From mgs23@pacbell.net Mon Aug 30 12:54:53 1999 Date: Sun, 29 Aug 1999 19:57:01 -0700 From: Misha To: SANET-mg Subject: Rominger on organics Howdy, all-- In response to the recent queries about USDA Deputy Secretary Richard Rominger's attitudes toward organic and sustainable ag, you might want to check out the address he gave at the 19th Annual Ecological Farming Conference in Pacific Grove, CA, in January of '99. For an audiotape, order from this Web source: http://www.csa-efc.org/tapes99.html For a printed copy, pick up the Summer, 1999 (#6) issue of the Organic Farming Research Foundation's information bulletin. Ask for subscription/order information: research@ofrf.org Among his other comments, he said: "The growth and prosperity of the small farmer is a key aspect of organic farming. Like sustainable farming and farmers' demonstrated capacity to do right both by the environment and their own economics, it's an excellent reason why organic agriculture is an idea whose time as come. At its core, certifying products as organic is about choice--choice for American consumers and the opportunity for small farmers and ranchers to build a solid niche for themselves and expand their growing markets." He mostly talks about USDA programs that deal with organics. From my reading, he doesn't come across as "pro" or "con"--but that's not surprising. That's not his job. But he certainly doesn't sound like he's negating organics, or unaware of some of the key research, policy, and practice issues (from his agency's perspective). That could simply mean he has a good speechwriter. I don't mean that to sound cynical. Part of our job as sustainable and organic action-takers and vision-makers is to educate people within agencies, universities, and other institutions about why we do what we do--our vision, our actions, our beliefs. We can honk about "government" not being aware, or "the Land Grants" ignoring our concerns, but input into places of power has always required energy, focus, and creativity. Seems to me that taking common sense to high places is an intentional effort, not an automatic one. peace misha ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michele Gale-Sinex Communications manager Center for Integrated Ag Systems, UW-Madison http://www.wisc.edu UW voice mail: 608-262-8018 Home office: 415-504-6474 (504-MISH) Home office fax: Same as above, phone first for enabling ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you knew what life was worth, you would look for yours on earth. And now you see the light--you stand up for your rights. --Bob Marley, Peter Tosh To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command "unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest". To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command "subscribe sanet-mg-digest". All messages to sanet-mg are archived at: http://www.sare.org/san/htdocs/hypermail