Spring 1993 (v5n3)
	Briefly Noted Compiled by David Campbell, SAREP GAO Reviews USDA Sustainable Erg Management The General Accounting Office (GAO) has released a report praising the SARE program for increasing interest and research in sustainable agriculture. The same report laments that many SARE program goals are undercut by conflicts with other USDA programs. The report notes the fragmentation of sustainable agriculture programs among nine separate agencies headed by four assistant secretaries and two under secretaries. No departmental policy currently exists to guide the efforts of these scattered programs. For copies of the report, Sustainable Agriculture: Program Management, Accomplishments, and Opportunities, write: U.S. General Accounting Office, P.O. Box 6015, Gaithersburg, MD 20877; or call (202) 275-6241. The first copy is free, additional copies are $2. Whitten replaced as chair of House Agricultural Appropriations Rep. Jamie Whitten, a Mississippi Democrat, was removed in December from his powerful roles as chair of the House Appropriations Committee and the Agricultural Appropriations subcommittee. He had served in the latter role for the past 33 years, a position from which he controlled USDA and FDA spending. He was often described as the real Secretary of Agriculture, as he controlled the Department's purse strings regardless of who was Secretary or which party was in power. Whitten was not considered a friend of sustainable agriculture and his departure marks an opportunity for reconsidering USDA spending patterns. Whitten's replacement as chair of the Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee is Richard J. Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois. See "Old Order Changes as Whitten Pushed Aside," Nutrition Week, newsletter of the Community Nutrition Institute, December 18, 1992, page 6. Self-reliant City Food Systems Political scientist Kenneth A. Dahlberg is working with a project to encourage cities to become more self-reliant and efficient in operating their local food systems. Dahlberg and others have worked to create a Food Policy Council in cities like Knoxville, Tennessee. Dahlberg writes, "One of the major challenges at this point is that few citizens or officials are aware of the extent and complexity of their local food systems, much less their potential. This is reflected in the fact that no city has a Department of Food. Equally, few people are aware that the value of the produce from all U.S. gardens (urban and rural) is roughly equivalent to that of the corn crop (approximately $18 billion/year!)." See "Knoxville Serves as Model for Local Food Systems," in Nutrition Week, Jan. 1, 1993, pages 4-5. Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Communities A recent study by three South Dakota State University professors examined the economic and social implications of a shift from conventional to sustainable agriculture. Part of the study focused on the impacts of such a conversion on rural community economic viability. The researchers concluded that during the transition some difficult economic adjustments might cause an overall decline in rural community economic health, unless government policies to support the transition are adopted. They believe that, in the long term, sustainable agriculture will benefit rural communities, especially if systems are developed that enhance moderate-sized family farms, leading to the need for new local marketing facilities, machinery, and services. See Thomas L. Dobbs, Donald Taylor, and James D.Smolik, Farm, Rural Economy and Policy Implications of Sustainable Agriculture in South Dakota, South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, B 713, May 1992. For copies contact Thomas L. Dobbs, Economics Department, Scobey Hall, Box 504A, Brookings, SD 57007-0895. California Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Forming Work is under way to create a California Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (CA SAWG). The group would be modeled after similar groups in other states and regions, such as the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. Among the aims of the group would be to provide grass roots input from California into the national level policy discussions that will shape the 1995 Farm Bill, as well as state and local policy initiatives. For more information, contact Will Allen, CIRS Rural Toxics Program, 418 Bartch Ave., Patterson, CA 95363; (209)892-8832. ISF Develops Criteria for Certified Forest Products The Institute for Sustainable Forestry in Redway, California has developed criteria for a certification and labeling program for ecologically harvested forest products. The program is known as Pacific Certified Ecological Forest Products (PCEFP). The criteria for the certification program are copyrighted as The Ten Elements of Sustainability. Among the elements are forest practices that maintain and/or restore the natural processes of the forest ecosystem, surface and groundwater quality, soil fertility, and a natural balance and diversity of native species in the area ecosystem. For more information contact The Institute for Sustainable Forestry, P.O. Box 1580, Redway,CA 95560. [ Back | Search | Feedback ]