View IGT_Winter2009_OrganicMarket
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View IGT_Winter2009_OrganicMarket
tilth (fr. OE “tillian” + th): A. the quality of cultivated soil. B. cultivation of wisdom Volume 20, No.5 FREE and the spirit. Organic Market the Albany, OR PERMIT NO. 188 PAID PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE November / December, 2009 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 www.tilth.org Page Filling the basket November / December 2009 Vol. 20, No. 5 ISSN # 1065-1527, 2009 Oregon Tilth Editor, layout and ad sales: Andrew Rodman Contributing writers: Angela Ajootian, Kathy Dang, David Lively, Jack Gray, Harry MacCormack, Will Newman, Andrew Rodman, Joel Preston Smith, Chris Schreiner, Sarah DeWeerdt and Conner Voss Subscriptions are free with Oregon Tilth membership, which begins at $30/year ($40 outside U.S.). Reprints by permission. The marketplace for organic and sustainably harvested food is a dynamic place indeed. The Organic Trade Association’s 2009 Organic Industry Survey finds that U.S. sales of organic products “both food and non-food, reached $24.6 billion by the end of 2008, growing an impressive 17.1 percent over 2007 sales despite tough economic times.” Yet this information does little to illuminate the stories behind the numbers. Challenging economic times bring the basics into sharper focus. An inescapable fundamental is that quality food equals health and good food is life. The marketplace meanwhile, becomes the arbiter of the success or failure of all the work and passion that go into producing quality sustenance. This edition looks at milk, seeds, small growers and the efforts that retailers are taking to get their houses in order. The folks at the Organic Seed Alliance were good enough to let me interview them, to find out what the key concerns and challenges are in this emerging organic Cover collage by Andrew Rodman Contents Getting creamed Advocacy Tilth’s future Tilth’s mission Organic seeds Oregon Tilth, Inc. is a Never let your guard down 501(c)(3) non-profit organizaOn flowing uphill tion that supports and promotes Organic in Oregon week biologically sound and socially Getting our house in order equitable agriculture through Get big or get out education, research, advocacy and Food miles product certification. Many green winters Since its inception in 1974, Tilth has DIY made easy brought together rural and urban producers and consumers around land stewardship Feast of fava and healthy food. Oregon Tilth administers Tooling around educational programs, supports sustainable agriculture research and policy, and offers organic certification to producers and food handlers throughout the Americas. For more information about any of the exciting programs of Oregon Tilth, please call on us: Oregon Tilth, Inc. 470 Lancaster NE • Salem, OR 97301 4 6 7 8 10 11 12 14 15 16 21 26 28 29 En Español Los Semilleros Millas Antes de que Coma 32 35 Research Reports Classifieds Calendar Membership 38 41 45 47 sector-one that I had assumed was a simple case of not enough supply for the demand. The produce camp, represented by Oregon pioneers David Lively, Harry MacCormack and Will Newman, speak well to the strategies of being viable, stealthy and fluid in times as strange as these. These voices are most fitting given the celebrations around Organically Grown in Oregon Week, happening while this edition took shape. The dairy perspective can best be described as “everyone wants to food, but precious few want to produce it.” So it goes with markets of scale. The mantra of “get big or get out” is such a prevailing notion that the focus of this edition is decidedly geared towards the smaller producers. This is not to diss the exceptional work larger producers are doing to fill our larders, but rather to offer tools and resources for those just getting into the game. Sometimes the smallest voice can be the most compelling. --Andrew Rodman $ Dairy page 4 seeds page 8 $ Office: (503) 378-0690, (877) 378-0690 Fax: (503) 378-0809 [email protected] www.tilth.org Page N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Guard page 10 Oregon Tilth Staff Directory ADMINISTRATIVE CERTIFICATION PROGRAM Quality Control Director Chris Schreiner, [email protected] (503) 566-3012 Administrative Assistants Michelle Borene, [email protected] (503) 566-3013 Amanda Brown, [email protected] (503) 566-3020 Jenny Smith, [email protected] (503) 566-3011 OEC Program Manager Kathy Dang, [email protected] (503) 779-4631 Garden Coordinator Conner Voss, [email protected] (503) 798-8906 Applegate Growers (Jacksonville, OR) Beaucoup (Sherwood, OR) Mary R. Bock (Saint Mary, MO) CITRO ROD, CITRICOS DE ABASOL (Cd. Victoria, Tam) Cottage School Acres (Green Ridge, MO) Four Bar B (Junction City, OR) Jason French (West Concord, MN) John Stalley, [email protected] (503) 779-3041 Inspectors Andy Bennett, [email protected] (541) 760-9328 Jody Berry Wild Carrot Herbals Processing Program Assistant Darin Jones, [email protected] (503) 566-3026 Reviewer - Inspectors Mike Dill, [email protected] (503) 566-3010 Mike Mountain, [email protected] (503) 566-3018 Kate Carman Carman Ranch David Granatstein WSU Center for Sustaining Ag and Natural Resources Miguel Guerrero OMRI Darryl Williams, [email protected] (503) 566-3027 MIDWEST OFFICE Midwest Certification Coordinator Dave Engel, [email protected] (608) 637-8594 Inspector: Robert Caldwell, [email protected] (608) 606-2317 Adam Zimmerman ShoreBank Enterprise Cascadia Pat Moore, [email protected] (541) 621-1777 Enviro. Ed. Coordinator/AmeriCorps Randall Cass, [email protected] (503) 638-0735 Amador & Vicki Aguirre (Carlton, OR) Technical Specialist Gwendolyn Wyard, [email protected] (503) 566-3017 Callyn Kircher, [email protected] (503) 566-3025 RESEARCH AND EDUCATION AB Fronsdahl Organic Farms (Klamath Falls, OR) Farm Program Manager Tiffanie Huson Labbe, [email protected] John Caputo, [email protected] (503) 798-8216 Information Tech Specialist Heather Smith, [email protected] (503) 779-5873 New Growers: Processing Program Manager Connie Karr, [email protected] (503) 566-3022 Reviewer - Inspectors Andrew Black, [email protected] (503) 779-5876 Financial Accounts Manager Catherine Steffens, [email protected] (503) 566-3021 Editor, In Good Tilth Andrew Rodman, [email protected] (503) 779-3929 Certification Director Kristy Korb, [email protected] (503) 566-3024 Inspection Coordinator Kelly O’Donnell, [email protected] (503) 566-3015 Farm Program Assistant Erin Jensen, [email protected] (503) 566-3014 Dave Manlove, [email protected] (503) 378-0690 x 424 Oregon Tilth Board of Directors Global Certification Program Manager Jim Pierce, [email protected] (503) 779-9063 Latin American Specialist Garth Kahl, [email protected] (503) 507-4122 New OTCO certified farms & processors since August, 2009 Rudy Jr. & Susan Gingerich Simply Aquaponics Hawaii (Clermont, IA) (Honomu, HI) Hillside Acres (Omro, WI) Staunton Farms (Tulelake, CA) Ke Ola Farm (Keaau, HI) Thistle Vineyard (Portland, OR) Lost Springs Ranch (Burns, OR) Windberry Acres, Inc. (Saint Mary, SD) David R. Miller Jr. (Darlington, WI) New Processors: Wilbur & Ruby Miller (Shipshewana, IN) Barnhardt Manufacturing Co. (Charlotte, NC) Jeremy Post (Rock Springs, WI) Biosecur Lab, Inc. (Otterburn Park, Quebec) Ozark Acres Farm (Seymour, MO) Century Foods International (Sparta, WI) Pine Knob Organic Farm (Soldiers Grove , WI) Chelten House Products, Inc. (Napa, CA) Sauvie Island Organics (Portland, OR) Colorado Sun Oil Processing, (Lamar, CO) Condor Snack Company (Denver, CO) Naturepedic (Cleveland, OH) Custom Research Labs, Inc. (Gardena, CA) Natures Paradise (Santa Ana, CA) Ella’s Kitchen Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA) Picat Ltd (Dallas, TX) Giusto’s Specialty Foods (South San Francisco, CA) Simmons Pet Foods, Inc. (Siloam Springs, AR) Grafton Village Cheese (Brattleboro, VT) Sunshine Dairy Foods Management, LLC (Portland, OR) Juguera Allende, S. A. De C. V (Allende, NLE) Kiko Foods, Inc. (Kenner, LA) My Sous Chef (Joseph, OR) Terra Firma Botanicals, Inc. (Eugene, OR) Unit Pack Co., Inc. (Cedar Grove, NJ) Welcome Dairy, Inc. (Colby, WI) Oregon Tilth now certifies: 600 organic processors • 694 organic growers •5 restaurants retailer N ovember / Dorganic ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth&• V1olume 20, N umber 5 Page Photo by Joel Preston-Smith Getting creamed “I lost my land, a single tractor took my land. I’m alone and I am bewildered.” — John Steinbeck, from The Grapes of Wrath. By Joel Preston-Smith In the final scene of John Steinbeck’s classic, The Grapes of Wrath, Rose of Sharon— the landless, orphaned daughter of a failed farmer, hiding in an abandoned barn and grieving the death of her stillborn child—cradles an elderly, starving man in her arms, and draws him to her breast, to suckle. After 534 pages of dust and destitution, Steinbeck offers this final, harrowing image as a moral beacon—if the displaced and dispossessed are to find salvation, to heal the land and their families, they would only do so by cooperating, by sheltering and feeding one another. It’s somewhat ironic then, that 70 years after the novel’s publication, “cooperative agreements” and a surplus of milk, some argue, are starving dairy farmers into bankruptcy, deprivation and suicide. John Kinsman, president of Family Farm Defenders, based in Madison, Wis., calls the current milk debacle “the worst crisis for farmers since the Great Depression.” Throughout America, dairy farms—both organic and conventional—are failing, awash not in dust, but in milk. The alleged surplus has driven the price of raw conventional milk to its lowest level since 1940, says Kinsman, and has dairy farms teetering on the brink of extinction. Irene Lin, a policy analyst for the National Family Farm Coalition, headquartered in Washington, D.C., says the U.S. has lost 80 percent of its dairy farms in the past 30 years, but not since the Dust Bowl have so many farmers faced such a dire future. Kinsman, who is also secretary of the Coalition’s executive board, says his nonprofit wants the federal government to restruc- Page N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Photo by Joel Preston-Smith Dairy’s uncertain future ture the dairy industry, and enforce the National Organic Program rules. The Coalition supports Senate Bill 1645 (formerly Senate Bill 889), the Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act of 2009, which would allow the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to base the price of conventional milk on the national average cost of production. The price is currently influenced by a host of factors, but largely by the price of cheese as it is traded in the dairy pit of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The Coalition wants the feds to dictate conventional milk prices, and thus break what Lin describes as a “corporate monopoly on milk,” orchestrated by industry giants such as Dean Foods, Kraft Foods and a handful of conglomerates. To illustrate the need for government oversight, Lin cites a $12 million fine levied December 16 last year by the Federal Commodities Futures Trading against Dairy Farmers of America “for attempting to manipulate cheese cash markets” at the Chicago stock exchange. “We’re dealing with a very flawed pricing system controlled by a very few corporate entities,” Lin says. “That system has led us to a price collapse that you can only describe as a depression. Conventional milk is bringing a price lower than we had in 1980.” U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate “possible antitrust violations” by Dean Foods, which the senator claims controls 70 percent of the dairy market in the northeast. Dean, he argues, posted record profits in the first quarter of 2009, whilst the company cut payments to farmers from $19.50 per hundredweight in 2008, to less than $11 this July. Continued on page 18 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page Photo by Connie Karr Oregon Tilth staffers at the Organic Education Center Advocacy On August 26th, Andrew Black spoke about organic local food at the Sidney Lezak Project’s conference called “Fixing Food: What Ails Us & The Economy” at Camp Westwind, on the Oregon Coast. On September 14, at the Farm and Food Leadership Conference in San Antonio TX, Dave Engel was on a panel discussion “Certified or Not Certified: How do Farmers and Consumers Make the Choice?” The conference was co-sponsored by Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance and Texas Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. September 17, Conner Voss and Garth Kahl hosted a tour of the Organic Education Center and Luscher Farm to staff from the USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service. September. 22-23, Garth Kahl attended the hearings for the proposed National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement in Monterey, Calif. Working in concert, a number of other conservation and organic farming groups including the Wild Farm Alliance, Community Alliance with Family Farms, and the National Organic Coalition, OTCO presented testimony in opposition the Act, which OTCO believes would have serious detrimental consequences for organic growers and the environment, while doing little to decrease the incidence of food-borne illness. September 24, Kathy Dang, Conner Voss, and Randall Cass hosted a tour of the Organic Education Center, Luscher Farm to Agriculture Extension Agents from around the nation as part of the 2009 Annual Meeting and Professional Improve- ment Conference of the National Association of County Agriculture Agents in Portland, September 20-24, 2009. October 7, as part of the GoGreen Conference in Portland, Ore, Chris Schreiner partnered with ODA staff to host a “lunch and learn” session highlighting sustainable business practices and opportunities for the Food and Agriculture sector. October 28, Andrew Black gave an educational presentation about organic certification and sustainable agriculture at the National College of Natural Medicine as part of the 2009 Portland Master Vegetarian Program. Hey Editor! Write, email [email protected]. Tilth is great, again more usable fodder for my growing endeavor. –Lydia Avery, Alsea, Ore. Dear Oregon Tilth, the people who make that organization come alive. My goal as a 53 yr. old farmer former science teacher is to find sustainable work style-oriented partners in buying rural land to start a “tent and breakfast/organic farm/ropes challenge course.” I would enjoy having experienced farmer/gardeners to correspond with so we can learn from each other. I am reading all I can find on organic gardening, small business topics, agroforestry and other topics. I believe there are compassionate non-judgemental people out there. I wish everyone there much peace, joy and love. –Denzel Tittle, 66072-179 A-3, POB 7000 FCI, Texarkana, TX 75505. Page N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Charting Oregon Tilth’s By Chris Schreiner At the recent Organically Grown in Oregon Week awards luncheon, I was reminded of how much the organic movement has grown and changed in its relatively short history. Attending an event that brings together pioneers and new faces in the organic industry helps bring to focus the big picture of our collective efforts; both where we’ve been and where we’re heading. NCAT’s Rex Dufour leads an activity on in-field soil quality assessment in Monmouth, Ore. at an an Like the organic moveOrganic-Conservation Cross Training session organized by Oregon Tilth and the Ore. NRCS office with fundment, Oregon Tilth has ing support from the WSARE Professional Development Program. experienced significant and Brand is priceless – Oregon Tilth’s name and reputation for rapid change. In the eleven years I’ve worked for the organization, leadership, integrity and quality must be protected, maintained the staff increased fourfold and the operating budget increased and enhanced. While our roots are based in the Pacific Northby a factor of five. While such growth is indicative of success, it west, our reputation and services have expanded to a national and also presents challenges. Managing this kind of dynamic growth international audience. requires clear vision, resolute purpose and the agility to respond to People are our biggest asset – We want to cultivate a comunexpected and demanding changes. munity of support through meaningful relationships and interacTherein lies the value of strategic planning. In 2009, Oregon tions. The only way to successfully offer expanded, high-quality Tilth’s Board of Directors and Executive Management Team began services that align with our stellar reputation is by employing a strategic planning process. At the outset, five goals were identiexceptionally qualified people. We must also continue to develop fied. A new strategic plan must be: strategic partnerships that can leverage unique resources and • Consistent and supportive of Oregon Tilth’s original mission expertise to help us achieve our goals. In Oregon, we worked to • Cohesive and integrated across the organization establish a formal Letter of Cooperation creating a framework • Realistic and practical for collaboration among partner organizations and agencies on • Clear on a bequest investment strategy organic program activities. Signatories included the Director of • Measurable – progress is quantifiable the Oregon. Dept of Agriculture, Chairperson of the Oregon State Board of Agriculture, Director of the Oregon Field Office The strategic plan was developed using a variety of tools and of the USDA National Ag Statistics Service, Oregon NRCS State input. An “as is” analysis was developed using the Strengths, WeakConservationist, OSU Dean of Agriculture and Executive Mannesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) framework. Input inagement of Oregon Tilth. cluded a 2009 survey of Oregon Tilth staff as well as the extensive Communication – As our staff increases and our audience 2008 survey of certified operators, members and partner organizaexpands, we must enhance both external and internal awareness tions externally conducted by Opinion Dynamics Corporation. of Oregon Tilth’s services and activities. We must use diverse and From this work, we developed strategic goals for the organization. progressive communication formats that reflect the diverse audiBy comparing our “as is” status with our strategic goals, we identiences we are trying to reach. Our communication formats include fied the gaps and have begun formulating a plan on how to get the bi-monthly publication In Good Tilth (with some content from where we are today to where we want to be in the future. published in Spanish), our website, monthly eNewsletters, a In formulating the strategic plan, several interrelated and key Facebook page and a Twitter account. Oregon Tilth staff attends themes emerged. hundreds of events each year at locations near and far – representOregon Tilth doesn’t make “widgets”; we offer and deliver ing our mission at trade show booths, information tables, as well services. Our primary services are third-party certification to as workshop and training presenters. standards that align with our mission; educational offerings to conThrough effective strategic planning, Oregon Tilth strives to sumers, growers and manufacturers; advocacy efforts addressing maintain firm roots, encourage healthy growth, and bloom with state, national and international policy; and helping shape research increased mission fulfillment. agendas that respond to the needs of our stakeholders. We want to expand our services and differentiate on quality. Chris Schreiner is Oregon Tilth’s Quality Control Director. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page Photo by Chris Schreiner Strategic course Seedy fellows Photo by LPhotos by Jared Zyskowski, Organic Seed Alliance Talking shop Scott Chichester cleans organic spinach seed at Nash’s Organic Produce in Sequim, Wash. Seed is the ultimate input, and the organic seed market continues to be challenging and dynamic. Recently, Andrew Rodman spoke with the Organic Seed Alliance’s Matt Dillon and John Navazio about some of the trends in this emerging market. Matt–This year I had a representative of a large dairy call me up looking for a sorghum seed for their growers that was certified organic. All of the seed companies that I directed this grower to were sold out. There continues to be a lack of commercially available varieties to meet the field and market needs of farmers. It is happening in field crops, and continues to happen in vegetable crops. Many of the vegetable seed companies report selling out early in the year, out of key varieties, organic hybrids in particular. The over-arching issues that continue to come up in organic seed are availability and appropriateness. Estimates remain between five and 10 percent of the seed planted by organic farmers is actually organic seed, and the rest is conventional non-treated. Those estimates come from talking to people in the industry. From the very beginning, the organic community was reliant on two sources for our seeds; the conventional sector, which has little to no interest in organic seeds, and second, heirloom seed companies, which were more focused on gardeners and small quantities of seed. Organic producers made due for decades, and in many cases certainly their needs have been met, the conventional varieties have been good enough, the heirlooms have been good enough for them to produce and thrive. But “good enough” varieties and optimum varieties are two different things. Page N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 John– There is the whole issue of varieties bred for the farmer’s cultural practices. The best breeding is done for the environment and the practices of farmers. That’s what’s optimum. When organics started hitting the big time, the best organic farmers took commercially bred varieties, that have not been bred for their cultural practices, and tweaked their cultural practices within organics…they scoured through what is available, trialed it all out, and found the ones that are closest to fitting their needs. Andrew–What do you mean by cultural practices? John–Say you are planting corn at a certain date because you don’t want it to rot in the soil. If you are a conventional farmer, you are using the corn varieties with seed treatments. If you are doing early cultivation to kill weeds, or flaming to kill weeds as an herbicide, that is a cultural practice. Matt–If an organic farmer doesn’t have the chemical seed treatment in the corn to prevent diseases, like rotting in the cold soil or early emergence in cold soils, this could push planting to a later date, which could cause them to have less of a yield or incur other risks later in the season. John–All of those conventional corn breeding programs have an attitude of: that’s not a problem, we have these state of the art seed treatments with thiram pesticides. So our growers don’t worry about that. In fact, we are going to use those seed pesticide treatments even in our breeding program to artificially avoid that reality that every organic farmer in the field is facing. Matt–There’s even the genetic element of how a plant responds to cultivation. John–Like when you have your tines on, you are disrupting the soil very close to the plant or throwing the soil back. Conventional farmers that are using herbicides don’t need nearly as much cultivation. If you are truly breeding a plant good for organic farmers, it has to be tough enough to have soil thrown up on it. The percentage used of organic seed is one thing, the percentage of seed being used that is appropriate and most ideal for the cultural conditions and market conditions are even lower than just the basic seed. The first organic seed companies that Photo by LPhotos by Jared Zyskowski, Organic Seed Alliance The state of organic seed John Navazio assesses the maturity of a carrot seed crop at Nash’s Organic Produce in Sequim, Wash. ventured into the movement early on are finding success. There is a lot of growth in the true 100 percent seed companies. Their sales are up because they are making improvements in their production quality and practices. They are finding that growers are increasingly purchasing their seed. Some of the For more than 30 years, conventional seed Down To Earth has been companies have proud to offer premium seen that the ororganic fertilizers and ganic market is not just a fad, that it environmentally friendly is here to stay, and home and garden that it continues to products to farms, exhibit growth, and nurseries, greenhouses, they become interand garden centers. ested in potentially transitioning their seed lines into organic production. Very few of these companies however, are makCall Today for Our ing the plunge Wholesale Catalog in breeding for 1-800-234-5932 organic systems. Part of the reason is that there is hesitancy around the dollars and cents of it. It is very expensive to breed and test any kind of plant. It takes considerable money and time, it can take 10 years or more to breed Continued on page 20 Down To Earth offers a variety of useful products for winter gardening Organic Materials Review Institute DTE_IGT_NOVDEC_09_AD N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page Pioneer Perspectives Never let your guard down By David Lively I quote Matthew Dillon of the Organic Seed Alliance, from his article “Organic Food Integrity Starts with Seed Integrity” in the latest issue of the PCC Sound Consumer: “I respect those who don’t like war analogies, but I have sat at the table with the Monsanto executives of the world and we dangerously delude ourselves in thinking they can be convinced of our concerns through anything other than grassroots fights, litigious assaults, and peace treaties negotiated from a place of power. Unfortunately, as in all wars, there are costs to both sides and the organic movement will not leave this scenario without scars.” On my daily walk this morning, I was thinking along similar lines – specifically, about some of the responses I have heard from my peers over the last few weeks, as anti-organic material has hit the press. After all this time, we still possess the ability to be naïve about what we are dealing with. It is charming in a way, but the problem with it is that we have been living Page 10 with positive press and rapid trade growth for so long that we have become convinced of our strength, addicted to success and somewhat lazy in our sense of urgency. In the U.S., we are insulated enough that we can almost pretend that the biggest issues are whether we are going to hold on to our growth rate and whether the image of organic will remain relatively untarnished. Meanwhile, the world is burning, as Vandana Shiva made adamantly clear at the Organicology conference in early 2009. The reality is, we are engaged in a global war between agri-business and agroecology. Ultimately, I believe there will be an outcome, and it will provide for only one survivor. For a positive outcome for human beings, and even more so for all of the other life on this blue and green ball, it is imperative that agro-ecology be that survivor. I think it is becoming increasingly imperative that we frame circumstances accurately, as Matthew has done – this is not just about “choice” in the marketplace, or the “pastoral” that Michael Pollan refers to when we tell the story of organic farming. This is about a struggle much bigger and deeper than most of us really want to deal with, yet it is our fate to do so. I don’t suggest we take this battle into the supermarkets or into the “pastoral”, but let’s make sure that as professionals we are never surprised, or take the time to be offended, by what comes at us in the way of bad press, legal action, or even conspiracy. When I accepted the Oregon Tilth Visionary of the Year Award for OGC a few years back, I noted that in the 1980s, “Congressman Jim Weaver spoke to us at length about various matters, including the chain of consequence that starts with volcanos and results in the disruption of weather patterns, crop loss and war. Weaver also provided us with high praise as visionaries for change, which we remain today. “I was amazed that someone of his status held organic farmers in such esteem. “At the time, we were under withering fire. The Reagan Administration had taken direct action to crush the barest presence of organic thought in the Federal government. If you called Lane County Extension and asked for advice in organic techniques, you were told it was not possible. The Douglas County Extension agent was on a declared mission to prove that there was no reason for using organic practices. Conventional growers and the ag-biz system they were a component of scoffed at us, sometimes directly to our faces. “And they were all correct in doing what they did, of course, because we were absolutely as threatening to their professional world-view as they suspected we were. We had come to take apart and reconstruct as much of the U.S. ag-system as we could get our hands on.” That purpose has driven me all of these years. Let’s remember that when you go after someone’s world view and economic interests, they are going to bite back, and in the case of the war between agri-biz and agro-ecology, it is gonna be a very big bite coming at you. At Organicology in 2011, I hope we can press the truth of this struggle, once more, upon participants, and that their embracing of the need to be warriors in this fight will move us further toward resolution. Meanwhile, as our friend Buzz Lightyear exhorts, “To infinity, and beyond!” David Lively is the Marketing Director at the Organically Grown Company and has been in organics as a grower, field manager, buyer and account representative going on 30 years now. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Pioneer Perspectives On flowing uphill By Harry MacCormack Small-small farms and market gardens operate in a marketing reality dominated by large-small farms. We all know the accepted entrepreneurial practices of very “successful” larger-small farms. They include high levels of management, staffs of 10-50 or more employees, large capital investments in farm equipment, grow-tunnel-greenhouses, walk-in refrigerators, processing-market preparation lines, refrigerated trucks large enough to handle multiple farmer’s markets in many locations and CSA drops in those locations, wholesales to Organically Grown Company or other distributors, retailers, and restaurants throughout the region. These larger-small farms often operate on 20 acres or less. But with high overhead costs, their consumer prices are geared to an economy of high-end, urban, customers also used to lifestyles based in the rewards of economic success. Their farm budgets are often in the quarter to million dollar range. These are the stars of the organic market place. Economic marketing reality for smallsmall farms in this high-stakes business atmosphere can seem daunting, especially to entry-level growers who may not want to participate in the small farm marketing version of the dominate corporate paradigm. Is there another way? This question led me to the ancient wisdom of the I Ching #46, Pushing Upward. The image poses choices between effort as opposed to progress, vertical ascent versus expansion. The metaphor reflects the growth pattern of wood in soil: “direct rise from lowliness to power and influence”. Pushing upward is made possible by modesty and adaptability. Individual activity, work, brings good fortune. Upward growth of wood adapts by bending around obstacles, moving upward without haste, without rest. This requires devotion to character, without pause. How does such wisdom possibly guide a struggling small-small grower participating in a market economy? First of all, you have to decide your economic survival. Do you really want to rely on your total economic needs coming from growing the foods you love? I remind you in this consideration of two facts: Over 70 percent (USDA figures) of all American farms rely on at least one source of offfarm income to remain viable. Amish and Pennsylvania Dutch farming tradition holds that one man can effectively farm two acres. (More land requires horses, machinery, ever-larger capital and employees.) In our high-tech world there are ways for small-small farms to gain market share. Usually they rely on introducing yourself and your produce to a very local community in a way that doesn’t really compete with larger-small farms. Most large farmer’s markets , local restaurants and alternative natural type food stores are dominated by the larger small farms. So what kinds of sales are left? Use internet communication to your advantage. That might include My Space or even Twitter as ways of letting potential unaligned customers know what you have and who you are. Send out a weekly list from which they can choose, set up an order date, and tell you whether they will pick-up at your location or whether you need to deliver. Your distinct advantage: Picked and delivered same day produce. For greens, especially, this translates into a distinct nutritional advantage that larger operations cannot emulate. We’ve used this process for a season at Sunbow Farm. We’ve attracted a whole new number of consumers as a result. At-the-farm pricing allows us to be affordable, an attempt on our part to address the complaint that farmer’s market prices are often as high or higher than natural foods store prices. Optional home delivery in our nearby town is just what new moms, retired semi shutins, and those too busy to go to markets love. Along the same lines, a group of growers in the Eugene area offer a virtual farmer’s market through www.EugeneLocalFoods.com. Together they pool produce, which comes to a drop point once a week. Internet orders are coordinated by the organizers, who charge a fee for service. Again, this model makes it possible for small-small growers to operate with some of the advantages of a larger small grower while offering same day fresh. Both of the above marketing strategies appeal to younger, urban, working families who want the best food, fresh, and affordable. The small-small farm has more leeway with pricing because of lower overhead. Even so, set the pricing so that you pay both expenses and yourself. Another strategy is to see yourself as a grower-organizer, and act on that perception. Working with a neighborhood organization, a church, a community center, retirement facility, you can help initiate small grower based buying clubs. This activity can extend to small growers being backyard or community garden based. Seeing an urban or suburban area as a farm, sharing space, rotations, equipment, labor, can be an effective way to grow lots of food, feed lots of people, and market what you grow, to that community, or even as a collective stand in a larger farmer’s market. Operations along these lines in L.A. and Chicago have been featured on national T.V. recently. These small, small marketing suggestions all allow for lower local pricing, because they are not rooted in high overhead. CCA or community cooperative agriculture , (as different from CSA community supported agriculture) need not require up-front payments. Organization and trust replace that factor as a planned season unfolds with one or many small growers feeding many middle to lower class families – or even the poor and homeless – as a market. In an organized, food-based, community effort individuals support each other as the basic exchange rate, bending around dollars per hour with labor for food trades, marketing with an eye to the well-being of those who have, economically speaking, the least rather than the most. Again, such an effort is not possible when trapped in the entrepreneurial model currently dominating markets. For instance, it is not usually the case that a neighborhood farmer’s market is established limiting the size of stall space, effectively excluding the larger small farms. (We did this at the original Portland-based People’s Wednesday market) The very definition of marketing is radically different in the examples mentioned. Rather than simply growing as part of regional or even local commerce, re-organizing business agreements allows small to remain small and stealthy. This practice will attract an appreciate clientele who support what you do, no matter what your size. Harry MacCormack is a co-founder of Oregon Tilth, an original Oregon organic farmer, a teacher and an author. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 11 Celebrating an entwined history Compiled by Andrew Rodman In recognition of organic farmers, processors and distributors in the State of Oregon, Governor Ted Kulongoski proclaimed September 14-20, 2009, as “Organically Grown in Oregon Week.” The harvest time saw a bounty of events from celebrations, to workshops, to farm tours to tastings. These events celebrated the rich culture of sustainable agriculture in the Northwest. Since 1988, Oregonians have proudly commemorated Organically Grown in Oregon Week, giving kudos to our thriving organic industry and the leaders of Oregon’s organic movement. David Lively, Marketing Director at Organically Grown Company gave credit where it was due for the origins of this event. “Way back in the 1980s, when many of us owned different bodies and more brain cells, a farmer from Oregon’s Southern Coast, Marnie McPhee, took it upon herself to find a way to celebrate. Marnie contacted a handful of vets and trade activists, determined to 1989- Lynn Coody and Jack Grey rewrite and lobby to pass Oregon Organic Foods Law (the oldest organic law in the U.S.) using both Tilth Certification Standards and the first attempt at a materials list-based standard. 1988 - Oregon Gov- ernor Neil Goldschmidt declares first “Organically Grown in Oregon” week. 1987 -1989 Oregon Tilth Standards used as model for Washington Dept. of Ag. proposed program, Texas Dept. of Ag program, Japan proposed program, Hawaii, Idaho and Colorado. 1973 - Oregon passes first 1987- First edition of organic legislation in U.S. 1984 - One-page certification 1986 - Oregon Tilth incor- rules written by Bob Cooperider/ Willamette Valley Tilth President. 12 farms certified under these rules. Page 12 porated as non-profit. Tilth’s Yvonne Frost (and committee) begin certification as a business. Standards and Guidelines For Oregon Tilth Certified Organically Grown: written by Harry MacCormack, edited by Lynn Coody. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Organic pioneers: Alan Kapuler at top, and below: Harry McCormack (left) and Yvonne Frost (right). Photo by Andrew Rodman Photo courtesy Ashland Food Coop Onward to a organic future Organically Grown week was marked by workshops, tastings and farm visits, like this one organized by the Ashland Food Coop to Fry Family Farm near Medford. OSU’s Anita Azarenko accepts the The Organic Policy Award from Kim Leval, chair of the Oregon Organic Coalition during a luncheon celebration. create a statewide grassroots, guerilla marketing campaign focused on the positive.” “Eventually, Organically Grown in Oregon became the model for Organically Grown Week, a national promotion carried out by the Community for Sustainable Agriculture. After the formation of the Organic Trade Association, the event became the Organic Harvest month, held in September, across the U.S. This is not the first time our work has provided a template for national policies.” As part of the celebration, The Oregon Organic Coalition hosted an awards luncheon in Portland at the EcoTrust building, August 15, heralding our modern-day organic pioneers. Oregon Organic mentionables included scientist Alex Stone from OSU, for her work in establishing the Northwest Farmerto-Farmer Exchange, her position as National Director of the new collaborative www.eOrganic.info and studies of organic potatoes, which have earned her national acclaim. On the retailer end, the Ashland Food Cooperative (established 1972) was honored as the first grocer in Oregon to earn Oregon Tilth’s Certified Organic retailer designation for its entire operation. The co-op supports efforts across the state to bolster the organic food industry, and is among the nation’s top ten food cooperatives in sales. The Wholesaler Award went to Organically Grown Company, formed in 1978 to support Oregon’s organic farmers. Since then, OGC has opened distribution facilities in Eugene and Portland, and in Kent, Washington. OGC is the Northwest’s largest wholesaler of fresh organic fruits, vegetables and herbs, employing more than 160 staff, working with more than 500 vendors serving more than 250 natural and fine food stores and restaurants throughout western Oregon and Washington. The Livestock Farmer Award went to Jon Bansen, Double J Jerseys, Member of Organic Valley Farmer-Owned Cooperative. Double J Jerseys’ dedication to organic dairy has led to wide recognition, including leading Organic Valley’s Farmer Ambassador Program for the western U.S., Polk County Soil and Water’s 1997 Conservation Farmers of the Year, and Oregon Tilth’s Producer of the Year Award in 2006. Jon extols the virtues of organic farming and grass-based dairying and is considered a “grazing guru” in organic dairy circles. Continued on page 21 The Vashon Broadfork A sturdy steel tool for deep aerating Natural Motion! Oregon Residents: E-mail for Oregon Tilth Discount! Strong enough to turn over existing beds and break new ground, even in heavy soils. Made in the U.S.A. Free Shipping Satisfaction Assured [email protected] www.meadowcreature.com Call 206.408.8080 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 13 Photo courtesy of PCC Natural Markets Finding real green Redmond Dairy Cooler at PCC Market shows the installation of LED (light emitting diode) lights. They require about one-fourth of the electricity of fluorescent lights, produce less heat than incandescent bulbs, and last far longer. Page 14 By Andrew Rodman. There is increased public demand for “sustainable” and “socially responsible” products, and more businesses touting practices and products as “green,” “carbon neutral,” and “fairly-traded” in the organic marketplace. At the same time, companies are looking for ways to increase efficiency across the board to remain healthy in a down economy. The smart companies are the ones that are achieving both. One tool that companies have is by partnering up with the Food Trade Sustainability Leadership Association (FTSLA), a new non-profit that offers a variety of valuable educational programs, including strategies for measurement and reporting, strategy and goal setting, zero waste, carbon footprint reduction, sustainable packaging, renewable energy, resource conservation, ethical practices, marketing/communications and more. Natalie ReitmanWhite, FTSLA Executive Director states that, “We have a long way to go to achieve resilient sustainable food systems. We continue to depend on many nonrenewable and polluting resources (i.e. fossil fuel) in our operations, and over -harvesting of precious natural resources (i.e. soil degradation & fresh water). The organic food trade provides a strong platform for advancing sustainability—based on principles of agro-ecology and biodiversity, avoiding toxic and persistent inputs nature cannot process, deriving most fertility from renew- able sources. Our goal is to bring these principles into the entire business model from seed to plate.” The FTSLA’s “Sustainability Tool Kit” gives members practical advice and strategies for implementing a sustainability program from step 1, and staff provide ongoing consulting. Natalie says her group has been sharing skills with a number of businesses, including growers, processors, shippers and manufacturers, that have been working towards evaluating the “footprint” of their operations and pursuing opportunities for improvement. She says, “The organic trade’s orientation and history uniquely positions us to be early adopters in developing and modeling the innovative practices that can move us closer to our ideals.” Down in Noti, Oregon, WinterGreen Farm underwent the process of self-evaluation, and founding member Jack Gray concluded that, “One of our most dramatic findings was the amount of gas and diesel used running around the farm between fields and barns. In our crop rotation, we moved most of our CSA and Farmers market production back to our home place from a rented field two miles away. The energy saved was startling. This information pointed out just how significant a cost internal transportation is for us.” Up in the Puget Sound area, Seattle based PCC Markets have taken on multiple initiatives to lighten their “footprint,” including the ban of single-use plastic shopping bags, a heavy focus on green construction, introducing double-sided transaction receipts, replacing paper shelf tags with electronic point-of-purchase displays, and initiating company-wide recycling and composting procedures. All of which have contributed to significant waste reduction. Diana Crane, Director of Sustainability at PCC Natural Markets states that, “Consumers today can’t help but be aware of – or at least question – the impact their buying decisions makes on their communities, the environment, their health and their financial stability.” PCC received the 2009 Green Washington Award, the 2009 Best Workplace Recycling and Waste Reduction and firstever Sustainability Excellence Award, in recognition of their work. Out in the heartland, the HQ of Or- N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Get big, or head FTSLA for the ganic Valley Coop improved their already substantial efforts at being even more green and environmentally responsible. Jennifer Harrison, Organic Valley’s Sustainability Program Manager at Organic Valley Coop enthuses that, “Committing to the FTSLA has given us the opportunity to share our process and to learn from others in the industry. The metrics and reporting formats developed by the FTSLA has helped us to streamline the reporting and to measure ourselves against what others in the organic industry are doing in a pre-competitive environment.” She notes that Organic Valley has been working to engage their entire supply chain “from our farmers, to our processors, our packaging and transportation/freight providers on measuring their footprints.” Natalie White says, “We seek to engage companies who feel a sense of urgency about the state of the planet and society, and that believe their businesses should have a truly balanced triple bottom line. We focus on achieving tangible progress towards sustainability by working with ‘early adopters’ who are willing to innovate and try new approaches. We also aim to create a community of practice where members will share ‘what works’ and undertake joint projects, accelerating progress towards our collective vision and enhancing business relationships.” Jennifer Harrison is pragmatic about the work they are doing. “These days it is all about measuring. If you aren’t measuring, you aren’t proving the impact your sustainability initiatives are having on the environment, economy or your community. Statements without proof are greenwashing.” For more information about the work of FTSLA, including their Declaration of Sustainability, and educational materials see www.ftsla.org. For information about Organic Valley Coop, or to see their impact calculator visit www.organicvalley.coop. PCC markets are all over the Puget Sound area, and viewable online at www.pccnaturalmarkets.com. By Will Newman II I’ve been thinking about two issues that plague most farmers: 1. What is the purpose of the business – making profits or providing quality products? 2. How big is enough? As a farmer I have faced them. As a business consultant, a fair number of my clients have been small- to medium-size farms, and they have all faced these same issues. Farms follow a common pattern in their development. The first few years are taken up with developing growing, harvesting, and marketing practices, and trying to make ends meet. Once the farm is operating successfully, usually after three to five years, the grower faces these questions. The answers will determine the future success of the farm, because they will guide every business decision that follows. Putting returns first, in my experience, invariably leads to failure, as product quality and service steadily deteriorate in the quest to increase profits. Deciding to focus on improving product and service, along with charging adequately is an approach that leads to lasting success. The question of “right-sizing” is particularly difficult for growers. Agriculture is a part of the natural world, not the industrial world, while our economic system is based on industrial principles. Because of this embedded industrial economic worldview, agricultural “experts” always push for bigger, e.g. Agricultural Commissioner Earl Butz’s often quoted “Get bigger or get out!” University researchers, funded primarily by industrial agriculture, support this approach. Lenders and suppliers also favor larger operations over smaller. All of this flies in the face of measurable realities. Generally small farms are better farms. They are more productive per square foot and less polluting. They yield more calories of food energy per calorie of input, and are more profitable. And most ignored by industrial agriculture: food from small farms is generally more nutritious than food from ? industrial operations. In addition, small farms strengthen and add resilience to local economies. There lies the dilemma: virtually all structural, economic, and academic support is for larger, industrial approaches to production and distribution, while virtually all approaches that lead to quality food are small, decentralized and based on natural cycles. Natural and organic food businesses have become a very successful part of the food system precisely because they have favored quality over profits. This focus on quality has generally meant keeping operations smaller and more tuned to local markets than the bulk of the food industry. This success has been a threat to industrial agriculture. The reason successful natural and organic food businesses are called “niche markets” is to diminish their importance and to obscure the fact that they are successful precisely because they address the production and distribution of quality food outside the industrial business model. When the organic portion of the market became too large to ignore, organics was co-opted by industrial agriculture, and it has been a constant fight to maintain standards ever since. We continue to hear, as we have for decades, that small farms are not viable. The reality is that they have been, they are, and they will continue to be. We continue to hear that we must get bigger or get out. We do not. Throughout the world it is small, organic, local farms that produce the best food available, and at reasonable prices. The past success of the organic and natural food movement is founded on an understanding that food is not an industrial product, and cannot be produced or distributed as if it were. Our continued success will be based on maintaining the integrity of that vision. And we will be helping to build a sound, sustainable economy in the process. Will Newman is a long-time organic farmer at Natural Harvest Farm near Canby, Ore., and a co-founder of the Oregon Sustainable Agricultural Land Trust. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 15 Miles from where I eat By Sarah DeWeerdt In 1993, a Swedish researcher calculated that the ingredients of a typical Swedish breakfast-apple, bread, butter, cheese, coffee, cream, orange juice, sugar-traveled a distance equal to the circumference of the Earth before reaching the Scandinavian table. In 2005, a researcher in Iowa found that the milk, sugar, and strawberries that go into a carton of strawberry yogurt collectively journeyed 2,211 miles just to get to the processing plant. As the local-food movement has come of age, this concept of “food miles” -roughly, the distance food travels from farm to plate-has come to dominate the discussion, particularly in the United States, the United Kingdom, and parts of Western Europe. The concept offers a kind of convenient shorthand for describing a food system that’s centralized, industrialized, and complex almost to the point of absurdity. And, since our food is transported all those miles in ships, trains, trucks, and planes, attention to food miles also links up with broader concerns about the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from fossil fuel-based transport. In the United States, the most frequently cited statistic is that food travels 1,500 miles on average from farm to consumer. That figure comes from work led by Rich Pirog, the associate director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University (he is also behind the strawberry-yogurt calculations referenced above). In 2001, in some Page 16 of the country’s first food-miles research, Pirog and a group of researchers analyzed the transport of 28 fruits and vegetables to Iowa markets via local, regional, and conventional food distribution systems. The team calculated that produce in the conventional system-a national network using semitrailer trucks to haul food to large grocery stores-traveled an average of 1,518 miles (about 2,400 kilometers). By contrast, locally sourced food traveled an average of just 44.6 miles (72 kilometers) to Iowa markets. In light of such contrasts, the admonition to “eat local” just seems like common sense. And indeed, at the most basic level, fewer transport miles do mean fewer emissions. Pirog’s team found that the conventional food distribution system used 4 to 17 times more fuel and emitted 5 to 17 times more CO2 than the local and regional (the latter of which roughly meant Iowa-wide) systems. Similarly, a Canadian study estimated that replacing imported food with equivalent items locally grown in the Waterloo, Ontario, region would save transport-related emissions equivalent to nearly 50,000 metric tons of CO2, or the equivalent of taking 16,191 cars off the road. What’s “Local?” But what exactly is “local food” in the first place? How local is local? One problem with trying to determine whether local food is greener is that there’s no universally accepted definition of local food. Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, authors of The 100-Mile Diet, write that they chose this boundary for their experiment in eating locally because “a 100-mile radius is large enough to reach beyond a big city and small enough to feel truly local. And it rolls off the tongue more easily than the ‘160-kilometer diet.’” Sage Van Wing, who coined the term “locavore” with a friend when she was living in Marin County, California, was inspired to eat local after reading Coming Home to Eat, a chronicle of author Gary Paul Nabhan’s own year-long effort to eat only foods grown within 250 miles of his Northern Arizona home. She figured that if Nabhan could accomplish that in the desert, she could do even better in the year-round agricultural cornucopia that is Northern California, so she decided to limit herself to food from within 100 miles. There’s some evidence that a popular understanding of local food is, at least in some places, coalescing around this 100mile limit. A 2008 Leopold Institute survey of consumers throughout the United States found that two-thirds considered local food to mean food grown within 100 miles. Still, a variety of other definitions also persist. Sometimes local means food grown within a county, within a state or province, or even, in the case of some small European nations, within the country. In the United Kingdom, reports Tara Garnett of the Food Climate Research Network, “on the whole, organizations supporting local are now less likely to put numbers on things.” Meanwhile, rural sociologist, Clare Hinrichs of Pennsylvania State University, has found that in Iowa local has shifted from signifying food grown within a county or a neighboring one to food grown anywhere in the state. For some in the agricultural community, promoting and eating “local Iowa food” is almost a kind of food patriotism, aimed at counteracting the forces of globalization that have put the state’s family farmers at risk. All of those are perfectly valid ways of thinking about local. But they don’t have all that much to do with environmental costs and benefits. Tradeoffs In any case, warns Pirog, food miles/kilometers don’t tell the whole story. “Food miles are a good measure of how far N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Rethinking “local” food food has traveled. But they’re not a very good measure of the food’s environmental impact.” That impact depends on how the food was transported, not just how far. For example, trains are 10 times more efficient at moving freight, ton for ton, than trucks are. So you could eat potatoes trucked in from 100 miles away, or potatoes shipped by rail from 1,000 miles away, and the greenhouse gas emissions associated with their transport from farm to table would be roughly the same. The environmental impact of food also depends on how it is grown. Swedish researcher Annika Carlsson-Kanyama led a study that found it was better, from a greenhouse-gas perspective, for Swedes to buy Spanish tomatoes than Swedish tomatoes, because the Spanish tomatoes were grown in open fields while the local ones were grown in fossil-fuel-heated greenhouses. That seems obvious, but there are subtler issues at play as well. For example, Spain has plenty of the warmth and sunshine that tomatoes crave, but its main horticultural region is relatively arid and is likely to become more drought-prone in the future as a result of global climate change. What if water shortages require Spanish growers to install energy-intensive irrigation systems? And what if greenhouses in northern Europe were heated with renewable energy? Perhaps it’s inevitable that we consumers gravitate to a focus on food miles-the concept represents the last step before food arrives on our tables, the part of the agricultural supply chain that’s most visible to us. And indeed, all other things being equal, it’s better to purchase something grown locally than the same thing grown far away. “It is true that if you’re comparing exact systems, the same food grown in the same way, then obviously, yes, the food transported less will have a smaller carbon footprint,” Pirog says. But a broader, more comprehensive picture of all the tradeoffs in the food system requires tracking greenhouse gas emissions through all phases of a food’s production, transport, and consumption. And life-cycle analysis (LCA), a research method that provides precisely this “cradleto-grave” perspective, reveals that food miles represent a relatively small slice of the greenhouse-gas pie. In a paper published last year, Christopher Weber and H. Scott Matthews of Carnegie Mellon University, wove together data from a variety of U.S. government sources into a comprehensive life-cycle analysis of the average American diet. According to their calculations, final delivery from producer or processor to the point of retail sale accounts for only 4 percent of the U.S. food system’s greenhouse gas emissions. Final delivery accounts for only about a quarter of the total miles, and 40 percent of the transport-related emissions, in the food supply chain as a whole. That’s because there are also “upstream” miles and emissions associated with things like transport of fertilizer, pesticides, and animal feed. Overall, transport accounts for about 11 percent of the food system’s emissions. By contrast, Weber and Matthews found agricultural production accounts for the bulk of the food system’s greenhouse gas emissions: 83 percent of emissions occur before food even leaves the farm gate. A recent life-cycle analysis of the U.K. food system, by Tara Garnett yielded similar results. In her study, transport accounted for about a tenth of the food system’s greenhouse gas emissions, and agricultural production accounted for half. Garnett says the same general patterns likely also hold for Europe as a whole. There’s something about dairy The other clear result that emerges from these analyses is that what you eat matters at least as much as how far it travels, and agriculture’s overwhelming “hotspots” are red meat and dairy production. In part, that’s due to the inefficiency of eating higher up on the food chain-it takes more energy, and generates more emissions, to grow grain, feed it to cows, and produce meat or dairy products for human consumption, than to feed grain to humans directly. But a large portion of emissions associated with meat and dairy production take the form of methane and nitrous oxide, greenhouse gases that are respectively 23 and 296 times as potent as carbon dioxide. Methane is produced by ruminant animals (cows, goats, sheep, and the like) as a byproduct of digestion, and is also released by the breakdown of all types of animal manure. Nitrous oxide also comes from the breakdown of manure (as well as the production and breakdown of fertilizers). In Garnett’s study, meat and dairy accounted for half of the U.K. food system’s greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, she writes, “the major contribution made by agriculture itself reflects the GHG [green- N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Continued on page 22 Page 17 Pros and cons of CAFOs Continued from page 5 “Declining income is a huge crisis for farmers and the communities that depend on them,” Lin argues. “Our contention is that we need a new pricing system and we need new antitrust measures that take corporate control away from the system.” Doug Sinko, who serves as a liaison between Western dairy farmers and Organic Valley, says there’s a 7-10 percent overproduction of organic milk nationally. “The surplus means that some people don’t have markets for their milk,” says Sinko, who once operated what he says was the first certified organic dairy in the Pacific Northwest, in Myrtle Point, Ore. Organic Valley has dropped its pay price to farmers $2 per hundredweight since January, Sinko notes and has instituted a quota program to stem the tide of milk. Earlier this year, distributor HP Hood cancelled eight dairy contracts for farmers in Maine, and demanded a production cut of 15 percent by the majority of the state’s 14 organic milk producers. Hood also cancelled 22 contracts in California, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation. The New York Times reported May 28 that 32 dairy farms in Vermont have closed down since December first. Ed Maltby, Executive Director of Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance in Deerfield, Mass., argues that the flood of organic milk is largely due to lax enforcement of the National Organic Program (NOP). “They [the processors and distributors of organic milk] have been taking on farms whose quality isn’t high, whose organic standards aren’t high. Lack of enforcement on key parts of the organic legislation on origin of cows and access to pasture,” he claims, “grew the milk supply very rapidly.” Maltby says that some smaller dairy operations have taken a lesson from the CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), shirking the NOP’s recommendations, but still market themselves as organic. “There are some 300-cow herds that don’t graze at all,” Maltby observes. Approximately 9,900 CAFOs operate in the U.S, producing Page 18 more than 50 percent of the animals stock consumed in the nation, according to a 2008 report authored by Doug Gurian-Sherman, a senior scientist for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass. The watchdog defines a dairy-or-beef CAFO as an operation hosting more than 1,000 animals. Gurian-Sherman has argued that small dairy farmers are at a competitive disadvantage with CAFOs, given that the enormous industrial operations often qualify for federal subsidies to reduce their environmental impact, thus passing the costs of production onto U.S. taxpayers. A dairy CAFO can qualify for up to $450,000 in individual grants, the report notes. Organic dairies, with a decidedly smaller environmental impact, don’t generate enough pollutants to present a significant threat to the environment, and therefore can’t suckle at the federal teat. CAFOs may have netted as much as $125 million in environmental protection subsidies in 2007, Gurian-Sherman notes. There are 20 large organic industrial dairies in the U.S., according to the Organic Consumers Association, in Finland, Minn. The Association claims that combined, CAFOs produce as much as 40 percent of the nation’s organic milk supply. In a direct challenge to CAFO’s, the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance has petitioned the USDA to adopt new NOP rules, clarifying a national standard for access to pasture. Namely, the alliance has proposed that organic dairy livestock over six months of age “must graze on pasture during the months of the year when pasture can provide edible forage,” and that “grazed feed must provide significant intake for all milking-age organic dairy cows.” Bruce Pokarney, director of communications for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, says that almost all of Oregon’s conventional dairies, numbering somewhere between 500-600 operations, are classified as CAFOs. The largest, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality, manages 16,000 cattle. The state legislature funded a “Dairy Air Task Force” in 2007, to study a narrow range of environmental impacts by CAFOs. After meeting in session eight times, the task force published a report noting that CAFOs are “very thorny issues” and evoke “deeply held, diverse opinions.” The committee recommended that the state consider tax credits to CAFOs, in order to encourage wise environmental practices, but also set 2015 as the target date for when its target air-quality goals would be mandatory. Ed Zimba, an organic dairy farmer in Deford, Mich., believes that CAFOs are unfairly judged on size alone; he says it’s more important to question whether a given dairy is adhering to the rules of the National Organic Program. “I don’t care if they’re milking one cow, or a thousand cows,” says Zimba, “as long as they’re grazing like they should be.” Zimba, who says he milks 300 hosteins and crossbreds on a farm certified organic by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, adds, “There are dairies that milk 50 cows that don’t have access to grazing. We’re more concerned about the integrity of organic, than about how many cows someone milks.” Zimba, who serves as an at-large member of the Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance, says he grazes his herd from about May 1 to Nov. 15—opening day for Michigan’s deer season, when cows are healthier indoors than out to pasture. He also argues that CAFOs aren’t getting an unfair competitive advantage by tap- N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Challenges in the bust ping into federal grants for environmental protection. Zimba points out that the same types of grants are available at the state and county level, throughout the U.S., for small farms that want to limit their ecological footprint. Arden Tewksbury, a Pennsylvania dairy farmer and head of Progressive Agriculture, is the principal author of Senate Bill 1647, sponsored in the legislature by Pennsylvania senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey. Tewksbury, a retired dairy farmer, and executive director of Progressive Agriculture Organization, in Meshoppen, Penn., says, “It doesn’t matter who you are, whether you’re conventional or organic; if you’re in the dairy business, you’re in serious trouble. Tewksbury says that U.S. dairy farmers are estimated to gross $16 billion less in 2009 than they did in 2008. “That’s just loss of revenue, without calculating costs rising from 25 to 35 percent.” There were approximately 350,000 dairy farms in the U.S. in 1981, Tewksbury observes, when President Ronald Reagan deregulated the dairy industry. “Now we’re down to 57,000. Hawaii has five farms, into the organic dairy marketplace hoping as of 2007. Every state has been hemorto cash in on the growing market.” He conrhaging dairy farms. In 1992, there were cludes that “The new competition caused 131,000 licensed dairy operations. Today high prices. Just as the recession set in, the we have less than half of that.” organic dairy supply was over stimulated He says his legislation, which he coand this era came to an end. The recession authored with neighboring farmer George had an immediate impact on the organic Carlin, would pry loose the stranglehold dairy market which dropped from a 25 CAFOs have on both organic and convenpercent growth rate down to zero percent.” tional dairy operations. “What used to be To look at recent dairy stats is like family farms has been taken over by these opening an artery. Conventional dairy huge facilities that poison the land and the farmers in Wisconsin are paid $9.50 to $11 community. They’re shipping grain from for every 100 pounds (one hundredweight) Iowa to produce milk in Pennsylvania, of unprocessed milk, Kinsman notes. But that’s sent to a processor in New York that’s the cost of production for Wisconsin farmthen sent back to the shelf in Iowa. You ers, according to the USDA’s Economic can’t run a business like that and call it Research Service, was $21.81 per hundredsustainable. What we want is a sustainable weight as recently as July. Organic Valley market, and we want a fair price for our was paying its Vermont dairy farmers, with milk.” higher feed and production costs, $26.50 George L. Siemon, CEO of Organic that same month. Valley sums it up thusly, “Around 2004, The high costs of production, comorganic milk became short for an extended bined with dwindling income, has farmers period as organic dairy experienced double begging bankers for extended credit, selling digit growth. During the tight supply off equipment or “accepting” foreclosure. situation, many new competitors entered 09InGoodTilth.qxd 5/19/09 10:34 AM Page 1 Continued from page 27 Energize your Soil North Pacific’s Ag Products Division distributes fertilizers, ag minerals and soil conditioners throughout the U.S. Our line of natural products helps build your soil and improve your crop production and quality. We offer: • PAR4® 9-3-7 granulated organic fertilizer • PAR4® 2-14-0 granulated bone meal • PAR4® 13-0-0 granulated feather meal • CAL-SUL® pelletized gypsum • PEL-LIME® pelletized calcitic & dolomitic lime • Menefee Humate® • Calphos™ soft rock phosphate • TRUE liquid organic fertilizers • Archipelago Bat Guano • Ag gypsum • Coconut coir pith • Worm castings Home Grown shop local eat fresh For product information and dealer referral call: Shop online! %!39&5.4/3(/0s,/#!,,9/7.%$/0%2!4%$ The friendliest store in town. w w w. n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t . c o m Bob Blum Darren MacFarlane [email protected] [email protected] 866.939.1180 Warehouse: Clackamas, OR 866.939.1177 Continued on page 31 www.gypsumsales.com N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 19 Continued from page 9 An industry both tender and robust a new variety, as well as infrastructure for growth chambers and disease and pathology testing for the plant. Andrew–So even though the market for organic seed has been shown to be strong, there’s still the uncertainty of making back the investment. Matt–Even though they can sell the seed for more, they cannot sell it for that much more. The majority of conventional companies still don’t care about organic in one way or another, and will likely never convert their lines to organic. So a farmer who uses a specific variety owned by only one company, if that company is never going to convert to organic, that farmer could be in a situation where they would never have the variety they want produced organically. The other issue that comes up with soybeans and corn, and increasing concern in brassica crops, and of course with chard, is the contamination with genetically engineered crops. At the Organic Seed Alliance we are having farmers call us and ask, “how can I be certain that the organic seed I am purchasing is free of genetic contamination?” Some of those calls are from people who just don’t understand contamination and their concern that their carrots may be contaminated, those are rare and those Page 20 are usually gardeners that are calling, not farmers. Farmers are calling and asking questions about field corn and sweet corn, about brassica crops, about beets and chard, and they are frustrated in some degree that they don’t have that information, and can’t seem to get that information clearly from those companies. There is a push right now for further testing of organic seed, but of course it is a very precarious situation because organic seed companies who test for contamination, and test positive for GE contaminants that they recorded and tell their customers, their customers are likely not buying. They have no recourse to pay for their crop loss. It is a difficult situation for the seed companies, but meanwhile farmers are nervous they might be contaminating their fields with contaminated organic seeds. Some of the companies do test, but very few of them have an open policy, or print much about it in their catalogs because they are not sure they will have any recourse for liability. OSA’s goal is to try to create better feedback loops and communication between farmers, researchers, seed companies to improve all parties’ understanding of the potential benefits that come from further investment in the trialing of organic seed systems, and try to get beyond the conflicts and into solutions. We also are doing an in-depth questionnaire for the seed industry and asking them questions about their perceptions and attitudes about farmers’ purchasing organic seed, and asking the organic seed industry questions about what are the road blocks they face, the technical obstacles in production and disease obstacles in the field production of plants. I think this is going to tell us a lot. We are going to be doing another questionnaire for certifiers about their questions, concerns and experiences around seed issues, and organic food companies that buy on contract from farmers about their perceptions, and what their future needs are. Processors or food companies are looking for quality traits that they can get out of good genetics. Right now this is the most important thing: increased education across sectors to understand how we can work together and move this forward, rather than drop dead deadlines of “farmers must use organic seed by this date or else” or the opposite of “oh, eventually it will catch on.” In 2010, in cooperation with the Midwest Organic Farming Conference, OSA will be hosting a “State of Organic Seed Symposium.” It’s a working meeting to actively discuss what is working and what is not in organic seed systems. We want diverse representatives from the organic community at this event, not just the seed heads. We will be building off of the National Organic Action Plan to create an Organic Seed Action Plan. To work together to minimize contamination, and to improve the overall quality of organic seed so that organic farmers have the seed they need. If you’re interested in attending the symposium, look for info on the OSA web site. There’s also links to the questionnaires I mentioned. We really need organic farmers and food companies to fill these out. We think there does need to be a stimulated, dynamic dialogue amongst all of the parties in the organic community on this issue. Now is the time to engage in it. The organic seed sector is at an exciting place, and its true potential will emerge if we work on it collaboratively as a community. Matthew Dillon and John Navazio cofounded Organic Seed Alliance in 2003. Matthew serves as the director of advocacy. John is the senior plant breeder. For more information on the State of Organic Seed Report, symposium, and questionnaires please go to www..seedalliance.org/advocacy. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Oregon celebrates new pioneers Continued from page 13 The Organic Policy award went to Anita Azarenko, head of OSU Department of Horticulture, which under her guidance, has become a leader in the field of organic fruit and vegetable production. Anita and her husband are also stewards of a 160-acre diversified family farm producing organic fruit and hazelnuts, pasture-based beef cattle, hay and timber. Winter Green Farm won the award for crop farm. Although the farm has been organic since its inception in the 1970s, Jack Gray and Mary Jo Wade had it certified organic in 1984, before the word “organic” had legal definition. A decade later, Gray participated in drafting Oregon’s Organic Standards Law, which defined the term. Today, Winter Green Farm is an exemplar of biodynamic and sustainable farming systems and has inspired a generation of Oregon’s organic farmers. Katy Coba, Director of Oregon Department of Agriculture remarked, “What an amazing ride it has been in Oregon.” In 2000, 83,297 acres where certified as organic. “In 2008, there has been a 39 percent increase in the amount of acres certified as organic. We are now at over a 115,000 acres in Oregon that are certified as organic.” Katy also acknowledged the challenges. “For a lot of farmers and ranchers in the state, it’s a time to hold on and weather the storm, and hope the economy turns around. “On the flip side, (there are) amazing opportunities now for agriculture and in particular organic agriculture. Consumers are more interested in where their food comes from, how it is grown, and wanting to connect directly if they can with the farmer or rancher who raises that food, and thank them for the great work they do.” A statement by former Oregon organic farmer and current Congressman Kurt Schrader was read by proxy, “I hope many people will take advantage of the many opportunities you are providing to tour local organic farms, taste local organic produce and other foods and learn about healthy soil. Oregon has particular reason to be proud of our organic industry, which has long been a pioneer in the country. Oregon is a model for the country. Thank you for the work you do to keep Oregon’s organic agriculture industry as a standard for the country.” Many green winters WinterGreen Farm’s Jack Gray spoke at the Organic Grown in Oregon celebration luncheon. Here are some of his remarks. By Jack Gray The changes in organic in the last 30 years have been staggering. It has changed from a social movement that was dominated by youthful environmentalists, to a dynamic industry searching for a sustainable balance. The organics industry has gotten smarter, more professional, and more impactful on society as a whole. Throughout this period there has been two organizations that have had the most impact on me. The first is Oregon Tilth, and the other is Organically Grown Company. Oregon Tilth, in the 1980s was a support group to me, a group of like-minded people that got together, shared successes and failures and had social gatherings. There was peer-review certification. Farmers would get together, ask a few questions, kick the dirt around, and make a decision as to whether the farm was organic or not. You can see over time, the incredible changes that have happened, and Oregon Tilth has gone through that. Over those years, and many hours of volunteers and staff, it has really become a respected and international organization. They have certified over 1300 farms, processors and restaurants. OGC has had a similarly meteoric rise. Back in the day it was a farmers marketing coop, and at that time, the markets were just starting to open up. I can remember organizational meetings where rototillers and tractors were put up for loan collatoral. I can remember the first employees. Now it has grown into a company, a grower staff-owned business in Oregon, Washington and beyond. When we started growing organically, there wasn’t much information out there. There were no organic advisors around, and a handful of extension that would talk to us. We really had to search them out. In conventional ag, there was out and out hostility to what we were doing. Over time, things opened up and started flowing. The world of organics is very different now. There were tradeoffs along the way, but throughout all of this, organics has remained a force in agriculture. Food is special. It is not just a commodity. It is a source of health, a source of life, and really needs to be treated with respect. To grow this food we need to concentrate on nurturing natural ecosystems, to feeding the living soil. We must continue to take care of the earth. That’s where it began with organics, and that’s where its focus must remain. Sometimes when you work at something you believe in so passionately, like working the farm or raising a child, or promoting organics in Oregon, it’s easy sometimes to have self-doubt. Is anyone out there listening to me? Are my kids going to share my values? I asked Ariel, my 14 year old daughter what I should say at this event. She said, “Dad, you should say that it’s been a privilege to grow healthy food for people and every seed on this farm is planted with care and compassion and grows love.” N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 21 Beyond the carbon footprint Continued from page 16 house gas] intensity of livestock rearing.” Weber and Matthews come to a similar conclusion: “No matter how it is measured, on average red meat is more GHG-intensive than all other forms of food,” responsible for about 150 percent more emissions than chicken or fish. In their study the second-largest contributor to emissions was the dairy industry. Nor are these two studies unique in their findings. A group of Swedish researchers has calculated that meat and dairy contribute 58 percent of the total food emissions from a typical Swedish diet. At a global level, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization has estimated that livestock account for 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions-more even than all forms of fossil fuel-based transport combined. “Broadly speaking, eating fewer meat and dairy products and consuming more plant foods in their place is probably the single most helpful behavioral shift one can make” to reduce food-related greenhouse gas emissions, Garnett argues. Weber and Matthews calculated that reducing food miles to zero-an all-but-impossible goal in practice-would reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the food system by only about 5 percent, equivalent to driving 1,000 miles less over the course of a year. By comparison, replacing red meat and dairy with chicken, fish, or eggs for one day per week would save the equivalent of driving 760 miles per year. Replacing red meat and dairy with vegetables one day a week would be like driving 1,160 miles less. “Thus,” they write, “we suggest that dietary shift can be a more effective means of lowering an average household’s food-related climate footprint than ‘buying local.’” However, Weber acknowledges, “these calculations were done assuming that local foods are no different than non-local foods.” And that’s not always the case. For example, local-food advocates also emphasize eating seasonal (often meaning fieldgrown) and less-processed foods. Those qualities, along with shorter distances from farm to table, will also contribute to lower emissions compared to the “average” diet. Food marketed in the local food economy-at farmers’ markets and through community-supported agriculture (CSA) schemes-is frequently also organic. Organic Page 22 food often (though not always) is associated with lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventionally grown food, because organics don’t generate the emissions associated with production, transport, and application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Organic food also has other environmental benefits: less use of toxic chemicals promotes greater farmland biodiversity, and organic fields require less irrigation under some conditions. Because local food is so frequently talked about in terms of food miles, its environmental benefits have largely been couched in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. But food’s carbon footprint “can’t be the only measuring stick of environmental sustainability,” notes Gail Feenstra, a food systems analyst at the University of California at Davis Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program. Finally, farmers who market locally are often relatively small in scale, and can more feasibly adopt environmentally beneficial practices such as growing a diversity of crops, planting cover crops, leaving weedy field borders or planting hedgerows that provide a refuge for native biodiversity, and integrating crop and livestock production. In short, Weber says, “the production practices matter a lot more than where the food was actually grown. If buying local also means buying with better production practices then that’s great, that’s going to make a huge difference.” Of course, the relationship between local food marketing and sustainable agricultural practices is far from perfect. A small farmer can still spray pesticides and plow from road to road. Not all farmers-market vendors are organic. Clare Hinrichs, who calls herself an “ardent” farmers-market shopper, nevertheless acknowledges that “the actual consequences-both intended or unintended-[of local food systems] haven’t really been all that closely or systematically studied.” How green is my valley? So, is local food greener? Not necessarily. But look at the question from the opposite direction: if you’re a consumer interested in greener food, the local food economy is currently a good place to find it. By the same token, a farmer who sells in the local food economy might be more likely to adopt or continue sustainable practices in order to meet this customer demand. If local food has environmental benefits, they aren’t all-or perhaps even mainly-intrinsic to local-ness. Or, as Hinrichs has written, “it is the social relation, not the spatial location, per se, that accounts for this outcome.” For local food advocates like Sage Van Wing, that interaction between producer and consumer, between farmer and eater, is precisely the point. Regarding food miles, Van Wing says, “I’m not interested in that at all.” For her, purchasing an apple isn’t just about the greenhouse gas emissions involved in producing and transporting the fruit, “it’s also about how those apples were farmed, how the farm workers were treated”-a broad array of ecological, social, and economic factors that add up to sustainability. Interacting directly with the farmer who grows her food creates a “standard of trust,” she says. Christopher Weber, who followed a vegan diet for 10 years and calls himself “somewhat of a self-proclaimed foodie,” agrees: “That’s one thing that’s really great about local food, and one of the reasons that I buy locally, is because you can actually know your farmer and know what they’re doing.” Van Wing says that her approach to local food has evolved over time-she started out trying to eat within a 100-mile radius, but now she simply tries to get each food item from the closest source feasible. Foods that can’t be grown nearby are either rare treats or have disappeared from her diet altogether. “I just don’t do things that don’t make sense,” she says. Her statement echoes journalist and sustainable-agriculture guru Michael Pollan, who in his recent book In Defense of Food offers a commonsense guide to eating ethically and well: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” You could sum up the ecological case for eating locally by adding one more sentence: “Mostly what’s in season and grown not too far away.” Yet there are limits to this commonsense approach. In many areas, the climate is such that eating local, seasonal, fieldgrown produce would be a pretty bleak proposition for much of the year. Large concentrations of people live in areas not N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Food miles suited to growing certain staple crops; it’s one thing to forego bananas, but quite another to give up wheat. And population density itself works against relocalization of the food system. Most of the land within 100 miles of large cities such as New York is itself very built up; where will the farmland to feed us all locally come from? (By the same token, that very situation makes preservation of what farmland remains all the more important, a goal that buying from local farmers can help advance.) In this sense, life-cycle analyses of the current food system offer a paradoxically hopeful perspective, because they suggest that, if the goal is to improve the environmental sustainability of the food system as a whole, then there are a variety of public policy levers that we can pull. To be sure, promoting more localized food production and distribution networks would reduce transport emissions. But what if a greater investment in rail infrastructure helped to reverse the trend toward transporting more food by inefficient semi-truck? What if fuel economy standards were increased for the truck fleet that moves our food? Or, to name one encompassing possibility, what if a carbon-pricing system incorporated some of the environmental costs of agriculture that are currently externalized? Local food is delicious, but the problem-and perhaps the solution-is global. This article appears courtesy of The Worldwatch Institute, an independent research organization recognized by opinion leaders around the world for its accessible, fact-based analysis of critical global issues. Its mission is to generate and promote insights and ideas that empower decision makers to build an ecologically sustainable society that meets human needs. Court finds USDA violated federal law by allowing genetically engineered sugar beets on the market Government Failed To Evaluate Environmental and Economic Risks of Monsanto Product In a case brought by the Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice representing a coalition of farmers and consumers, a Federal Court ruled September 22, that the Bush USDA’s approval of genetically engineered (GE) “RoundUp Ready” sugar beets was unlawful. The Court ordered the USDA to conduct a rigorous assessment of the environmental and economic impacts of the crop on farmers and the environment. The federal district court for the Northern District of California ruled that the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it failed to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement before deregulating sugar beets that have been genetically engineered (“GE”) to be resistant to glyphosate herbicide, marketed by Monsanto as Roundup. Plaintiffs Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance, Sierra Club, and High Mowing Seeds, represented by Earthjustice and the Center for Food Safety, filed suit against APHIS in January 2008, alleging APHIS failed to adequately assess the environmental, health, and associated economic impacts of allowing “Roundup Ready” sugar beets to be commercially grown without restriction. “This court decision is a wakeup call for the Obama USDA that they will not be allowed to ignore the biological pollution and economic impacts of gene altered crops,” stated Andrew Kimbrell Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety. “The Courts have made it clear that USDA’s job is to protect America’s farmers and consumers, not the interests of Monsanto.” While industry asserts that the adop- tion rates of GE sugar beets has been high, food producers have shown reluctance in accepting GE beet sugar. Over 100 companies have joined the Non-GM Beet Sugar Registry opposing the introduction of GE sugar beets, and pledging to seek wherever possible to avoid using GM beet sugar in their products: www.seedsofdeception.com/includes/ services/nongm_sugar_beet_registry_display.cfm . N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 23 A LWAY S P U R E - A LWAY S N AT U R A L Nancy’s family of Organic Yogurt, Soy and Organic Kefir Nancy’s is delighted to support family farms who have made a commitment to sustainable organic farming practices. Manufactured in the U SA by: P.O. B ox 307, C anby, OR 97013 888-877-7665 [email protected] Certified Organic by Oregon Tilth Springfield Creamery Family owned and operated since 1960 Eugene, Oregon w w w. n a n c y s y o g u r t . c o m HEALTHY LIVING SOIL Earthworm Cocoons (Eggs) Organic crops start with the seed. Plant Organic. Fa r m B e t t e r . UÊHigh-yielding regionally-specific hybrids and varieties UÊextensive testing program UÊexperienced dealer network to locate a dealer go to More information is available under our “Cocoons” webpage and our “Worms” webpage in our website. We also sell earthworms, worm castings, and worm bins. www.blueriverorgseed.com or call 800-370-7979. Corn | Soybeans | Alfalfa | Red Clover | Sudangrass Page 24 Earthworms are important for soil fertility and sustaining agriculture. They play an important role in the creation of healthy, productive soils. Earthworms feeding and burrowing activities incorporate organic amendments into the soil, enhancing decomposition, humus formation, nutrient cycling, and soil structure development. Earthworm burrows persist as macropores which provide low resistance channels for root growth, water infiltration, and gas exchange. These incredible earthworms are a vital component in the living biosystem that is healthy “living” soil. www.bwcnfarms.com N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 25 Book Review D.I.Y. made easy By Angela Ajootian Krause Publications, a special interest publishing house, is running a series that focuses on simple ways to achieve more sustainable homes that you can be proud of. Their “Simple Living” shelf, catchword “Eco-Friendly,” is a good collection of well vetted authors sharing their wisdom on a range of topics from cosmetics to composting. Titles include Grow Your Own Tree Hugger by Wendy Rosenoff and Sheds: The DIY Guide for Backyard Builders by David Stiles. The two books I read were Natural Alternatives for You and Your Home and Your Eco-Friendly Yard: Sustainable Ideas to Save You Time, Money, and the Earth. Casey Keller is a professional natural product formulator with many years of experience in the industry, lecturing, and writing. She worked with Krause Publications to bring about this nifty, Natural Alternatives for You and Your Home. In 207 well-packed pages, she provides recipes for personal care, cleaning, and beauty items. A reaction might be, “Why is this important to me? I don’t spa or use makeup.” Well, your soap, shampoo, and lip gloss can easily be made at home. Recent lapses in consumer product purity, especially in items for infants or children, should be reason enough to investigate small DIY Page 26 projects. Lean budgets can be addressed with the wise consumer strategies that she endorses because it is cost effective and a great way to reduce/reuse/recycle many clever items. Soap, lovely jars, garden herbs, and pretty canisters are a few items that can be reprocessed to make excellent gifts or even embellish a business with additional product. Casey’s professional background informs her presentation and product range so you get an amazingly diverse book that is nice to simply look at. The provided cost comparisons are telling. For example, along with the recipe for Antioxidant Moisturizing Night Eye Cream With Vitamin E she includes a comparable cost sheet of - Homemade:$1.02/2oz. Este Lauder tm :$48.00/2oz. Burt’s Bees: $24.99/2oz. Her recipe is easy to follow and colorfully illustrated. If you want to dive headfirst into making a vast array of quality products, she will take you there. The book details pet care, pest control, potting soils and plant care products, household cleaners and energy tips, first aid items and so much more. The holism of organic life often forgets to include the bodily indulgences that keep us sane and relaxed as well as attending to the needs of our skin and hair. The home spa section includes an assortment of easy to make and naturally wonderful scrubs, oils, butters, crèmes, salts and enhancements. The vast majority of her listings include helpful tips or related information. The book is laden with inspiring pictures, which differs greatly from the usual backyard snapshots present in many organics texts. As such it is a lovely gift that would cross many social boundaries. There are also recipes for housecleaning treatments, pet care products, salves and ointments, window cleaners, laundry cleaners and insect repellants. All the ingredients are easily attainable and affordable, and the instructions are easy to follow, with step-bystep photos. Tom Girolamo is a professional landscape designer and certified permaculture instructor. His first book, Your Eco-Friendly Yard: Sustainable Ideas to Save You Time, Money, & the Earth, is a lively manual for repeatable success in your back yard design. Permaculture employs systems found in nature to enrich and enhance our immediate environment. His voice is sure and quite forward without being overbearing. The core of his N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Book Review Spilt milk Guides Continued from page 19 thesis is that you shouldn’t have to work hard and spend a lot of money to have a landscape you are happy with. Tom knows the main reason people fail to enjoy their yard is improper planning, many people design inside the home then outside the home, when we should let the land inform our interior spaces to achieve true harmony. A substantial period of research should be spent learning about your backyard ecology, ideals, personal preferences, and realistic time commitments before the shovel ever hits the ground. The second chapter is devoted to debunking the sacred standbys of standard eco-friendly yards. Rain barrels, composting, tilling, native plants and retaining walls are fairly tilted at. His main issue with many of these practices is inefficiency of time or money, which ultimately turns people away from permaculture. He studies the individual before making appropriate recommendations and a personal questionnaire is included in the book. Over the decades he has witnessed four main personas of permaculturally-minded people; fun, easy going, bold and perfectionist. He wants great results for everyone and knows how to generate them. Not only does this book come with personalized schematics, it has a multitude of handy demonstrations and tips to help you achieve hassle-free sustainable landscaping. Solar panels, a bistro table, easy paver pathways, a brick oven, champagne bottle fire pit, drip irrigation, and mulching tricks are but some of the projects in the text. He loves tools and has a chapter devoted to the good, the bad and the ugly out there. Perhaps the most appreciable example of his candid wisdom regards buying pets for the kids. He urges people to obtain useful pest nabbing, manure producing, scrap eating laying hens over rabbits and rodents. “What can you do with a rabbit? You can’t eat it, because the kids would freak out.” Word. See www.krausebooks.com for a catalog of these, and other illuminating titles. Angela Ajootian is a writer and a do it yourselfer residing in Philomath, Ore. Bruce Drinkman, an organic dairy farmer in Glenwood City, Wis., says he and his wife recently cashed in her IRA in May, in order to pay expenses and the principal on a farm-credit loan. “We’re not doing very well at all,” he admits. “The banks don’t want to work with us. There’s no forgiveness, and we’re living check to check at best.” He says he’s getting $14 per hundredweight for his milk, but the production costs are $35. His wife needs medications for her blood circulation. She isn’t getting them. He says he recently bought a $10 pair of reading glasses at Wal-Mart, rather than spend $300-$400 for an eye exam and prescription lenses. Hilde Steffey of Farm Aid recently told the National Family Farm Coalition that hotline calls in July for emergency help were up 500 percent at her relief agency, compared with the same period in 2008. “There was a time when every 80 acres around here had a dairy farm with chickens and hogs,” says organic dairy farmer Kinsman, who milks 36 cows on the rolling hills of Sauk County, “and they sent their children to college.” Now a third of them are dropping out of high school. When the food you sell is worth only half its value, you look on yourself as foolish.” Kinsman says his land is divided into rolling hills and flats—the latter the product of an advancing ice sheet roughly 170 miles wide, which ironed Wisconsin into what would become America’s iconic pastureland, and enabling Milwaukie legislators, roughly 10,000 years later, to proclaim milk the official state beverage. “It looks like Stonehenge,” Kinsman laughs, but then observes that he’s comparing Sauk County to an abandoned civilization. “It’s a beautiful area that should be in dairy farms,” he laments. “They’ve all sold out or are about to sell out, or they’re bankrupt. There’s a lot of divorce, a lot of anger, families in crisis. Farmers won’t admit it, and families won’t admit it.” Kinsman says he knows of farmer suicides related to failed—or failing—dairies, but prefers to not name anyone specifically. While dairy farmers are seeing smaller and smaller milk checks, both production and corporate dairy profit continues to rise. The latest data available from the U.S. Agricultural Statistics Service points out, for example, that cheese production rose 1.6 percent in 2008 over 2007 figures. Butter production (1.64 billion pounds) was up 7.3 percent over 2007 numbers. Whey was down 2.3 percent, but “American-type cheese” was up five percent. The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, in a September 17 report, notes that rising dry milk prices are “increasing buyer interest and transaction volume.” Why, then, are farmers seeing little of the green? Maltby says the organic dairy market is expected to grow 3-4 percent in 2009, compared with 20 percent in previous years. Slower growth, combined (arguably) with overproduction, means that farmers are overextended; dairying is a capital-intensive industry, and it’s just not that easy to unburden oneself of cattle and equipment if the market suddenly (or even hesitantly) stagnates. Nor is it easy to shrug off farm-credit loans. Since January 2008, U.S. milk prices have fallen by nearly half, from $20.50 per hundredweight (45kg) to $11.40 this June, according to the London based journal The Economist. Belgian dairy farmers protested falling milk prices September 16 by spraying an estimated 40,000 gallons of milk over fields in Marche-en-Famenne, in southern Belgium. In May, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee set aside $585 million for direct farm loans, but Lin notes that without price supports for milk, the emergency funds will dry up quickly. Tom Vilsack, USDA Secretary of Agriculture, met with organic dairy farmers at a West Salem, Wisc. rally July 17, and promised the vocal crowd that his agency is taking a closer look at corporate dairies and processors. “We are focusing on rules that will level the playing field so that small and medium size producers have a fair shot,” Vilsack said at the rally, organized by the Cornucopia Institute, in Cornucopia, Wisc. “We are, as you are, asking questions about how producers can make so little and how others who are in the chain can make so much.” Joel Preston Smith is a Portland-based writer. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 27 Photo by Kathy Dang Cool Tips For Hot Gardens Feast of fava Favas coming on strong at the Organic Education Center. Yard & Garden By Kathy Dang Now that the garlic is in the ground, and the garden is bedded down for winter, there’s one last task to do before perusing seed catalogs and making plans for next spring… Plant fava beans! Originally from the Mediterranean, favas have long been enjoyed around the world. Favas are among the easiest crops to grow and help build your soil too, so why not try growing your own this fall? Plants are incredibly cold hardy, making them one of the last crops that can be directly sown into our cool fall soils. Varieties include Aquadulce, Broad Windsor, Guatemalan Purple and Sweet Lorane. With every new variety grown, I’m always surprised at the diversity of size, color, and flavor that this unique crop has to offer. The Aquadulce is extra cold hardy and grows up to 30 inches tall. Broad Windsor, on the other hand, towers over other spring crops topping out at 48 inches high. Guatemalan Purple produces stunning dark purple beans that are delicious eaten fresh, or as dry beans, and Sweet Lorane is a flavorful, small seeded variety. Planting fava seeds in November will yield an early summer harvest. Before planting, mix a couple inches of compost into your topsoil to increase drainage and build soil tilth. If space is limited, stagger seeds in an offset pattern 8-10 inches apart, rather than planting in rows. After sowing seeds, mulch the garden bed with 2-3” inches of straw or leaves. This will help protect the soil against Continued on page 31 Page 28 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Phot Tooling around Yard & Garden C E F G H I A Tools that make any project a breeze include the: Photo by JConner Voss A. Broadfork B. Hori-Hori knife C. Harvest Knife D. Felco Clippers E. Digging Fork (Spading Fork) F. Chopping Hoe G. Cultivator H.Hula Hoe I. Collinear Hoe By Conner Voss A good hand tool is not to be taken lightly. It enables us to manipulate our environment, efficiently, for a specific purpose. In many ways, tools are the defining artifacts of civilization – implements of intention, necessity, innovation, and creation. Through tools we create culture, and through culture, stories are told about the human endeavor. When working in the garden, my body tells the tale of value in hand tools. As an extension of our extremities, quality equipment works beyond the corporeal capacity to accomplish a variety of tasks in only a fraction of the time – with minimal stress. I believe that proper use of the proper tool is the difference between garden pain and garden pleasure. One thing I appreciate more than buying a sweet new or recycled tool is realizing its great potential in the garden. However, there’s nothing more disappointing than when one tool suddenly becomes two pieces. Here are some things to look for in a worthy apparatus: The Handle Attachment: Back in the day, blacksmiths would forge the head of a tool out of one solid piece of metal, creating a long collar into which a hardwood handle was tightly shaped. Sturdy rivets were then pounded through metal and wood, fastening both together into a durable package. This method requires more skill, more materials, and more time, so mass-produced tools are hardly ever built to last. If you’re tool shopping, look closely at how the handle and implement are attached. The Edge: “If you want to chop a tree quickly, spend twice as much time sharpening your axe.” – Chinese Proverb Due to their dullness, many store bought tools will drain your energy reserves as fast as your wallet. If your implement is blunt, chipped, or rusted, an electric-powered angle grinder can be helpful for re-establishing a fine cutting edge. Likewise, a single-cut bastard file is an essential back pocket item for constant edge maintenance when working in the garden. It is important to keep in mind that if the metal is soft it will be Continued on page 30 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 29 Cool Tips For Hot Gardens B D Of tools quality and considerations Continued from page 29 easy to sharpen initially, but lose its edge quickly. Conversely, if you are dealing with hard, high carbon steel it will take significantly longer to sharpen, but hold an edge very well. Either way, a sharp hoe will make you smile, while a dull hoe will make you sweat. Size, Weight, and Balance: Does the tool feel good when you hold it? Can you imagine working with it for hours on end? Does it fit your grip, stature and stance? Generally, it’s far easier to buy a tool that fits our body than to try fitting our body to the tool. For example, a weeding hoe has a curved neck, with the cutting edge facing the handler. The top of the hoe should rest easily on the ground, allowing you to pull the cutting edge toward you, slicing weeds just below the soil surface. If this angle isn’t quite right for your stature, it’s worth seeking a different hoe, or finding a way to bend the neck to the proper angle. One tool that suites you well is better than a whole tool shed full of ache inducing objects. One tool is hardly enough, however, to carry us through our seasonal tasks with grace and aplomb. From heavy weeding, to furrowing, to light cultivation, and bed preparation, there is definitely a tool for the job. Over the past few years my home tool shed has become unbearably crowded with the new, the old, the broken, and the long forgotten. With a weakness for garage sales, I thrive on tool treasure, and now it’s time to host a garage sale of my own. This winter, anything that wasn’t put to service last season will be considered extraneous. Things are just getting too crowded, and anyway, I’ve got to make room for more tools. The chosen few: The following list is constructed for the home gardener with a plot 10k sq. ft. or smaller. Also, it is assumed that this gardener’s arsenal already contains: wheelbarrow/garden cart, shovel, sharpening file/grinder, pitchfork, and soil rake. Broadfork – two long handles, wide base, multiple long tines, step-in. Excels at: deep aeration, breaking up heavy clay soils, minimizes compaction, fluffing. Page 30 Considerations: difficult in hard dry soils, very heavy, two handles to break, expensive. Cultivator – long handle, multiple sharp curved fingers/tines, used in a pulling motion. Excels at: breaking crust, light weeding, rough, shallow bed preparation. Considerations: will not dislodge established weeds, tough to use in compacted soils. Hula hoe – long handle, stirrup with Small knife/harvest knife – small, light, super-sharp, brightly colored handle. Excels at: thinning, harvesting, cutting twine Considerations: not great for weeding, will need constant sharpening, easy to lose. Hand pruner – Felco #7’s, Excels at: pruning and trimming small branches/twigs. Considerations: moving parts need to be cleaned and oiled. Excels at: heavy weeding, turning soil, bed preparation. Considerations: stooping with short handle, tines can bend, disrupts soil profile if turning. Despite the rugged nature of my favorite tools, they all need periodic care for a long useful life. Generally, I strive to oil the wood handles with linseed oil once a year in the fall. This keeps those hardwoods in supple, crack-free condition. During the season, after each use, we use a wire brush to scrape any clingy soil from the metal parts. A bucket full of sand, with a little bit of added oil, is also a great after-garden dip. The sand helps remove grime, and the oil repels rust-causing moisture during storage. Be sure to return your tools to a dry resting place, out of the sun. For safety’s sake, repair any cracked handles before they explode during use. If released, the torque in a broadfork handle is enough to do some serious damage. Lastly, as much for you as for the tool, keep those edges sharp. Sharp is safe! If you’re looking for some good oldfashioned tools, please check out the work of these cool craftspeople. Consider their work an investment in your gardening future! Heavy chopping hoe - long handle, Some cool tool resources two sharp sides, articulates, cuts on push and pull. Excels at: quick accurate weeding, light cultivation in beds, maintaining soil structure. Considerations: not for large woody weeds, stirrup will need to be sharpened/replaced. Co-linear hoe – long handle, sharp narrow head, multiple edges, used on pull stroke. Excels at: precision weeding, thinning, making small seed furrows, cutting larger weeds. Considerations: small implement, not for heavy compacted soils. Spading fork – short D-handle, step-in big sharp cutting edge. Excels at: heaving weeding, breaking clumps, rough bed prep, shaping beds Considerations: chopping action is hard on body, needs to stay sharp, can be heavy. Hori-Hori knife – heavy-duty knife, slightly cupped (trowel), serrated side. Excels at: heavy hand weeding, planting/ transplanting, cutting roots, clearing beds. Considerations: not a great trowel, serration won’t cut super woody debris Red Pig Tools: www.redpigtools.com/ servlet/StoreFront Meadow Creature: www.meadowcreature.com/ broadfork.php ProHoe – maker of the Rogue Hoe: http://web.inetba.com/prohoe/ aboutus.ivnu Conner Voss is the Organic Education Center Garden Coordinator N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Fava faves Continued from page 28 Getting your compaction from heavy winter rains, and fava beans ready encourage deep, anchoring roots. Mulch to eat requires also suppresses weeds that would othera simple 2-step wise try to establish themselves in between process. young plants. Step 1: Open up In the spring, fava flowers provide an each pod to expose important early nectar source to beneficial the beans. insects, including native mason bees. They Step 2: Peel off also have secondary nectar sources called the thin skin covextrafloral nectaries - tiny openings located ering each bean. on modified leaves that provide additional This second step nectar for attracting “good guys” to the is a little trickier. garden. I’ve found that Beginning in mid-May, bean pods after removing the plump up letting you know they are beans from their almost ready for harvest. When their pods pods, submerging become so heavy they point down toward them in boiling the soil, it’s fava picking time! Generally, water for a couple the pods near the bottom of the plant will minutes then ripen first, so start harvesting beans near straining and coolthe soil, gradually working your way up to ing them, makes the top as the other pods ripen. The beans peeling the skin inside should be sweet and nutty tasting. around each bean Flowers are also edible and have a flavor much easier. At similar to green beans. I can rarely hold this point, your myself back from picking a few flowers as I fava beans are nibble my way through the garden in early ready to eat, enjoy! spring. Just remember, any flowers you You can also let the entire pods dry on pick won’t have a chance to mature into the plant and eat them as dry beans. They fruit so sample sparingly. are ready to harvest when you can hear A member of the legume family, favas beans rattle inside the pod when shaken. are natural nitrogen fixers, another bonus Remove the pods and place them in paper for the organic gardener. As the plants bags. Hang in a cool, dry place for 3-4 grow, they take nitrogen out of the atmoweeks to continue drying. sphere and fix it onto their roots with the Favas get a bad rap for being high help of special root growing bacteria known as Rhizobium. After the beans are harvested, pull up the plants to see these nitrogen nodules on your plant roots. By rotating your favas around the garden from year to year, not only are you growing a delicious protein packed crop for yourself, you’re also building healthy soil. After harvesting your favas, plant a nitrogen-loving plant to take advantage of any residual niet er ilth n trogen that was fixed into the Organic hats! One size fits all! Qty. ____ soil. Crops such as spinach, @$15 each. Organic Tees. Black or White, lettuce, kale, broccoli and male or female cut. Specify size, color, _______ chard are great to plant after ___________Qty. @$18 each.___ Fruit Stickers. 1000 roll for $20. Qty.____ favas and make for a nice Organic Label Cards 500 for $10. Qty.___ succession of leafy greens to FREE BUMPERSTICKER W/ ORDER! enjoy in the fall. G Y T maintenance because of the prep work involved obtaining their beans. But once you eat your homegrown favas, you’ll fall in love with their nutty, buttery, and slightly bitter flavor, and you’ll know your efforts were well worth it. Kathy Dang is the Organic Education Center Program Manager O ! Hats, Organic T’s & Bumper stickers available from www.tilth.org N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Send order with check or credit card number to Oregon Tilth • 470 Lancaster Dr. NE, Salem, Ore. 97301 or shop online at www. tilth.org! Page 31 Escoja historias en Español Los Semilleros Scott Chichester (Nash? S de Productos Orgánicos) orgánicos limpieza de semillas de espinacas El insumo más importante son las semillas, y el mercado de semillas orgánicas continúa siendo un reto y oportunidad latente. Recientemente tuve una charla con Matt Dillon y John Navazio de la Alianza de Semillas Orgánicas (Organic Seed Allianc, OSA por sus siglas en inglés)acerca de las tendencias de este mercado emergente. Matt- Este año me llamó un representante de una procesadora grande de lác- Page 32 Photo by LPhotos by Jared Zyskowski, Organic Seed Alliance Congreso parlante teos que estaba buscando semilla de sorgo para sus productores que están certificados como orgánicos. Todas las casas semilleras a las que refería este productor, estaban sin semillas. Aún sigue habiendo una falta de variedades comercialmente disponibles para cumplir con las necesidades de cultivo y de venta de los agricultores. Está pasando con los cultivos de grano y sigue pasando con los cultivos de vegetales. Muchas de las empresas semilleras reportan que ya no tienen de estas semillas apenas iniciado el año, de las variedades más indispensables y particularmente de los híbridos orgánicos. Los problemas principales que continúan con las semillas orgánicas son la disponibilidad y que sea la adecuada. Los cálculos siguen siendo que solo el 5 o 10% de las semillas que utilizan los agricultores orgánicos sea orgánica, el resto es semilla convencional sin tratamiento. Esos cálculos salen de lo que se platica con la gente de la industria. Desde sus inicios, la comunidad N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Escoja historias en Español El Estado de las Semillas Orgánicas orgánica se apoyaba en dos fuentes para obtener sus semillas; el sector convencional, que tiene poco o nulo interés en las semillas orgánicas y segundo, las empresas de variedades tradicionales, que estaban más enfocadas en la siembra de traspatio o a pequeña escala. Y con eso la han estado sobrellevando por décadas, en muchos de los casos sus necesidades han sido cubiertas, las variedades tradicionales han sido lo suficientemente buenas para producir y prosperar. Pero las variedades ‘suficientemente buenas’ y las mejores variedades son cosas totalmente diferentes. John- Está el caso de las variedades cruzadas que toman en cuenta las prácticas culturales del agricultor. La mejor cruza está hecha para el ambiente y las prácticas culturales de los agricultores. Eso es lo que es una mejor variedad. Cuando los orgánicos se metieron a las grandes ligas, los mejores agricultores orgánicos tomaron las mejores variedades cruzadas comerciales, que no habían sido cruzadas para sus prácticas culturales y reajustaron esas prácticas dentro de lo orgánico… buscaron entre lo que había disponible, lo pusieron a prueba, y encontraron las que mejor cubrían sus necesidades. Andrew-¿A qué te refieres con prácticas culturales? John-Digamos que estas plantando maíz en cierta fecha porque no quieres que se te pudra en el suelo. Si eres un agricultor convencional, vas a estar usando una variedad de maíz con tratamientos en la semilla. Si estás cultivando tempranamente para no tener maleza, o quemando, como herbicida para no tener maleza, esa es una práctica cultural. Matt—si un agricultor orgánico no tiene ese tratamiento químico en el maíz para prevenir las enfermedades, como la pudrición en el suelo frío o la emergencia en los suelos fríos, esto podría obligar a una siembra más tardía, que a su vez podría causar que tengan un menor rendimiento o bien incurrir en otros riegos más adelante en la temporada. John-Todos esos programas de cruza de maíz tienen una actitud de: ese no es ningún problema, tenemos estos tratamientos de semilla muy innovadores con pesticidas thiram, para que nuestros agricultores no se tengan que preocupar de eso. De hecho, vamos a usar esos tratamientos de semilla con pesticida en nuestros programas de cruza para cubrir la realidad que todo agricultor orgánico tiene que enfrentar en el campo. Matt- Incluso también existe la cuestión genética de cómo las plantas responden cuando se cultivan. John- como cuando estás usando tus implementos pesados, estás perturbando el suelo cerca de la planta o dañando el suelo. Los agricultores convencionales que están utilizando herbicidas, no necesitan tanta cultivación. Si en realidad estás cruzando una planta que sea buena para los agricultores orgánicos, debe ser lo suficiente buena como para aguantar que le echen mucha tierra encima. Matt- El porcentaje de semillas orgánicas que se usa es una cosa, el porcentaje de las semillas que se están usando que son apropiadas y las ideales para las condiciones culturales y de mercado, son incluso más bajo que la semilla más básica. Las primeras empresas de semillas orgánicas que se aventuraron en el movimiento orgánico desde temprano, han tenido éxito. Hay mucho crecimiento en el 100% de las empresas semilleras. Sus ventas han subido porque están haciendo mejoras en la calidad de producción y sus prácticas. Se han encontrado con que los productores están incrementando la compra de sus semillas Algunas de las empresas semilleras convencionales han visto que el mercado para las semillas orgánicas no es una moda, que está aquí para quedarse y que continua teniendo un incremento y se han interesado en probablemente hacer la transición de sus líneas de semillas a la producción orgánica. Aun así muy pocas de estas empresas, están haciendo el cambio para hacer las cruzas para los sistemas orgánicos. Parte de la razón de esto es que existe la expectativa acerca de la viabilidad financiera y de que si tiene sentido. Es muy caro cruzar y probar cualquier tipo de planta. Toma tiempo y dinero, puede tomar de 10 a más años cruzar una nueva variedad, además la infraestructura para las cámaras de crecimiento y las pruebas de enfermedades y patología de la planta. Andrew- Así que, a pesar que el Mercado para las semillas orgánicas se ha mostrado fuerte, hay aún una incertidumbre de invertir Matt- A pesar de que si pueden vender la semilla por más, no la pueden vender por mucho más. La mayoría de las empresas comerciales Continuado en la pagina 34 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 33 Una Industria Tierna y Robusta tener una información clara de esas empresas. Hay una presión actualmente para que hagan muestras de las semillas orgánicas, pero claro que está apenas iniciándose esa situación por que las empresas semilleras que se están haciendo pruebas y que salen positivas de contaminación por OMG, les dicen a sus clientes y lo más seguro es que sus clientes no le compren. Esas empresas no tienen el recurso para paga un cultivo perdido. Es una situación difícil para ellas, Continuado desde la pagina 33 pero mientras tanto, los agricultores están no están interesadas en las semillas orgáninerviosos de que puedan contaminar sus cas de ninguna forma, y muy posiblemente suelos con semillas orgánicas contaminadas. jamás convertirán sus líneas a orgánicas. Algunas de las empresas si se hacen pruePor lo que si un agricultor orgánico que bas, pero muy pocas, tienen una política utiliza una variedad específica propiedad pública o la imprimen en sus catálogos por de una empresa, si es empresa no va a que no están seguras de tener el dinero para convertirse a orgánica, el agricultor podría pagar alguna pérdida. estar en esa situación donde jamás tendrán La meta de OSA es tratar de crear una esa variedad que quiere producir orgánicamejor retroalimentación y comunicación mente. entre los agricultores, los investigadores Otra preocupación que emerge con y las empresas semilleras para mejorar el la soya y el maíz, y que cada vez aumenta entendimiento de las partes de los posibles más con los cultivos de brásica y por subeneficios que vendrían de la inversión puesto con las acelgas, es la contaminación en las pruebas de los sistemas de semillas con los cultivos de la ingeniería genética. orgánicas y tratar de sobrepasar los conflicEn la Alianza de Semillas Orgánicas hemos tos y la creación de soluciones. tenido llamadas de agricultores que nos También estamos realizando un cuespreguntan ‘¿Cómo puedo estar seguro de tionario a fondo para la industria semillera que la semilla orgánica que estoy comy preguntándoles acerca de lo que creen prando está libre de la contaminación y de las actitudes de los agricultores para genética?’ Algunas de las llamadas son de comprar semilla orgánica y también les personas que aún no entienden de la conestamos haciendo preguntas acerca de los taminación y se preocupan que posibleobstáculos que enfrentan en el camino, mente sus zanahorias pudieran estar concuales son los obstáculos en la producción y taminadas, pero esas llamadas son escazas y las enfermedades que representan un obstágeneralmente provienen de productores de culo en la producción del campo. Creo que traspatio, no agricultores. Los agricultores esto nos va a dejar mucha información. están llamando para hacer preguntas del También elaboraremos un cuestionmaíz para grano o para consumo humano, ario para los certificadores, acerca de sus acerca de las brásicas, de los betabeles y de preguntas, preocupaciones y experiencias las acelgas, y se sienten frustrados por no que existen en el tema de las semillas, así contar con la información y no poder obcomo a las empresas de alimentos orgánicos que comprar a contrato de los agricultores, acerca de sus percepciones y LOCAL GRASS-FED MEATS cuáles son las necesidades futuCERTIFIED ORGANIC PRODUCE ras de los procesadores que están • ANTIBIOTIC/HORMONE-FREE POULTRY buscando cualidades de calidad • BULK FOODS, HERBS & SPICES • NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS que vienen de la genética de los • HOMEOPATHIC REMEDIES • LOCAL PRODUCTS productos alimenticios. • CARROT/WHEATGRASS JUICE • FINE WINE & BEER Ahorita esto es lo más • WINE TASTING SECOND THURSDAY importante: incrementar el OF EACH MONTH DURING ARTWALK Member governed since 1971 conocimiento de los sectores Coos Head Food Store para entender cómo podemos 1960 Sherman, Hwy. 101 S. ◆ Downtown North Bend 541-756-7264 trabajar juntos para sacar esto Page 34 adelante, en vez de dar una fecha límite diciendo “los agricultores deben usar semillas orgánicas para esta fecha, si no…” o lo opuesto “ah, algún día todos lo harán”. En el 2010 la OSA en cooperación con el Congreso de Agricultura Orgánica de la región Norocentral de los E.U.A tendrán un “Simposio Estatal de Semillas Orgánicas”. Es una reunión de trabajo para discutir activamente de lo que está y no funcionando en los sistemas de semillas orgánicas. Queremos una representación diversa de la comunidad orgánica en este evento, no solo los conocedores. Estaremos desglosando el Plan de Acción Nacional Orgánico para crear un Plan Nacional de Semillas Orgánicas. Para trabajar juntos para minimizar la contaminación y mejorar en todos sus aspectos la calidad de las semillas orgánicas con el fin de que los agricultores orgánicos tengan la semilla que necesitan. Si está interesado en asistir al simposio visite la página de la OSA para encontrar mayor información. En la misma página encontrará ligas a los cuestionarios que mencioné. Necesitamos que los agricultores y empresas procesadoras de alimentos los llenen. Consideramos que debe existir el dialogo dinámico y productivo de todas las partes de la comunidad orgánica que está involucrada en este tema. Ahora es el tiempo de involucrarse. El sector de semillas orgánicas está en su apogeo, su verdadero potencial emergerá si trabajamos colaborativamente como una comunidad. Matthew Dillon y John Navazio iniciaron a Organic Seed Alliance en el 2003. Matthew sirve como director de apoyo. John es el principal productor de plantas. Para mayor información acerca del Reporte, Simposio y Cuestionario de Semillas Orgánicas, por favor diríjase a http://www.seedalliance.org/Advocacy/ N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Millas antes de que coma Por: Sarah DeWeerdt Traducido por: Odilia Hernández Onofre En 1993, un investigador suizo calculó que los ingredientes típicos de un desayuno suizo de manzana, pan, mantequilla, queso, café, crema, jugo de naranja y azúcar; viajaban una distancia igual a la circunferencia de la Tierra antes de llegar a la mesa Escandinava. En el 2005, un investigador de Iowa, E.U.A demostró que la leche, azúcar y fresas que van en un embase de yogurt de fresa acumuladamente viajaba 2,211 millas (3,558 Km) solo para llegar a la planta procesadora. A medida que el movimiento de consumo-local se ha puesto de moda, este concepto de “millaje de los alimentos” o “kilometraje de los alimentos” - que significa en pocas palabras la distancia que un alimento tuvo que viajar desde el huerto o granja hasta el plato donde va a ser consumido – ha venido a ser el centro de las discusiones, particularmente en los Estados Unidos, el Reino Unido y algunas partes del occidente de Europa. Este concepto ofrece un tipo de código para describir un sistema alimenticio que es centralizado, industrializado, y con una complejidad que casi llega al punto de ser absurdo. Y, debido a que nuestros alimentos son transportados todas esas millas en barcos, trenes, camiones y aviones, la atención del kilometraje de los alimentos también se liga con las preocupaciones acerca de las emisiones del dióxido de carbono y otros gases que provoca el efecto invernadero que proviene del transporte a base de combustible proveniente de fósiles. En los Estados Unidos, la estadística citada más frecuentemente es que los alimentos viajan en promedio 1,500 millas para llegar del huerto al consumidor. Esta estimación viene de Rich Pirog, director asociado del Centro Leopold para la Agricultura Sustentable de la Universidad del estado de Iowa (él es el mismo que hizo los cálculos del yogurt que se citó anteriormente. En el 2001, en algunas de las primeras investigaciones del kilometraje de los alimentos en los Estados Unidos, Pirog y un grupo de investigadores analizaron el transporte de 28 frutas y verduras a los mercados de Iowa por sistemas de distribución de vía local, regional y convencional. El equipo de investigadores calculó que los alimentos en el sistema convencional – una red nacional que utiliza camiones de carga de un solo eje para llevar alimentos a una cadena de tiendas grande – viajaba un promedio de 1,518 millas (cerca de 2,400 kilómetros). En contraste, un alimento de origen local solo viajaba un promedio de 44.6 millas (72 kilómetros a un mercado de Iowa. Poniendo bajo la luz esos contrastes, la admonición de “come lo regional” viene a ser sentido común. Y ciertamente, en el nivel más básico, a menos millas de transporte menos emisiones. El equipo de Pirog encontró que el sistema de distribución convencional usa de 4 a 17 veces más combustible y emite de 5 a 17 veces más CO2 que los sistemas locales y regionales (la última refiriéndose al estado de Iowa). Así mismo, un estudio canadiense estimó que si se reemplazaran los alimentos importados con sus equivalentes cultivados localmente en la región de Waterloo, Ontario, les ahorraría emisiones relacionadas al transporte de cerca de 50,000 toneladas métricas de CO2, o el equivalente a sacar 16,191 carros de circulación. ¿Qué significa “local”? Pero, en primer lugar, ¿qué es exactamente “alimentos locales”? Uno de los problemas de tratar de determinar si los alimentos locales son mejores para el ambiente es que no hay una definición universal aceptado de lo que es un “alimento local”. Alisa Smith y J.B. MacKinnon, autores de La Dieta de 100 Millas (The 100 Mile Diet), escriben que ellos escogieron ese límite para su experimento de consumir localmente debido a que “un radio de 100 millas es lo suficientemente grande para salir fuera de los límites de la ciudad y suficientemente pequeño para que aún se siga sintiendo local y se dice más fácilmente que “la dieta de los 160 kilómetros.” Sage Van Wing, que acuñó el término de “locavoro” con una amiga cuando estaban viviendo en el condado de Marin en California, siendo inspirada a comer alimentos locales después de leer Coming Home to Eat (Llegando a Comer en Casa), una crónica del autor Gary Paul Nabhan de su propio esfuerzo de comer por todo un año solo alimentos que eran cultivados dentro del radio de 250 millas de su hogar en el norte de Arizona. Sage dedujo que si Nabhan pudo lograr eso en un desierto, ella lo podía hacer mejor en la cornucopia agrícola que es el norte de California, así es que decidió limitarse a un radio de 100 millas. Hay evidencia suficiente de que existe un entendido popular de lo que es alimento local, por lo menos en algunos lugares, que se acerca mucho a este límite de 100 millas. Una encuesta realizada por el Instituto Leopold a los consumidores de los Estados Unidos en el 2008 reveló que dos tercios de ellos consideraban a un alimento como local si se cultivaba o producía a no más de 100 millas. Aún así, todavía persisten una gran variedad de definiciones. En algunas ocasiones, local significa alimentos producidos dentro del condado, dentro de un estado o provincia, o incluso en el caso de algunas naciones europeas pequeñas, dentro del mismo país. En el Reino Unido, como reporta Tara Garnett de la Red de Investigación del Clima Alimenticio (Food Climate Research Network) ”a grandes rasgos, las organizaciones que apoyan lo local cada vez más, están renuentes a poner números en las cosas.” Mientras tanto, el sociólogo rural Clare Hinrichs, de la Universidad Estatal de Pensilvania, han encontrado que en Iowa lo local ha cambiado de referirse a una pequeña comunidad a todo lo producido dentro del estado. Para algunos en la comunidad agrícola, promover y consumir “alimentos locales de Iowa” es como un tipo de patriotismo alimenticio, que tiene como fin contrarrestar las fuerzas de la globalización que ha puesto a varias familias agrícolas en riesgo. Todas esas son formas validas y perfectas de pensar en lo que es local. Pero no tienen mucho que ver con los costos y los beneficios ambientales. Compensaciones En cualquier caso, advierte Pirog, el kilometraje/millaje de los alimenos no cuentan la historia completa. “El kilometraje de los alimentos son una buena medida de cuán lejos han viajado los alimentos. Pero no son una buena medida del impacto ambiental de los alimentos.” El impacto depende de cómo fueron transportados esos alimentos, no tan solo de que tan lejos lo hicieron. Por ejemplo, los trenes son 10 veces más eficientes moviendo los fletes, tonelada por tonelada, que los camiones de carga. Así es que podrías comer papas que viajaron en camión de 100 millas de lejos o papas que fueron transportadas en rieles de 1,000 millas de lejos y las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero asociadas con su transporte desde la huerta a la mesa serían casi iguales. El impacto ambiental de los alimentos también depende de cómo son cultivados. La investigadora suiza Annika Carlsson-Kanyama dirigió un estudio que demostró que era mejor, desde la perspectiva de la emisión de gases de tipo invernadero, que los suizos compraran tomates españoles que suizos, porque los tomates españoles eran cultivados al aire libre mientras que los suizos eran cultivados en invernaderos calentados con combustible derivado de fósiles. Eso parece obvio, pero también hay otras cosas en juego. Por ejemplo, España cuenta Continuado en la pagina 36 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 35 En Español Re evaluando el sentido de “local” Continuado desde la pagina 35 con suficiente calor y sol que les encanta a los tomates, pero su principal zona hortícola es una región que es relativamente árida y muy susceptible a las sequias en un futuro debido al cambio climático global. Y ¿qué tal que si la falta de agua, obligara a los agricultores españoles a instalar sistemas de irrigación que consumieran mucha energía? Y ¿qué tal que los invernaderos del norte de Europa se calentaran con energía renovable? Quizás sea inevitable que nosotros como consumidores giremos hacia un enfoque de millaje de los alimentos – el concepto que representa el último paso antes de que los alimentos lleguen a nuestras mesas, la parte de la cadena de abasto agrícola que es más visible a nosotros. Y que ciertamente, si todas las otras cosas se midieran por igual, es mucho mejor comprar algo que se cultivo en la localidad que algo que se cultivo a lo lejos. “Es verdad que si estás comparando sistemas exactos, la misma comida cultivada de la misma manera, entonces obviamente, sí, los alimentos con menos transporte tienen una huella de carbón más pequeña” dice Pirog. Pero una imagen más amplia y compleja de las compensaciones en el sistema alimenticio requiere el seguimiento de todas las emisiones de gas con efecto invernadero de todas las fases de la producción de los alimentos, el transporte y el consumo. Y el método de investigación del Análisis del ciclo de vida (LCA, por sus siglas en inglés), provee precisamente esta perspectiva de “desde la cuna hasta la tumba”, revela que el millaje/kilometraje de los alimentos representa una pequeña rebanada de este pastel de emisión de gases de efecto invernadero. En un periódico publicado el año pasado, Christopher Weber y H. Scott Matthews, de la Universidad de Carnegie Mellon, entrelazaron datos de varias fuentes de gobierno de los Estados Unidos en un análisis comprensivo del ciclo de vida de la dieta de un americano típico. De acuerdo a sus cálculos, la entrega final de un productor a o procesador al punto de venta solo es responsable del 4% de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero en los Estados Unidos. La entrega final solo es la cuarta parte del total de millas, y el 40% de las emisiones relacionadas con el transporte en toda la cadena del abastecimiento de alimentos. Eso se debe a que existen las millas de “corriente arriba” y emisiones asociadas con cosas como el transporte de fertilizantes, pesticidas y alimento para los animales. Englobado, el transporte es el responsable de solo el 11% de las emisiones del sistema alimenticio. En contraste, Weber y Matthews en- Page 36 contraron que la producción agrícola es la responsable de la mayoría de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero del sistema alimenticio, el 83% de las emisiones ocurren antes de que el alimento salga de su lugar de producción. Un estudio reciente del análisis del ciclo de vida del sistema alimenticio del Reino Unido, realizado por Tara Garnnett, arrojó resultados similares. En su estudio, el transporte solo contaba por la decima parte de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero y la producción agrícola era el responsable de la mitad. Garnett menciona que muy seguramente se seguía el mismo patrón en todo Europa. Algo hay también en las lecherías Otro resultado muy claro que sale de estos análisis es que lo que consumes importa por lo menos igual a lo mucho que viaja, y uno de los puntos rojos en la agricultura son: la carne roja y la producción de lácteos. En parte esto se debe a que la ineficiencia aumenta entre más arriba de la cadena alimenticia se consuma, el unir eslabones consume más energía y genera más emisiones, para producir los granos, alimentar a las vacas y producir carne y lácteos para alimentar a los humanos, que alimentar granos directamente a los humanos. Pero una gran porción de las emisiones asociadas con la producción de carne y lacteos se transforma en metano y oxido nitroso, gases de invernadero que son 23 y 296 veces, respectivamente, más potentes que el dióxido de carbono. El metano es producido por los animales rumiantes (vacas, chivos, ovejas y sus similares) como un subproducto de la digestión y también es liberado en la descomposición del estiércol (al igual que en la producción y descomposición de los fertilizantes). En el estudio de Garnett, la carne y los lactes contabilizan por el 50% de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero del sistema alimenticio del Reino Unido. En realidad, ella escribe, “La contribución más grande hecha por la agricultura se refleja en la intensidad de los gases de efecto invernadero cuando se cría al ganado.” Weber y Matthews llegaron a una conclusión similar: “No importa cómo se mida, en promedio la carne roja es más intensa en la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero que todas las otras formas de alimentos.” Responsable de más de 150% más emisiones que los pollos y los peces. En su estudio, el segundo contribuidor más grande de las emisiones fue la industria lechera. Estos dos estudios no son los únicos en sus resultados. Un grupo de investigadores suizos han calculado que la carne y los productos lácteos contribuyen con el 58% del total de las emisiones de los alimentos de una dieta suiza típica. A nivel global, la Organización de la Naciones Unidas de Alimentos y Agricultura ha estimado que el ganado es responsable del 18% de todas las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero – incluso más que todas las formas de combustible derivado de fósiles- que se utiliza en el transporte. “Hablando con palabras simples, comer menos carne y productos lacteos y más plantas en su lugar de origen, es probablemente uno de los cambios de conducta más significativos que uno puede hacer para ayudar” para reducir la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero relacionados con los alimentos, recomienda Garnett. Weber y Matthews calcularon si se redujera el kilometraje de los alimentos- una tarea muy difícil de lograr- solo reduciría la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero asociados con el sistema alimenticio en un 5%, que equivaldría a manejar 1,000 millas menos en el transcurso de un año. En comparación, reemplazar la carne roja y lácteos con pollo, peces o huevos un día de cada semana ahorraría lo equivalente a manejar 760 millas por año. Reemplazar la carne roja y lácteos con vegetales un día de cada semana sería como manejar 1,160 millas menos. “Por lo tanto” concluyen “sugerimos que el cambio en la dieta puede ser más efectivo para que un hogar disminuya su huella climática relacionada a como se alimenta que ‘comprar local’” Sin embargo, Weber reconoce, “estos cálculos fueron hechos asumiendo que los alimentos locales no tenían ninguna diferencia que los que no lo son.” Y ese no siempre es el caso. Por ejemplo, el consumir productos locales casi siempre promueve que se coma lo que está de temporada que generalmente quiere decir que fue cultivado en un huerto y que los alimentos son menos procesados. Esas cualidades, aunado con distancias más cortas entre el huerto y la mesa, también contribuirán a disminuir las emisiones si se compara con una dieta “típica.” Los alimentos que se comercializan en una economía local – como los mercados de los agricultores (farmer´s markets, en inglés) y a través de los programas de agricultura apoyada por la comunidad (CSA, por sus siglas en inglés)con frecuencia son orgánic- N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 En Español Más allá de la huella de carbobo os. Los alimentos orgánicos generalmente (no siempre) están asociados con menores emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero que los alimentos cultivados de forma convencional, debido a que los orgánicos no generan las emisiones asociadas con la producción, transporte, aplicación de los fertilizantes y pesticidas sintéticos. Además, los alimentos orgánicos también ofrecen otros beneficios ambientales: el uso de menos químicos tóxicos promueve una mayor biodiversidad en los huertos, los terrenos orgánicos requieren menos riegos bajo algunas condiciones. Debido a que los alimentos locales se han calificado tan frecuentemente por su kilometraje/millaje, sus beneficios ambientales se han calculado en términos de las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Pero, la huella del carbón de los alimentos “no puede ser la única vara para medir su sustentabilidad ambiental,”considera Gail Feenstra, un analista de los sistemas alimenticios del Programa de Educación e Investigación de la Agricultura Sustentable de la Universidad de California Davis. Finalmente, los agricultores que comercian localmente son en escala, relativamente pequeños y pueden por lo tanto adoptar prácticas que son benéficas al ambiente, como: cultivar una diversidad de cultivos, plantar cultivos de cobertera, plantar cultivos de zacate en las orillas de sus terrenos o plantar setos vivos que provean un refugio para la biodiversidad nativa e integrar cultivos con producción de ganado. En resumen, comenta Weber “las prácticas de producción, son más importantes que donde se cultivó un alimento. Si comprar local también significa comprar de un mejor sistema de producción, entonces eso es fantástico, eso si va a hacer una enorme diferencia.” Por supuesto que la relación entre el mercadeo de los alimentos locales con una agricultura sustentable está muy lejos de ser perfecta. Un producto pequeño puede aplicar pesticidas sintéticos y usar maquinaria pesada. No todos los vendedores de los mercados de los agricultores son orgánicos. Clare Hinrichs, que se llama así misma una “ferviente” compradora en los mercados de los agricultores, está completamente consiente que “las consecuencias actuales – intencionadas o no- de los sistemas alimenticios locales, no han sido realmente estudiados sistemáticamente y a conciencia.” ¿Qué Tan Verde Es Mi Valle? Así que ¿la comida local es más amigable al ambiente? No necesariamente. Pero mira a esa pregunta en la dirección opuesta: si eres un consumidor interesado en alimentos más amigables al ambiente, la economía de alimentos local es actualmente un buen lugar para encontrarla. Por la misma moneda, un agricultor que vende sus productos en la economía local podría con mayor posibilidad adoptar o continuar prácticas sustentables con el fin de cumplir las demandas de sus clientes. Si los alimentos locales tienen beneficios en el ambiente, no se debe todo – o quizá ni siquiera esa sea la razón principal de que sean “locales”. O como Hinrichs ha escrito, “es la relación social, no la locación espacial, per se, lo que cuenta para dar un buen resultado.” Para lo que apoyan a los alimentos locales como Sage Van Wing, esa interacción entre un productor y un cliente, un agricultor y un consumidor, es precisamente la razón de ser. Si se refiere al kilometraje/ millaje, Van Wing comenta “No estoy para nada interesada en eso.” Para ella, comprar una manzana no solo tiene que ver la emisión de gases de efecto invernadero que se liberaron en producir y transportar esa fruta, “también tiene que ver como se cultivó esa manzana, como se trataron a los trabajadores en el huerto donde se cultivó”- una gran gama de factores ecológicos, sociales y económicos que juntos suman la sustentabilidad. El interactuar directamente con el agricultor que cultiva sus alimentos crea un “estándar de confianza”, nos comenta. Christopher Weber, que siguió una dieta vegetarian extricta por 10 años, se llama así mismo “un autoproclamado gourmet” está de acuerdo: “Eso es algo fascinante de los alimentos locales, y una de las razones por las que yo compro localmente, es porque realmente puedes llegar a conocer a tus agricultores y saber lo que están haciendo.” Van Wing dice que su enfoque en los alimentos locales ha evolucionado con el tiempo – inició tratando de comer lo que se producía en un radio de 100 millas, pero ahora simplemente trata de conseguir cualquier artículo de comida de la fuente más cercana. Los alimentos que no se pueden cultivar cerca de vive o son un capricho muy raro o bien han desaparecido totalmente de su dieta. “Simplemente no hago cosas que no tienen sentido” comenta. Su frase hace eco con el gurú de agricultura sustentable y periodista Michael Pollan, que en su libro más reciente In Defense of Food (En Defensa de Los Alimentos) ofrece una guía de cómo comer bien y éticamente: “Come alimentos. No demasiado. En su mayoría plantas.” Podrías sumarte al caso ecológico con una oración más: “En su mayoría lo que sea de temporada y que no se cultive muy lejos.” Aún así hay límites a este acercamiento de sentido común. En muchas áreas, el clima es tal, que no se pueden consumir alimentos locales o de temporada, los productos alimenticios que se cultiven en un huerto sería una propuesta muy escueta la mayor parte del año. Muchas personas viven en áreas que no son aptas para cultivar productos de primera necesidad; es una cosa dejar de comer los plátanos, y otra muy diferente dejar de comer el trigo. Y la densidad de población es una de las razones por las que no se puede hacer la relocalización de los sistemas alimenticios. La mayor parte de la tierra dentro de las 100 millas de grandes ciudades tal como Nueva York, ya está pobladas; ¿de dónde vendrán las tierras agrícolas para alimentarnos localmente? (Por esa misma razón, esa misma situación hace que la conservación de la tierra agrícola sea más importante, una meta a la que se puede avanzar si compramos de los agricultores locales.) En este sentido, el análisis del ciclo de vida del sistema alimenticio actual sugiere que, si la meta es mejorar la sustentabilidad ambiental del sistema alimenticio en su totalidad, entonces hay una variedad de palancas de políticas públicas que pueden ayudar a jalar. Para estar seguros, promover la producción de alimentos y las redes de distribución más localizada reduciría las emisiones debido al transporte. Pero ¿qué tal que se invirtiera una gran cantidad en la infraestructura ferroviaria para disminuir la tendencia de transportar más alimentos por el método menos eficiente de los camiones de carga? ¿Qué tal que se incrementara los estándares económicos para el flete de los camiones que transportan nuestros alimentos? O por nombrar una buena posibilidad, ¿Qué tal que si los sistemas de precios del carbono se incorporaran algunos de los costos ambientales de la agricultura, que en la actualidad son externalizados? Los alimentos locales son deliciosos, pero el problema- y posiblemente la solución- es global. Este artículo es cortesía de The Worldwatch Institute, una organización de investigación independiente reconocida por los líderes en opinión de todo el mundo por su análisis accesible y basado en estadísticas en temas globales. Su misión es generar y promover el entendimiento y generar ideas que activen la mente de personas para tomar decisiones para construir una sociedad ecológicamente sustentable que llene las necesidades de la humanidad. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 37 Research Reports Honey bees toss out Varroa mites Honey bees are now fighting back aggressively against Varroa mites, thanks to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) efforts to develop bees with a genetic trait that allows them to more easily find the mites and toss them out of the broodnest. The parasitic Varroa mite attacks the honey bee, Apis mellifera L., by feeding on its hemolymph, which is the combination of blood and fluid inside a bee. Colonies can be weakened or killed, depending on the severity of the infestation. Most colonies eventually die from varroa infestation if left untreated. Varroa-sensitive hygiene (VSH) is a genetic trait of the honey bee that allows it to remove mite-infested pupae from the capped brood–developing bees that are sealed inside cells of the comb with a protective layer of wax. The mites are sometimes difficult for the bees to locate, since they attack the bee brood while these developing bees are inside the capped cells. ARS scientists at the agency’s Honey Page 38 Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit in Baton Rouge, La., have developed honey bees with high expression of the VSH trait. Honey bees are naturally hygienic, and they often remove diseased brood from their nests. VSH is a specific form of nest cleaning focused on removing varroa-infested pupae. The VSH honey bees are quite aggressive in their pursuit of the mites. The bees gang up, chew and cut through the cap, lift out the infected brood and their mites, and discard them from the broodnest. See this activity in the attached video link here: www.ars.usda.gov/is/br/bees/ index.htm. This hygiene kills the frail mite offspring, which greatly reduces the lifetime reproductive output of the mother mite. The mother mite may survive the ordeal and try to reproduce in brood again, only to undergo similar treatment by the bees. To test the varroa resistance of VSH bees, the Baton Rouge team conducted field trials using 40 colonies with varying levels of VSH. Mite population growth was significantly lower in VSH and hybrid colonies than in bee colonies without VSH. Hybrid colonies had half the VSH genes normally found in pure VSH bees, but they still retained significant varroa resistance. Simpler ways for bee breeders to measure VSH behavior in colonies were also developed in this study. This research was published in the Journal of Apicultural Research and Bee World. –ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief intramural scientific research agency. Crowded house The population explosion in poor countries will contribute little to climate change and is a dangerous distraction from the main problem of over-consumption in rich nations, a study has found. It challenges claims by leading environmentalists, including Sir David Attenborough and Jonathon Porritt, that strict birth control is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The study concludes that spending billions of pounds of aid on contraception in the developing world will not benefit the climate because poor countries have such low emissions. It says that Britain and other Western countries should instead focus on reducing consumption of goods, services and energy among their own populations. David Satterthwaite, of the International Institute for Environment and Development, a think-tank based in London, analysed changes in population and greenhouse gas emissions for all countries between 1980 and 2005. He found that sub-Saharan Africa had 18.5 per cent of the world’s population growth and only 2.4 percent of the growth in carbon dioxide emissions. The United States had 3.4 percent of the world’s population growth but 12.6 percent of the growth in carbon dioxide emissions. China’s one-child rule had resulted in a sharp decline in population growth, but its CO2 emissions had risen very rapidly — 44.5 percent of the growth in global emissions — largely because of the increasing number of Chinese enjoying Western levels of consumption. Dr. Satterthwaite, whose study is published in the peer-reviewed journal Environment and Urbanization, said: “A child born into a very poor African household who during their life never escapes from poverty contributes very little to climate change, especially if they die young, as many do. A child born into a wealthy household in North America or Europe and who enjoys a full life and a high-consumption lifestyle contributes N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Research Reports far more — thousands or even tens of thousands of times more.” The Optimum Population Trust called for population restraint policies to be adopted by every world state to combat climate change. The call was endorsed by Sir David Attenborough, James Lovelock and Jonathon Porritt. -Ben Webster, Environment Editor, www.timesonline.co.uk One-time herbicide use has lasting impact Matt Rinella, a Montana State University affiliate and an ecologist at the Fort Keogh Agricultural Experiment Station in Miles City, recently published the results of a 16-year study in the journal Ecological Applications. Rinella and his colleagues found that, due to an application of the herbicide Tordon made 16 years prior, native wildflowers--including Missouri goldenrod and yarrow--had been reduced to precipitously low levels and the target invasive weed (leafy spurge) had potentially increased. Although the herbicide dissipated after a few years, the plant community was permanently altered. “There is some evidence that some of the native forbs went locally extinct,” said Rinella. When herbicide wasn’t used, many native forbs did similarly well in grazed and non-grazed plots. Plots that were sprayed and grazed fared better than plots that were sprayed but not grazed. Cattle grazing can benefit native forbs because cattle prefer eating grass to forbs. Additionally, cattle trample the soil, loosening it for seeds that are inadvertently sown by cows. However, Missouri goldenrod and yarrow did not recover, regardless of grazing. “The critical question was, ‘Which was worse for native biota, invaders or things done to control invaders?’” asked Rinella. Rinella’s study was a continuation of a research project started by one of his graduate committee members, Bruce Maxwell, now faculty in land resource and environmental science at MSU. “A study like this can tell us a lot about the long-term target and non-target effects of herbicides, so it’s nice that Matt could keep working on this project,” Maxwell said. Maxwell studied the effectiveness of herbicide use in controlling leafy sprurge, an invasive plant, as part of his graduate research from 1982-1984. He made observations after 10,000 acres were sprayed--minus several areas covered with tarps--at the NBar Ranch near Grass Range, Mont. Fences kept cattle out of some of the sprayed plots and some of the non-sprayed plots, creating a mosaic of plots that were sprayed and grazed, sprayed and not grazed, not sprayed and grazed, and not sprayed and not grazed. “Our cautionary tale is told using herbicide-treated grassland, but our results should be considered wherever invasive species management damages native species,” said Rinella. –www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview. Matt Rinella, (406) 874- 8232, [email protected]. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 39 Page 40 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Classifieds Organic claims made in the classifieds are not verified! Organic Products, Services & Equipment Marine phytoplankton, alive in ocean water concentrate. 400 times the energy of any known plant. Contains sea minerals that are absent or may be low, even in organic produce. Pamela Melcher, (503) 946-8048; [email protected]. 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For a catalog or plant list, visit www.fernhillnursery.com or contact Devon at (541) 9423118 or [email protected]. Farm trained, calm Belgian draft horses. Sustainable power! Farm-raised and trained. David and Deborah Mader, Horsepower Organics, Halfway, Oregon. OTCO since 1993. (541) 742 - 4887; email [email protected]. Pasture raised meats. Grassfed and finished beef, pastured pork, lamb and goat raised on dedicated pasture. Pastured poultry; soy-free broilers and heritage turkeys. Raw milk dairy. Selling at the Eugene and Portland (PSU) farmers markets. Any day but Sunday. www. deckfamilyfarm.com, (541) 998-4697. Certified organic alfalfa, grass hay and rye hay! Will deliver lots under three tons. Southcentral, OR. Call Leon Baker, (541) 576-2367. Fresh certified organic seed garlic. Grown in Hood River, Oregon. Farm direct. Gourmet hardneck and softneck varieties. Certified organic by Oregon Tilth since 2002. Bulk prices available. (541) 386-1220; www.hoodrivergarlic.com. Certified Organic Garlic Seed for sale. Several varieties available. Visit us at www.lonesomewhistlefarm.com, call (541) 345-3415 or stop by the farmers market in Eugene. $13/pound for seed stock. Certified organic cover crop seed! Farm-direct, organic crimson clover. Call Jim Bronec, Praying Mantis Farm, Canby, Ore. (503) 651-2627; [email protected]. Cranberries, certified organic and frozen. 25 pound box, $100. Periodic deliveries up Highway 101 and I-5. Just a few 1100 lb. totes available @ wholesale. Place your cranberry order now for the 2009 harvest in October and November. Call us at (541) 348-2370; email [email protected]. Certified organic, pastured, grass-fed beef, goat and heritage turkey meat for direct sale. Natural pastured whole chickens and eggs. Aerated compost and compost tea (bulk, bagged and applied). Contact Harmony J.A.C.K. Farms, Scio Ore. Lumber from certified organic land is available. www.HarmonyJackFarms.com or (503) 769-2057. Certified organic herb plants. Rosemary 4” to 5 gallons. Figs, lemongrass, lavender, plus many more rare or unusual varieties. For more info call Brennan at (503) 678-5056; [email protected]. Certified organic grassfed beef and lamb. Your clean source for protein, Omega 3 fatty acids, CLA’s and the good cholesterol! E. Ore. raised - ecologically grown and humanely handled. Check our website: www.doublediamondranch.us or call (541) 853-2320; [email protected]. Organic alfalfa hay and winter barley seed for sale. 3000 N 7500 W. Abraham, Utah 84635. (435) 864-5400; [email protected], [email protected]. Top quality certified organic seed garlic, many varieties. Contact Ryan at L&R Farm soon, our best seed garlic will sell out fast. (541) 846-0602. Certified organic Steptoe barley seed, 80# bags. OTCO certified. (503) 581-8224. or email: [email protected]. Certified organic cayuse oat seed and common winter rye. $25/50 lb bag, $900/ton or $825/ton (bulk tote discount). Herbs, spices and seaweed also available. Quantity price breaks. Pacific Botanicals, Grants Pass, OR (541) 479-7777 [email protected] Land for Sale Comfortable, 3 bed./2 bath manufactured home on 5 acres, excellent condition, nice yard, lots of trees, E. of Burns, OR. Call (541) 493-2541. 2 acres for sale just north of Cottage Grove. So. facing river view acs. Elec. and nat. gas adjoin. Old terraced road runs thru nice woods. Unique pot. anagama kiln/greenhouse/home site with due diligence. Secluded, private, $75k/offer. Email [email protected]. Certified Organic dairy. 49.9 acs., 390 CAFO permit. Fully operational w/ 3 bd. home. Turner, Ore. Make offer.View at www. agribis.com/listing--98.html. Contact: terry@ agribis.com, (503) 559-3200. Orchard for sale in La Grande, Ore.! 2.5 acs. orchard with 250 heirloom fruit and nuts trees, comes with a charming 4 bd. /2 ba. home, shop, barn and irrigation well. Call Amy Briels, broker with John J. Howard & Assoc., at (541) 910-8538; [email protected]. For Sale: Wisc., 4 Ac. farmette, Near Viroqua/LaCrosse/Mississippi River. Tillable/pasture/wooded; Some biodynamic preps have been applied starting in 2004. Gambrel roofed N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 41 Land for sale Continued from page 41 granary, converted into 3 bd., 2 ba. cottage home; no flooding. Combo wood/propane heating, newer 2-car garage w/wood furnace. Barn (currently fitteåd for horses/goats). $139.900; Call owner: (608) 637-6529. 20 Tilth certified acs. in SW Coast Range 1 hr. from Eugene. Homestead/nursery w/ over 5K sq’. greenhouses. 11 acs. forest. Creek, well, spring fed pond. Diverse orchard. 20’ x 30’ shop w/ concrete pad. 20’ x 40’ Mobile Home w/ improvements. 20’Yurt. Wood heated sauna. farm equipment and nursery materials. $289,000. Contact Patricia Atkins at Windemere Realty (541) 913-9257 Near Tidewater: 37+ acs. on river. Unique straw bale home built 1999, sitting in mtn. meadow w/ 3 bd.-2 ba. 2160 sq.’ 2 bd.-2 ba. guest home (M.H.) 4 bay machine shed, greenhouse. Lg. orchard. Nat’l forest 3 sides. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko (800) 637-5263. Near Salem: 51 acs. w/ hilltop manor estate approx 4290 sq.’ 4 bd.-3.5 ba. 3 bd.-2 ba. mfg. home. Barn, shop, 2 ponds, 5 min. to I5/ 35 acres of 22 yr. old firs. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko (800) 637-5263; [email protected] Lebanon. 44 acs., vacant land, 38x80’ metal shop bldg, well. Approved for septic, creek w/ irrigation rights. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko, (800) 637-5263; [email protected]. Salem. 59 acs irrigated farmland. Class 1 & 2 soils. Part leased for nursery. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko, (800) 637-5263; [email protected]. Andy Alsko, (800) 637-5263; [email protected]. Noti. 20 acs. on Poodle Creek. 2 story farm style home blt. 2005 3/2.5 1965 sq’ Lots of pasture/gardening area. Just off Hwy 126. . Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko, (800) 637-5263; [email protected]. Alsea. 22 acs. 2 homes. Creek thru property. Small orchard. Machine shed. Garden area. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko, (800) 637-5263; [email protected]. Eola Hills. Oregon’s Wine Country. Parcel #1- 13+acs. w/2 ba. mfg. home, south views,, great for small vineyard. Parcel #2- 24+acs w/2 bd. home, small orchard, nice tree cover. South and west exposure. Ideal setup for vineyard and winery. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko, (800) 637-5263; [email protected]. Near Molalla - 53 acs. ready for cattle/horses. Main ranch house plus mfg home. 87x90’ barn for stalls or hay storage. Would make great equestrian center. Two mi. to town. Cross-fenced. Timber. Fabulous 70 gpm. well. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko (800) 637-5263; [email protected]. Near coast at Lakeside: 141 acs. in your “own valley.” Noble creek thru property where coho spawn. 3 bd.-2 ba. mfg. home + sm. guest house. 2 barns. Machine shed. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko (800) 6375263; [email protected] Mulino. 4.7 acs 1620 sq’ 3/2 home plus 35’x80’ shop and 40’x60’ barn. Room for 2 acs of garden. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko, (800) 637-5263; [email protected]. 34+ acre certified organic farm by Oregon Tilth, water rights. well - 250 gpm, river frontage. Rich river bottom soil, great for vegetables and grain. Newer custom built 1-level home with valley view, 2445 SF, hardwood floors, vaults, stone fireplace, large deck. Includes barn, garage & other outbuildings. $694,900. Contact Robin Babb, Broker at 503-495-3665 or [email protected] Eugene. 5.3 acs 1556 4/2 home plus 45’x100’ barn w/ 45’x50’ indoor arena, 5 stalls and tackroom. 2nd barn for hay storage. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. Andy Alsko, (800) 6375263; [email protected]. 43 acs., 3 bd., 2 ba. solid farmhouse, barn, small orchard. 12,000 sq.’ glass greenhouse. 17 acs. 2nd growth. 7’ deer/elk fence. Trees, pasture, creek, lake. 35 minutes to Eugene. Call Jean (541) 937-2837. Beaver Creek. 50 acs 3166 sq’ 3/2 home plus shop and barn. Marketable timber. Approx 25 acs. in pasture. Coldwell Banker Mt. West. 564 acs. certifed organic, 400 irrigated. Dairy quality alfalfa. Complete with equipment, 13-acre pond, wildlife. S. Central Oregon. (775) 849-2025. Page 42 20 – 40 acs. Secluded with drilled well, meadow, small stream/wetland and forest land. Qualifies organic 40 yrs. Approved building site for 3 homes under Measure 49. 20 acs. $285,000, 20 acs. $329,000, Both $529,000 cash. Call Ginny (971) 678-8407 or (503) 794-2737. 6.2 acs., S. Ore. Applegate, New 3 bd./ 3 ba. strawbale home, organic farm/gardens, gridtie solar, outbuildings, seasonal creek, pond, backs to BLM, $480K, (541) 324-1244. Land + house for sale. 2/3 ac. near Oregon City, with huge deerfenced garden area with raised bed, fruit trees, berries, grapes with drip irrigation system, more! 1676 sq.’ house built 1978 with 3 bd. 2 ba, bamboo floor, multi-level covered decks, hot tub on deck off master suite and bath, cedar siding. $270,000 Contact: L. Monk (503) 287-0523; or email [email protected]. Salem. 50+ acs. on Willamette R. w/ 35 acs. water rights. Cedar home 2797 sq.’ 4 bd. 2 ba., country kitchen, large barn, matted stalls. 1000 sq’ storage building. Near I-5 and Ankeny Wildlife refuge. Andy Alsko C/B Mtn. West (800) 637-5263. Dallas 43+ acs. w/ remodeled 2 story farmhouse 2800 sq.’ 4 bd. 1.5 ba. Large shop/garage combo. 3 tier vintage barn. Water rights to creek/pond. Ideal for vineyard. Near Hwy 22. Andy Alsko C/B Mtn. West (800) 637-5263; [email protected] Elkton 49 acs. w/ 4000’ Umpqua R. frontage. 2 story barn used for cattle. RV setup near river w/ water, elec. and TV dish. 20 mi. from Reedsport on Hwy 38. Buildable property. Andy Alsko C/B Mtn. West (800) 637-5263. For sale, 156 acres certified hay farm w/ shop, barn, house, 500 gpm. well, pivot machine. Lakeview, Ore. $340,000. Call (541) 947-2712, (928) 502-1765, cell. 28 acs, 10 mi upriver of Yachats. Meadow, woods, riverfront. $212,000. Chris Watkins, (541) 270-6774, [email protected]. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Opportunities Employment, Internships & Opportunities Seeking 1 or 2 persons desiring self-sufficiency to share a farm.We grow fruits and vegetables and have a young orchard. We are 2 adults with an extra house to rent for a trial period. 1/2 hr. west of Eugene. Preference to people with skills. Contact [email protected] or (541) 485-1426. Permaculture Shared Housing, just north of Vancouver, WA. vacancy in daylight basement. $400 month plus share utilities. Couple must be willing and able to garden organically, live permaculturally, working off rent by helping with garden at an hourly rate in the rest of the yard. Beverly Doty (360) 574-1343; [email protected]. Easy tempeh making. Model for a small business working with local farmers producing a healthy food for the local community. See www.maketempeh.org. Seeking land. Mercy Corps Northwest’s Immigrant Agriculture Project is seeking land to lease in the Portland metro area: plots of 1/4 acre and greater for individual participants, and a training site of 2+ acres. David Beller, (503) 236-1580 x200. [email protected]. Seeking intern for start-up farm operation. Have equipment, land, water, certification, and a market of people drooling for the first crop! Crop share, and willing to split profit. Looking for a younger, quiet, committed individual willing to work a reasonable amount of time for a fair profit. Dr. Hayden and Dawn Sears at [email protected]. Seeking hard working field hands on established organic farm in SW Oregon. Grow and pack diversity of roots, veggies, tree and vine fruits and seeds. Will weed, harvest and do maintenance. Send resume to Hi Hoe Produce at Bluebird Farm, 1785 Caves Camp Rd., Williams, Ore. 97544. (541) 846-6676. Organic grower with family seeks farm. Seeking to partner-up in joint venture raising diverse vegetables, eggs, livestock, etc. supporting market stands, restaurants, and a CSA. Just because you slow down, your farm doesn’t have to. [email protected]. Want to buy land. Williams, Applegate, Jacksonville or Grants Pass area for permaculture. 10-40 acres, good water, good soil. Secluded, quiet with small house, cabin or yurt site. (541) 836-2943; [email protected]. Approx. 3 acres for rent or lease. Greenhouses, loamy soil, well water, irrigation tractor, forklift available, pole barn, near Jacksonville, Ore. Could be certified, negotiable (541) 951-2950. Safely detoxify with natural cellular defense. Purified, micronized, liquid zeolite. Removes heavy metals, herbicides, pesticides, depleted uranium, etc. Absorbs free radicals, buffers the body toward alkalinity, inhibits viral replication, improves liver and immune functioning, brings greater mental clarity and energy. Home business opportunity. Pamela Melcher. [email protected]. www.mywaiora.com/472784. (503) 946-8048. Room for rent on a permaculture homestead in Cottage Grove, OR. We are looking for someone who is ecologically conscious and socially interactive. We are two miles from town in a forested setting with gardens and a nursery on site. Rent is $300/month plus utilities. Contact Devon at (541) 942-3118 or [email protected]. Two acres for very reasonable rent or lease. McKenzie River bottom land near Walterville, Ore. Excellent S/SW exposure, gently swaled loamy pasture. Irrigation well, no pump. Serious inquiries. Organic only. Email: girving@ internetcds.com, or call (541) 741-7336. Organic Asian pear and apple orchard. Looking to enter into a lease or crop-sharing agreement with experienced grower. Our brand label fruits are in demand and are sold both wholesale and mail order. Contact (541) 673-7775, fax 957-5121; karl@rubenberger. com, www.asianpearsorganic.com. Farming opportunity/carpentry. Corvallis. Looking for a motivated farmer to overseer, farm a portion of the land, and help with maintenance in exchange for free rent and a portion of your profits (negotiable). I have market connections and access to a tractor. Carpentry skills a plus. Call (541) 766-8083, or email [email protected]. FEATURED GROWERS: JIM & LINDA CALKIN Heavenly Harvest Farm, Located between Corvallis & Albany Experienced, landless, organic grower looking for 1 to 5 acres (or large city lot) to rent/ lease/use for CSA/Market Garden operation in or around Portland or Eugene. Housing on-site or off. (503) 313-5239; or email [email protected]. Couple looking to buy farm land or form land partnership. Experienced in organic farming and permaculture design. Contact Lauren and Brian at [email protected]. Seeking to help a Willamette Valley organic farm expand by buying adjacent property and leasing to the farmer at an reasonable rate. Concerned with sustainability of Oregon’s food supply. Alan at [email protected]. Home business opportunity. Organically Grown, Raw Superfoods. Goji Berries, Maca, Blue Green Algae, Cordyceps Mushrooms, Noni, etc. Pamela Melcher. pamelamelcher@ gmail.com www.noblelifeelements.com/radiance. (503) 946-8048. SUPPLYING THE CO-OP WITH APPLE CIDER, APPLES, BROCCOLI, CAULIFLOWER AND MORE! North Store: 541-452-3115 29th & Grant Open 7-9 daily GROWER-DIRECT South Store: 541-753-3115 1007 SE 3rd St Open 9-9 daily PRODUCE, ALL YEAR. WWW.FIRSTALT.COOP N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 43 Organic is who we are. At NewOrganics, we’re passionate about what we do. We believe that the organic industry improves the world around us, and we have built our lives and our business around this philosophy. The farm of a New Organi It’s not just what we do. It’s who we are. When you work with NewOrganics, you benefit from: › Dedicated and responsive purchasing agents who are truly interested in you and your operation › Business integrity in all of our interactions with growers and customers › Effective communication; clear, prompt, and truthful › Knowledgeable staff who are experts in market trends, organic requirements, and quality concerns cs grow er in Sa skatche wan. NewOrganics is currently contracting: › › › › › › Corn Edible beans Flax Spelt Soybeans Wheat We are also seeking JAS certified, JAS equivalent, and EU certified crops. Organic & Non-GMO Ingredients Learn more at www.NewOrganics.com or call us at 888.541.GROW ext. 243 We’re passionate about what goes into our herbs ...and about what doesn’t. s gluten-free capsules s no excipients or fillers s no GMOs (genetically modified organisms) Please visit our new website at www.oregonswildharvest.com Pure. Safe. effective. Our harvest is in your hands. Page 44 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 October 30 - 31, Washington State Sheep Producer Annual Convention, Spokane. Information: (509) 968-9320. October 31 - December 20, Cowlitz County Historical Museum. Kelso, Wash. Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit - Key Ingredients: America By Food. See www.keyingredients.org. November 5 - 10, Creating Community: Establishing & Maintaining Thriving. Lost Valley, Dexter, Ore. Ecovillages, Intentional Communities, & Retrofit Neighborhoods. deeply informed by permaculture and by the global ecovillage culture. See www.lostvalley.org or call (541) 937-3351 x 106. food safety program; and specific information about identifying and addressing food safety risks on the farm. (503) 281-2500; http:// foodsafety.wsu.edu/ag/index.html. November 7, Sustainable Saturday Series, 21 Acres, Woodinville, WA. Learn and participate in a variety of activities showcasing and demonstrating sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship. Steve Dahl,(206-442-2061) www.21acres.org. November 6, Dinner Class: Thanksgiving Dinner with a Red Bourbon heritage turkey. Kookoolan Farms, Yamhill, Ore. Call (503) 730-7535. November 3-5, National Organic Standards Board Meeting, Washington, D.C. The NOSB assists in developing standards for substances to be used in organic production. NOSB committees will present recommendations on a variety of issues. (202) 720-3252, or visit www.ams.usda.gov/nop. November 7, Cheesemaking Class: Italian Hard Cheeses and Ageing/Asiago. Kookoolan Farms, Yamhill, Ore. Learn the basics of all hard cheesemaking, particularly Italian hard cheeses (using thermophilic culture) and with Asiago cheese as the demonstration. (503) 730-7535. November 5, NW Organic Farm Food Safety Summit. Portland. Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel. Update on pending food safety regulations and industry mandates; A forum for discussing and exploring issues and concerns pertaining to establishing an on-farm November 6 - 9, Sustainable Mini-Farming Workshop, Willits, California. An opportunity for in-depth learning of GROW BIOINTENSIVE® philosophy and techniques, which have been developed N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Continued on page 46 Page 45 Calendar Deadline for January / February calendar listings is November 20! Continued from page 45 by the Ecology Action staff over a 37-year period. Contact Ecology Action (707) 459-0150. November 6 - 7, Ebey’s Forever conference & Community Event. Coupeville, WA. celebrates American’s rural roots through sustainable ag, historic preservation, and local stewardship. See www.ebeysforever.com, (360) 678-6084; emi_morgan@partner. nps.gov. November 11 - 12, Pacific NW Vegetable Assoc. Conference and Tradeshow. Three Rivers Convention Center, Kennewick, WA. (509) 585-5460. November 13 - 15, Tilth Producers of Washington Annual Conference Yakima, WA. Friday symposium: Advanced Topics in Organic Farming with Amigo Bob Cantisano. Will feature more than 20 workshops, with a keynote address by Dr. E. Ann Clark of the University of Guelph. See www.tilthproducers.org. November 15, Local Harvest Dinner. Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort, Organic Garden and Kingfisher Dining Lodge, Leavenworth, WA. Wine and cheese tasting, and dinner. See www. sleepinglady.com. November 18, Residential Basics of Going Solar. Portland. This free workshop covers the basics of why solar is a smart choice for Oregon homeowners. (503) 231-5662; [email protected]. November 19, Organic Production Opportunities. Woodland, CA. Addressing soil fertility and pest management issues in certified organic farming. Seminar will feature speakers on fertility, weed/pest control and other issues. (916) 539-4107; see www.organicfertilizerassociation.org. November 26, Small Acreage Ranching and Farming Course. Pasco, WA. Assess the potential of your on-farm enterprise and apply successful whole farm management principles to your small farm operation. (509) 545-3511; Email [email protected]. wa.us. December 3, Proposal deadline. Grants can range from $6,000 for individual farmers up to $18,000 for groups of 3 or more farmers. Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) Farmer Rancher Grant Call for Proposals is now available online at http://sare.org/ncrsare/cfp.htm. December 3 -16, Winter Permaculture Design Course. Lost Valley Educational Center, Dexter, Ore. Practical Steps to Creating a Self-Sustaining World See www.lostvalley.org. December 3 - 5, Acres USA Conference, St. Paul, MN. The standard for innovation and learning. Farmers and consultants from every side of eco-farming who come together to share their experience and expertise. For more information, visit www.acresusa.com/events/events.htm. December 4, 24th Annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference, Black Mountain, North Carolina. An amazing educational opportunity for experienced farmers, new farmers, gardeners and activists alike. See www.carolinafarmstewards.org. December 7, Washington State Horticultural 105th Annual Meeting. Wenatchee, WA. The largest gathering of orchardists, shippers, suppliers and vendors in the nation. Call (509) 6659641; [email protected]. December 8 - 13, A Winter Intensive — On the Spiritual Foundations of Biodynamic Agriculture, Rudolf Steiner College, Fair Oaks, CA. Covering various aspects of biodynamics and anthroposophy, through discussions, hands-on sessions, lectures, and artistic activities. (916) 961-8727; www.steinercollege.edu, [email protected]. December 10, Winter Lights Festival. Brush Prairie, WA. Wisteria Gardens Winter Lights Festival brings community members out to enjoy fresh, crisp winter air, hear local musicians, and pick up some unique farm & garden gifts. (360) 667-0414. January 20 - 23, Ecological Farming Conference. Pacific Grove, Calif. With over 60 workshops the Eco-Farm Conference is the largest sustainable agriculture gathering in the western United States. See www.eco-farm.org for details. January 24 - 27, US Composting Council Conference and Tradeshow. Orlando, Florida, The ultimate composting conference! Email [email protected]; (631) 737-4931. Page 46 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Supporting Membership Your membership fee gives crucial support to Tilth’s Research & Education programs, entitles you to a one-year subscription to In Good Tilth, gives you free classifieds and reduces your admission fee at Tilth-sponsored events. $10 more enrolls you in the Oregon Tilth Yard and Garden program. Additional donations to Oregon Tilth Research & Education are welcomed! Detach and mail with your check for $30 ($40 outside U.S.), plus $10 for the Yard and Garden program, if applicable, to: Address County City, State, ZIP Phone Email Enclosed is my membership fee plus a Research & Education donation of ____. Enclosed is my additional $10 for one year for the Yard and Garden program. I am a current member with a new address. Catagory Support Tilth’s Mission Name Voting Privilege Benefits Oregon Tilth, 470 Lancaster Dr. NE, Salem, Oregon 97301 Save a stamp, renew your membership online at www.tilth.org. Dues Individual 1 Vote -In Good Tilth subscription -In Good Tilth Subscription classifieds in IGT -Free -Free classifieds in IGT -OTCO directory -Discounts (1 person) to(1) events -Discounts (1 person) to events $30/year($40 outside U.S.) $150 ($160 outside U.S.) Lifetime Household 1 Vote Primary Member Identified -In Good Tilth Tilth subscription -In Good Subscription classifieds in IGT -Free -Free classifieds in IGT -OTCO directoryto(1) -Discounts (2 persons) events -Discounts (2 person) to events $45/year($55 outside U.S.) $225 ($235 outside U.S.) Lifetime Non-profit 1 Vote Organization Primary Member Identified -In Good -In Tilth Good subscription Tilth Subscription -Free -Free classifieds in IGTin IGT classifieds -OTCO directoryto(2) -Discounts (5 persons) events -Discounts (5 person) to events $60/year ($70 outside U.S.) $300 ($310 outside U.S.) Lifetime For-profit 1 Vote -In Good -In Tilth Good subscription Tilth Subscription classifieds in IGTin IGT Organization Primary Member -Free -Free classifieds Identified -Discounts -OTCO directoryto(2) (5 persons) events -Discounts (5 person) to events $100/year ($110 outside U.S.) $500 ($510 outside U.S.) Lifetime Please Pleaseallow allowsix sixto toeight eight weeks weeksfor fordelivery deliveryof of InInGood Tilth . Oregon Good Tilth. Oregon Tilth Certified Organic Tilth Certified Organic growers, growers,processors processorsand and restaurants restaurantsare areeligible eligible for complimentary for complimentary membership. membership.IfIfyou youare areaa certified certifiedoperator operatormaking making an anadditional additionaldonation, donation, please pleaseindicate indicateyour your status. status.For Forquestions questions about membership contact about membership contact Oregon OregonTilth, Tilth, (503) (503)378-0690. 378-0690. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I do not want my name listed as a new member. New Oregon Tilth Supporting Members - with a total of 731 A Perfume Organic LLC Peter Betts Kristine Biernacki Bittersweet Farm Mary R. Bock Living Trust Camas Permaculture Classic Wine Vinegar Company, Inc. Conscious Living Systems Betty DeHamer ---Lifetime High Elm Farm Hood River Organic Carol Ann Johnson Carter Latendresse Ann Munson Naturepedic Regine Neiders Catherine N. Steffens Sandy Hill Ranch Katherine Farrell Shauna Flanigan Kat Green Golden Canyon Ranch J. Michael Reid & Joy Peuterbaugh To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co. WFM, Inc. Yale Creek Ranch Bold = Yard & Garden Regional Chapters B Street Project, Forest Grove Contact Terry O’Day, (503) 352-2765 Corvallis Garden Club Meetings are the second Sunday of every month. Contact Colin King, (541) 758-0316 In Good Tilth online Visit the IGT page on the Tilth site for a listing of distribution sites, select online articles, display ad rates and specs, deadlines for themeissue articles, classified and calendar listings, and sending letters to the editor. Visit www.tilth.org. N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5 Page 47 Beware of IMPOSTERS! (funny hats are always a tell-tale sign) Make sure you are using genuine Aza-Direct in your insect control program. Flexible & Friendly For use on organic and conventionally grown crops up to and including the day of harvest Highly Rened Formulated with minimal impurities to make the purest azadirachtin insecticide available Proven Performance Multiple modes of action – insect growth regulation, anti-feeding, repellency, and reproductive disruption Broad Spectrum Activity on a wide range of pests including aphids, borers, true bugs, caterpillars, psyllids and thrips For a FREE gift: www.AzaDirectORT.com For product information: (800) 883-1844 Aza-Direct is produced by a patented, eco-friendly process and can be used on organic and conventionally grown crops. This is a genuine Gowan Company advertisement. Don’t be fooled by other less superior advertisements. Aza-Direct® is a registered trademark of Gowan Company, LLC. EPA Reg. No. 71908-1-10163. Always read and follow label directions. AD09-14021_oregon-tilth 012109 Page 48 N ovember / D ecember 2009 • I n G ood T ilth • V olume 20, N umber 5