plastics. It is currently made synthetically with chemicals or organically as a byproduct of corn fermentation; about half the U.S. lactic acid market is currently imported.

Extracting lactic acid from alfalfa would give farmers more incentive to grow the crop, according to the USDA. Alfalfa is valuable in sustainable agriculture because it fixes its own nitrogen, eliminating the need to add nitrogen fertilizer. The article is available electronically on the Internet at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/may99/acid0599.htm.

The World Food Prize is seeking nominations for the year 2000 World Food Prize, which recognizes outstanding individual achievement in improving the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world. The prize emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people and recognizes that improving the world's food supply for the long term depends on nurturing the quality of land, water, forests, and other natural resources.

The deadline for nominations is December, 31, 1999. For a brochure detailing the nomination process, contact World Food Prize, Office of the Secretariat, David Acker, College of Agriculture, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-1050; (515) 294-2883; e-mail bjelland@iastate.edu.

• Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University, seeks a Director; a full job description is on the Internet at http://www.ag.iastate.edu/news/leopold.html; send letter, resume, and three references to Dr. Wendy Wintersteen, Chair, Leopold Center Search Committee, Iowa State University, 132 Curtiss Hall, Ames, IA 50011-1050.
  
  
• Community Alliance with Family Farmers seeks an Executive Director; for application, call CAFF, P.O. Box 363, Davis, CA 95617, (530) 756-8518; or e-mail caff@caff.org.
  
  
• Institute of Ecosystem Studies seeks an Ecology Field Program Leader; send letter, resume, and three references to Dr. Alan Berkowitz, Head of Education, IES, P.O. Box R, Millbrook, N.Y. 12545.
  
  
• WoodPrairie Farm seeks a permanent, year-round worker; send letter, resume, and letter to Jim and Megan Gerritsen, WoodPrairie Farm, 49 Kinney Road, Bridgewater, ME 04735; (207) 425-7741.
  
  
• Stonewall Farm, a non-profit educational farm, seeks an educator; send inquiries to Kully Mindemann, Executive Director, Stonewall Farm, 242 Chesterfield Road, Keene, N.H. 03431.
  
  
• Natick Community Organic Farm seeks a year-round farmer/educator; send letter and resume to Lynda Simkins, 117 Eliot St., Natick, MA 01760.

• "1999 Progress Report," summaries of 16 research and education projects funded by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, is available from the Center, Iowa State University, 209 Curtiss Hall, Ames, IA 50011-1050; (515) 294-3711; e-mail leocenter@iastate.edu
  
  
• "Reclaiming Our Rural Heritage: A Time to Act," a 55-minute video, is $10 from Catholic Charities, P.O. Box 1342, Sioux City, IA 51102, ATTN: Marilyn Murphy; (712) 255-4346.
  
  
• "The Composters' Answers Book" is $39 from BioCycle, 419 State Avenue, Emmaus, PA 18049; (610) 967-4135; e-mail biocycle@jgpress.com.
  
  
• "Controlling Odor and Gaseous Emission Problems from Industrial Swine Facilities" is $5 from the Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture, P.O. Box 588, Poteau, OK 74953; (918) 647-9123.
  
  
• "Who's Coming to Dinner? Livestock Eating Habits and Their Effects on Grazing Management," a 15-minute video, is $19.95 from Publication Orders, Extension & Station Communications, Oregon State University, 422 Kerr Administration, Corvallis, OR 97331; (541) 737-0803.
  
  
• "Grazing in the Northeast: Assessing Current Technologies, Research Directions, and Education Needs," $30 plus $5 shipping, and "Priority Pasture Research and Education Needs," $5 plus $3.50 shipping, are available from Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service, 152 Riley-Robb Hall, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853; (607) 255-7654; e-mail nraes@cornell.edu.

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

• June 21-24, "Fire & Grit: Working for Nature in Community" will be held in Shepherdstown, W.V.; contact the Orion Society, 195 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230; 1-888-909-6568; e-mail orion@orionsociety.org
  
  
• June 24-25, Advanced Community Food Security Workshop will be held in Cincinnati, OH; contact Community Food Security Coalition, P.O. Box 209, Venice, CA 90294; (310) 822-5410; e-mail asfisher@aol.com
  
  
• July 5-August 7, "Intensive Permaculture Course and Self Reliance Internship" will be held in Basalt, CO; contact Jerome Ostenowski, Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, P.O. Box 631, Basalt, CO 81621; (970) 927-4158; e-mail permacul@rof.net
  
  
• July 7-10, International Symposium on Society and Resource Management will be held in Brisbane, Australia; contact Donald R. Field, Department of Forest Ecology and Management, 1630 Linden Drive, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706; e-mail drfield@facstaff.wisc.edu.
  
  
• July 22, 19th Annual Milan No-Till Crop Production Field Day and Planting Equipment Demonstration will be held in Milan, TN; contact Dr. Blake Brown, Superintendent, Milan Experiment Station, 6205 Ellington Drive, Milan, TN 38358; (901) 686-7362; e-mail utmilan@usit.net

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