From sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.eduSat Apr 1 12:06:32 1995 Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 08:33:15 -0800 (PST) From: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" To: Principles of Sustainable Agriculture Subject: Fwd: Organic Cotton-HELP!!!! (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 09:27:32 -0500 From: TroyBogdan@aol.com To: sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.edu Subject: Fwd: Organic Cotton-HELP!!!! A member of America Online sent this to me. I thought that I should spread the word of this Texas tragedy. --------------------- Forwarded message: Subj: Organic Cotton-HELP!!!! Date: 95-03-31 02:58:16 EST From: Fishlaran Hi! I did a search of AOL members for "organic farming", and your name came up. I thought I'd send this along FYI. I am so mad I could just SPIT about the situation going on in Texas with the organic cotton growers. The state of Texas wants to start a Boll Weevil Eradication Program, spraying malathion on ALL cotton crops. The organic cotton growers have no choice in this matter, as a matter of fact, the state just yesterday told the organic cotton growers that if the bill passes the state senate and the organic cotton farmers don't allow the state to spray, the state will declare them a PUBLIC NUISANCE and destroy their crops!!!! The organic growers are fighting this based on property rights, not any moral issues 'cuz property rights is what they understand in legalese. The state says if the state has to destroy the crops, the organic cotton growers will not be compensated. I'm upset because if organic cotton is sprayed in Texas, it'll go the way of "organic" in California- which is to say California has the same malathion policy, so it's not really organic. Organic Cotton Growers in Texas phone #806-439-6646. The Organic Cotton Growers can fax you more info on the situation. These two guys are the authors of the stinky bills: Senator Sims in Texas fax #512-475 3732 (Senate bill 1196), Representative Patterson in Texas fax #512 463 4718 (House bill 2892). The legislative hearing is scheduled for the first week in April, 95. I'm going to fax the heck out this issue. I pray that you do, too. I can't believe that they won't give the organic growers the right to grow the way they want to!!!!!! Thank you for listening, Jessica fishlaran@aol.com From Dennis_Pamlin@ETT.se Fri Oct 7 10:57:26 EDT 1994 Article: 3942 of alt.sustainable.agriculture Date: 06 Oct 1994 16:32:43 -0000 From: Dennis_Pamlin@ETT.se (Dennis Pamlin) Reply-To: Dennis_Pamlin@ETT.se Subject: Re(2): Sally Fox Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture Here are two answers Hi Dennis: Her address is: Ms. Sally V. Fox Natural Cotton Colours 2533 7th Street Wasco, California 93280 U. S. A. Phone (805) 758-3928 Bye Osman If you are thinking ahead, sow a seed. If you are thinking ten years ahead, plant a tree. If you are thinking one hundred years ahead, educate the people. -Chinese Poet, 500 BC ************************************************************************** ****** Osman A. Gutierrez ******* ****** Graduate Research Assistant-Cotton Breeding Program ******* ****** North Carolina State University ******* ****** Department of Crop Science ******* ****** P. O. Box 8604 ******* ****** Raleigh, NC 27695-8604 U.S.A. ******* ****** Phone (919) 515-2827 / 7433 (Work) (919) 512-7959 (Home) ******* ****** Fax (919) 515-7378 ******* ****** E-Mail (Internet): osman@unity.ncsu.edu ******* ************************************************************************** Dennis-- You can reach Sally through: Fox Fibre P.O. Box 66 Wickenburg, AZ 85358 USA 602-684-7199 602-684-7299 (fax) +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ | Brian Baker, Technical Coordinator | | California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) | | 1115 Mission St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 | | phone: 408-423-2263 fax: 408-423-4528 | | internet: ccof@igc.apc.org | | "All great truths begin as blasphemies." | | --George Bernard Shaw | +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ Have nice day :-D From marcierose@aol.comSun Aug 6 22:33:08 1995 Date: Sun, 6 Aug 1995 21:02:50 -0400 From: marcierose@aol.com To: london@calypso-2.oit.unc.edu Subject: Re: ORGANIC COTTON (fwd) Ron, contact Sally Fox of Fox Cotton who has pioneered organic colored cotton here in the US. Garments from her fiber are sold in the Lands End catalog, LL Bean catalog, etc. I believe she is curreently headquartered in New Mexico and has an E-mail address on aol That should get you started MarcieRose@aol.com From jbgFC@hamp.hampshire.edu Wed Nov 2 22:34:04 1994 Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 22:35:22 -0500 (EST) From: Joel B Gruver Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. To: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." Cc: sanet-mg@twosocks.ces.ncsu.EDU, sustag-public@twosocks.ces.ncsu.EDU -to all interested in organic cotton I met Lorna McMahon owner of a 2300 acre mixed cotton, vegetable, ornamentals farm last winter at the 94' PASA conference. She grows a large acreage of organic cotton and seemed interested in sharing information about her production methods. Her address is as follows: Lorna McMahon Silvertop Farms Inc. Rt. 1 Box 345 Donaldson Rd. Tiptonville, TN 38079 From d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu Wed Nov 2 23:41:10 1994 Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 22:36:05 -0600 To: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." From: d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu (Dick Richardson) Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. >Does anyone have any information on growing cotton organically? Bob Berkenfield in the Texas Panhandle (near Nazareth, TX) is one who has evolved into organic cotton over the past few years. He's gotten the organic matter up to about 3.5% using feedlot compost (he and brothers started a compost company also) and cut his irrigation use by over 50% in the process. I don't know if this is a situation of interest, but if so, I'll dig up his address and phone number. ========================================================================= R. H. (Dick) Richardson * (512) 471-4128 (w) Zoology Department * (512) 471-9651 (FAX) University of Texas * (512) 476-5131 (h) Austin, TX 78712 * d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu From lowell@zelinski.com Thu Nov 3 00:55:59 1994 Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 21:21:31 -0800 To: london@sunSITE.unc.edu From: lowell@zelinski.com (Lowell Zelinski) Subject: growing cotton organically? In article , you wrote: > Does anyone have any information on growing cotton organically? I can help in this area... I consulting on cotton production for a living and have worked on a number of "organic" fields -- Lowell What a long strange trip its been From MIKE_SANDS.parti@parti.inforum.org Thu Nov 3 08:44:18 1994 Date: Thu, 3 Nov 94 08:45:00 -0500 From: MIKE_SANDS.parti@parti.inforum.org To: LONDON@PRESIDENT.OIT.UNC.EDU Subject: ORGANIC COTTON Reply-To: MIKE_SANDS.parti@parti.inforum.org Lawrence.... Absolutely the best source of information on growing cotton organically is Lorna Donaldson-McMahon, Silvertop Farms, Tiptonville TN. 901/253-8028. She is both growing cotton herself organically, but very involved with other producers here in the US. Does anybody else have international contacts or references? I would love to hear what others on SANET have to add to this discussion. Mike %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Michael Sands mike_sands.inbox@parti.inforum.org 1697 Weilers Road Alburtis, PA 18011 USA Tel: 610-395-9044 Fax: 610-398-9089 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% From prestons@ncatfyv.uark.edu Thu Nov 3 08:53:42 1994 From: prestons@ncatfyv.uark.edu (Preston Sullivan) Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. To: london@president.oit.unc.edu (Lawrence F. London, Jr.) Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 07:51:04 -0600 (CST) ATTRA has information on organic cotton production. Call 800-346-9140 to request it. From tarr@mercury.interpath.net Thu Nov 3 09:00:43 1994 Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 09:00:23 -0500 (EST) From: Paula Davidson Subject: Re: permaculture (fwd) To: Larry London From: steved@ncatfyv.uark.edu (Steve Diver) Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing organic soybeans. To: london@president.oit.unc.edu (Lawrence F. London, Jr.) Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 08:22:46 -0600 (CST) Cc: attranet@ncatfyv.uark.edu Larry-- In case you haven't received what we've already put together on these topics, ATTRA has info on both organic soybeans AND organic cotton. Reply by email and I'll write up your question for one of our sharpshooters to snail mail this info to U. For convenience, please include your mailing address and phone number. Steve Diver ATTRA From rexd@ncatfyv.uark.edu Thu Nov 3 09:45:54 1994 From: rexd@ncatfyv.uark.edu (Rex Dufour) Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. To: london@president.oit.unc.edu (Lawrence F. London, Jr.) Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 08:43:12 -0600 (CST) Cc: steved@ncatfyv.uark.edu (Steve Diver) > Does anyone have any information on growing cotton organically? > ________________________________________________ > Lawrence F. London, Jr. - london@sunSITE.unc.edu > ------------------------------------------------ Good Morning Mr. London: I work for the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas program, based in Fayetteville, AR. We are a private non-profit funded with a grant from the Dept. of Interior. ATTRA's mandate is to supply commercial growers, extension agents and others with information about sustainable agriculture production techologies. We have information about growing organic cotton, along with a wide variety of other topics. We also do customized research. Our service is free, as you are paying for it with your tax dollars. Please give me a call at 1-800-346-9140 and we can discuss your information needs. Rex Dufour Rexd@ncatfyv.uark.edu From RPE8105@acs.tamu.edu Thu Nov 3 10:59:08 1994 Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 10:58:49 -0600 To: london@sunSITE.unc.edu From: RPE8105@acs.tamu.edu (Richard Egg) Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. >Does anyone have any information on growing cotton organically? >Lawrence F. London, Jr. - london@sunSITE.unc.edu >------------------------------------------------ Lawrence, The July 29, 1994 PANUPS newsletter (posted to sanet) reported on the formation of the National Organic Cotton Association (NOCA). For info, contact executive director Rene Robin, (510) 649-1962. Richard Egg (r-egg@tamu.edu) Agricultural Engineering Department Texas A&M University (409) 845-7686 From f2f@igc.apc.org Thu Nov 3 11:36:12 1994 Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 08:36:13 -0800 From: Farmer to Farmer To: london@president.oit.unc.edu Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically Re: growing cotton organically, the first issue of Farmer to Farmer was about this very topic. It is out of print, but can be found on the World wide WEb (I'm sorry I don't have the address on me; we'll post it soon. In the meantime e-mail Thomas Nelson at CAFF: caff@igc.apc.org). I could send you a hard copy if you prefer. . . give me a mailing address. Since we are a small nonprofit, I can't send lots of copies to lots of people, though. Thanks! Lori Pottinger, assoc. ed. f2f@igc.apc.org From mgold@nalusda.gov Thu Nov 3 11:39:33 1994 Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 11:41:59 -0500 (EST) From: Mary Gold Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing organic soybeans. To: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." Cc: jgates@nalusda.gov Hello, The Alternative Farming Systems Information Center will, on request, perform and distribute specialized database searches free of charge. (Lengthy or complicated searches are done on a cost recovery basis.) In doing searches, we usually use the database created here at the library, AGRICOLA, but we also have access to other resources, databases and contacts should they be required. I am not sure what literature is available on your topic, but we would be happy to try a search. Just let me know if you are interested (or would like other information about our Center). Please include your surface mail address as some materials are not yet available electronically. Sincerely, Mary Gold, Assistant Coordinator Alternative Farming Systems Information Center National Agricultural Library, USDA Room 304 10301 Baltimore Blvd. Beltsville MD 20705-2351 301-504-6559 301-504-6409 FAX From dave.c.campbell@ucdavis.edu Thu Nov 3 16:13:34 1994 Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 13:12:59 -0800 To: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." From: dave.c.campbell@ucdavis.edu Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. Will Allen of the Sustainable Cotton Project of the National Organic Cotton Association can tell you most of what you need to know. His number is 209/862-0860 Dave Campbell UC SAREP dccampbell@ucdavis.edu From lowell@zelinski.com Mon Nov 7 20:01:36 EST 1994 Newsgroups: alt.sustainable.agriculture From: lowell@zelinski.com (Lowell Zelinski) Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. Organization: Consulting Agronomist Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 05:18:17 GMT I've done a reasonable amount of consulting on the production of cotton in the San Joaquin Valley. Some of it has been organic. Although I disagree with some organic production principles... I would still give my opinions. (consulting on cotton production is how I make a living) -- Lowell What a long strange trip its been From scilibrn@aol.com Tue Nov 8 10:26:20 EST 1994 Article: 2076 of sci.agriculture From: scilibrn@aol.com (SciLibrn) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture Subject: Re: Cotton seed producing colored fiber..where? Date: 7 Nov 1994 23:10:14 -0500 In article <39hfe2$sl2@usenetw1.news.prodigy.com>, PMGH35A@prodigy.com (HENRY BAKER III ) writes: there was an article in Organic Gardening or some such recently - ask your public librarian to show you how to use Reader's Guide From tarr@mercury.interpath.net Thu Nov 3 09:00:43 1994 Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 11:49:42 +0000 To: Paula Davidson Subject: Re: permaculture From: steved@ncatfyv.uark.edu (Steve Diver) Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing organic soybeans. In case you haven't received what we've already put together on these topics, ATTRA has info on both organic soybeans AND organic cotton. Reply by email and I'll write up your question for one of our sharpshooters to snail mail this info to U. For convenience, please include your mailing address and phone number. Steve Diver ATTRA From wcliebhardt@ucdavis.edu Fri Nov 18 14:56:30 1994 From: wcliebhardt@ucdavis.edu (William Liebhardt) Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 11:56:21 -0800 To: Larry London Subject: Re: Seeds for COLORED COTTON? (fwd) > ------- start of forwarded message ------- > From: Tony D Perdue > Newsgroups: alt.agriculture.misc > Subject: Seeds for COLORED COTTON? > Date: Fri, 18 Nov 1994 13:33:01 -0500 > Organization: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill > > > I am searching for sources for a small quantity of seeds of cotton > producing colored fibers/lint. I've seen a couple of posts in various > groups but they have all expired and I would greatly appreciate ANY > information or help that anyone would be kind enough to send me. Thanks!! > > Tony D. Perdue > tdperdue@email.unc.edu > ------- end of forwarded message ------- Joyce Fox has created some colored cotton lines in Californis but I do not know where she can be reached. If you call Pete Godell at 209-891-2515 he should be able to help you. He is an IPM specialist with the UC system. Good Luck. Bill Liebhardt Bill Liebhardt Univ Calif SAREP wcliebhardt@ucdavis.edu From Mdlip@aol.comFri Apr 7 11:11:06 1995 Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 17:54:47 -0400 From: Mdlip@aol.com To: Fishlaran@aol.com Cc: sanet-mg@ces.ncsu.edu Subject: Re: Organic Cotton-HELP!!!! Hi Jessica, Sorry I couldn't respond to your post right away. A do have a few thoughts on mandatory spray programs affecting organic farmers that might be helpful. I am a working organic farmer, and I also chair California's state Organic Foods Advisory Board. We (i.e., organic farmers and their associations) have had mixed results over the years with allowing alternative treatments for organic farms when the eradication-frenzy takes hold. With apple maggot and some other pests, we have been able to convince the authorities that an alternative set of (mandatory) controls would meet their objectives. This required a lot of persistence with the regulators, a lot of scientific homework, a fair amount of political pressure, some coalition-building with traditional agricultural interest groups (e.g. farm bureau), and in some cases the threat of economic liabilities incurred by the state (more on that in a moment). Anyway, there is some precedent for "organic compliance agreements" which satisfy the eradaicators and allow organic farms to not be sprayed with synthetic pesticides. The big failure here, of course, has been the various campaigns against the Mediterranean Fruit-fly. On this issue, the economic and political stakes (i.e., trade with Japan) are so high that alternatives have gotten virtually no consideration. Despite strong scientific evidence (and common sense conclusions) that the pest is here to stay and will never be "eradicated", and despite vigorous public protest by affected municipalities (certainly a much more potent political force than organic farmers) the spraying proceeds without much hesitation every year or so in some part of the state. Until last fall, there had not actually been an organic farm that was in a med-fly spray zone. I don't know how that situation turned out in the end (it may still be unresolved since the sprayed fruit was citrus and the fruit may not even have been budded yet). An obscure but important aspect of this debate is: can produce from organic farms sprayed by the government in these programs can still be sold as "organically grown"? It's a tough call. Do you force growers to lose their market and perhaps their livlihood because of a situation beyond their control? When we overhauled the state law in 1990 we tried to write it so that the produce could *not* be sold as organic, thus creating a situation where the state would be liable for damages. However, when push came to shove last year, the state issued an opinion that produce could still be sold as organic if it met the requirements for residual contamination beyond the grower's control. That is, the law allows organic foods to have up to 5% of the EPA tolerance for a given pesticide. It is of course illegal to actually use a synthetic pestice to grow or process the food, but if the food is contaminated by circumstances beyond the grower's control (which does indeed happen in our mad modern world), it can still be sold as organic if it meets this test. This is a long-standing feature of most state organic laws and I beleive that Texas' organic rules include something similar. We tried in 1990 to exclude application of this exemption in the case of mandatory spray programs, but it hasn't stuck legally yet. Which many organic farmers and condumers probably agree with. In 1990 we took the position that yes, although its not their fault, the grower should be punished in the marketplace and the government should then compensate the grower. In the context of the time, it seemed the right position to hold, and it has worked (to get alternatives accepted) in a couple of low profile cases. But this imposes a real burden on the grower to pursue such litigation, with an uncertain outcome. (Also, in the case of med-fly, the state indemnified itself against all damage claims from the spraying). So I guess we wanted to have the threat of economic damage to growers, without actually forcing it to come to that. In any case, the politics and economics seem to rule the situation. Scientific credibility is important, but probably not sufficient in the end. It seems to me that the Texas organic cotton boomlet has some fairly strong economic arguments on its side. It's potentially a huge new market for the state's growers and clearly is viable from an agricultural standpoint. Now if, in fact, this whole thing is a hidden agenda to get rid of the organic cotton movement, then the strategy needs to be a bit more confrontational. as you suggest, private property arguments ought to be pretty strong too. Can you put Farm Bureau on the spot with this one? Get some of the conservative-type groups to step up to the plate? One other useful issue may be the state budget. Are they paying for this with general funds? Welfare for King Cotton? Finally, if you get some momentum going your way, try for the full aikido-flip and push for state support of non-chemical solutions for managing boll weevil! Good Luck to you and the T.O.G.A. Mark Lipson [On April 1, fishlaran@aol.com wrote... >The state of Texas wants to start a Boll Weevil >Eradication Program, [text deleted - see above for original article] From trac@dante.lbl.govWed Aug 2 00:27:48 1995 Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 10:39:03 -0700 (PDT) From: Visiting Teachers To: Ronald Uthurrah Cc: paul craig , Kerstin Ohlander CASFS , LawrenceLondon Subject: organic cotton The Presisio Institute for Sustainable Development is currently pulling together resourcs that will address just the sort of search you are doing. We have two references for you: Kerstin Ohlander, Project Coordinator Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems UCSC College Eight, Rm 214 Santa Cruz, CA 95064 ph: 408-459-4786 fax: 408-459-5288 e-mail: kerstin@zzyx.ucsc.edu Will Allen, Co-director Sustainable Cotton Project 1312 T. Street Newman, CA 95363 ph: 209-862-0860 fax: 209-862-3470 One, or both, of these people should be able to get you answers, or at least get you on track. Please keep the Presidio Institute informed of your quest. We want to continue to help. Presidio Institute for Sustainable Development Division of Sustainable Agriculture Richard A. (Rick) Williams Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Mailstop 90-4000 Berkeley, CA 94720 phone: (510) 486-6394 fax: (510) 486-6996 e-mail: trac@dante.lbl.gov From jbgFC@hamp.hampshire.edu Wed Nov 2 22:34:04 1994 Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 22:35:22 -0500 (EST) From: Joel B Gruver Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. To: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." Cc: sanet-mg@twosocks.ces.ncsu.EDU, sustag-public@twosocks.ces.ncsu.EDU -to all interested in organic cotton I met Lorna McMahon owner of a 2300 acre mixed cotton, vegetable, ornamentals farm last winter at the 94' PASA conference. She grows a large acreage of organic cotton and seemed interested in sharing information about her production methods. Her address is as follows: Lorna McMahon Silvertop Farms Inc. Rt. 1 Box 345 Donaldson Rd. Tiptonville, TN 38079 From d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu Wed Nov 2 23:41:10 1994 Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 22:36:05 -0600 To: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." From: d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu (Dick Richardson) Subject: Re: QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. >Does anyone have any information on growing cotton organically? > Bob Berkenfield in the Texas Panhandle (near Nazareth, TX) is one who has evolved into organic cotton over the past few years. He's gotten the organic matter up to about 3.5% using feedlot compost (he and brothers started a compost company also) and cut his irrigation use by over 50% in the process. I don't know if this is a situation of interest, but if so, I'll dig up his address and phone number. ========================================================================= R. H. (Dick) Richardson * (512) 471-4128 (w) Zoology Department * (512) 471-9651 (FAX) University of Texas * (512) 476-5131 (h) Austin, TX 78712 * d.richardson@mail.utexas.edu From lowell@zelinski.com Thu Nov 3 00:55:59 1994 Date: Wed, 2 Nov 1994 21:21:31 -0800 To: london@sunSITE.unc.edu From: lowell@zelinski.com (Lowell Zelinski) Subject: growing cotton organically? From Kevin.Martin@mmc.mcdermott.com Thu Nov 3 07:59:06 1994 From: Kevin.Martin@mmc.mcdermott.com Date: 3 Nov 94 07:00:05 -0600 To: london@president.oit.unc.edu Subject: RE>QUESTION: Need information on growing cotton organically. Check with California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) - I think their e-mail is ccof@igc.apc.org. Regards, Kevin