6/6/03

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1.  Rodale Institute Launches Organic Initiative 
2.  Hearing Fails To Resolve Technical Assistance Concerns 
3.  Bioprospection - Or Pirates By A Different Name? 
4.  Confronting Global Climate Change in The Great Lakes Region

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1.  RODALE INSTITUTE LAUNCHES ORGANIC INITIATIVE 

Announcing what they are calling "the single-most ambitious agricultural initiative of this century," Anthony Rodale, chairman of Pennsylvania-based Rodale Institute, has declared a broad new vision for organic farming in the United States.  

Addressing leaders of the US organic industry gathered for an organic farming trade show, Rodale called for at least 5% of Americas remaining 2 million farmers to transition to organic farming by 2010. According to a Rodale Institute press release, 12,200 farmers, just over one percent of all US farms are certified organic. According to the release, the market for organic food and products is growing at an estimated 20 - 30% per year and currently accounts for more than $11 billion in annual sales.  

Rodale, whose grandfather, J.I.  Rodale, coined the term organic in 1942, said in the release, "Are we willing to sit back and witness the degeneration of our environment, and quietly lose control of the quality of food we eat every day?" Instead, he "called on leaders to pool resources and work together towards a common, quantifiable vision."  

2.  HEARING FAILS TO RESOLVE FARM BILL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CONCERNS 

The House Agriculture Committee's Conservation subcommittee held a hearing this week to try to resolve the technical assistance issues that have plagued the implementation of the conservation programs in the 2002 Farm Bill. Defenders of Wildlife, the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and others submitted joint testimony opposing the taking of money from the incentives programs to pay for technical assistance for the acreage programs, and supporting mandatory Commodity Credit Corporation funding for CRP and WRP technical assistance. Other groups offered a variety of cost-saving and appropriations solutions as possibilities. Observers of the hearing, however, felt that Congress members missed an opportunity to hold the Administration's feet to the fire for a solution to the technical assistance issue. Read witness statements by scrolling down to the June 4, 2003 heading. 

3.  BIO-PROSPECTION -  OR PIRATES BY A DIFFERENT NAME? 

As American-driven free trade policy dissolves the boundaries of nation-state economies, a new kind of questionable business is emerging for multinational corporations: Bio-prospection, the discovery and patenting of useful plant, animal and human genetic diversity.  Around the world, agrochemical and pharmacuetical corporations are applying for patents on everything from human stem cells to sacred and medicinal plants plant varieties. While the biotech industry prefers the sanitized term "bio-prospection," others have called it "bio-piracy": the immoral exploitation and control of naturally occurring biodiversity.  

The prospect is sobering. Imagine a future where a handful of economic powers without allegiance or dependence upon any nation-state, people or ecological system, control the distribution and price of patented seeds and medicines. Recent lawsuits by Monsanto suing farmers for replanting of patented seeds only hints at the potential problems.  Moreover, this trend is fully supported by trade rules that demand all countries accept bioprospectors and honor other nations' patents or face stiff trade sanctions. Carmelo -Ruiz Morrero, writing for Alternet has a detailed article out on this subject.  

4. CONFRONTING GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE GREAT LAKES REGION 

The Union of Concerned Scientists and the Ecological Society of America have released a new report, "Confronting Climate Change in the Great Lakes Region: Impacts on our Communities and Ecosystems." 

The Great Lakes region of the United Sates and Canada is home to 60 million people, and a wide array of agricultural communities, forested landscapes, wetlands and lakes. The report tracks temperature, precipitation and freeze and thaw data over the past 100 years, and offers projections and possible scenarios for the future. 

The report predicts mixed impacts of climate change for farmers in the Great Lakes region. Increased carbon dioxide and a longer growing season could increase productivity. However, climate change is also likely to alter precipitation patterns, bringing longer droughts in the growing season interspersed with severe rain events and flooding. Agricultural pests may also flourish in a warmer Great Lakes climate, with some like the bean leaf beetle, expanding their ranges, and others, like the European corn borer, may be able to reproduce more rapidly.