Southern
SAWG Newsletter, Volume 3, #7
August 2007
As the kids are heading back to school, Southern SAWG’s focus is on education as well. In this issue we bring you breaking news about the 2008 Southern SAWG conference, and we are excited to announce the release of a new video that profiles the innovative cheese-making operation of Sweet Grass Dairy. You will also find crucial Farm Bill information and action ideas, news of a unique new online training program from SARE, and a story of hard-won knowledge about buying mulch.
As
you read this issue, feel free to take a few minutes and write
to us about
something you have learned this summer, a topic you would like to see
us cover,
or any feedback you would like to share. We look forward to hearing
from you.
| Into
the Home Stretch with the Farm Bill: A Summary of Key Points and `What You Can Do Right Now |
With potential big new wins as well as losses, The Senate Farm Bill and the Conference Committee are our last opportunities to make a difference! Read on and YOU will be able to take action!
On July 27, the House of Representatives passed its version of the 2007 Farm Bill, House Resolution 2419, which contains some important advances for sustainable agriculture. It also contains some serious flaws that need to be addressed during the next part of the process. Congress is now in recess for the month of August, returning to Washington the day after Labor Day. The next step on the Farm Bill is that shortly after Congress returns, the Senate Agriculture Committee will submit a draft of the 2007 Farm Bill to the full Senate for debate, amendments and passage.
When the Senate version is passed, a Conference Committee of key Senators and Representatives will then meet to reconcile the Senate and House versions, and come to agreement on a final Farm Bill for both houses of Congress to pass and send to the President to be signed into law.
Congressional leaders still intend to get the bill to the President by the end of September, when the 2002 Farm Bill expires.
Once you learn about the pros and cons of the House Farm Bill from this article, you will be able to make a difference right now! Actions you can take include:
- Talk with members of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
- Talk with those Representatives who will likely sit on the Conference Committee--Chairpersons and Ranking Minority Members of the House Agriculture Committee and each of its Subcommittees.
- Write letters to the editors of newspapers on Farm Bill issues.
Advances for sustainable agriculture in HR 2419 include:
- Provisions that can help new farmers get off to a successful start;
- Increased funding for research, technical and financial support for organic producers;
- Funding to promote new urban farms, farmers’ markets and other community based food projects; and
- Measures to provide equal access to USDA programs for minority farmers.
- HR
2419 does not reform the Commodity Title, that part of
the Farm Bill that provides subsidies for corn, soybeans, wheat and
other commodity crops.
The Senate Ag Committee could establish effective payment limitations and restore the Commodity Title to its original purpose, rather than allow HR 2419 to actually increase commodity payments to megafarms! - There are severe cuts to the Conservation Security Program
(CSP), a program that supports farmers to adopt land and resource
stewardship.
The Senate Ag Committee can support Senator Harkin’s Comprehensive Stewardship Incentives Program! - Funding
for the Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program
(CFP--providing grants and technical assistance to farmers' markets,
urban farms, community gardens, farm-to-school programs and other
community food projects) is discretionary, rather than
mandatory. This means that the program could be severely cut
or
virtually eliminated at any time.
The Senate Ag Committee can establish the CFP Grants Program as a MANDATORY program with a minimum $30 million/year budget! - HR
2419 contains the so-called "pesticide non-discrimination amendment,"
which would essentially prohibit USDA personnel from advising farmers
to avoid high-risk pesticides or promoting alternatives to pesticides,
thus undermining farm conservation programs. It would also
hobble
USDA efforts to provide technical assistance to farmers transitioning
to organic production.
The Senate Ag Committee can eliminate this harmful amendment! - HR
2419 does not include vital reforms that would protect farmers' rights
in contracts with agribusiness.
The Senate Ag Committee can support real agriculture contract reform, including a ban on mandatory arbitration clauses in contracts!
Remember, calls and faxes on a specific issue from just six to ten constituents may influence a Representative’s or Senator's position on that issue. So--choose the one or two issues that speak to you most directly, and focus your contact on those items.
Thank you for whatever you can do for a better Farm Bill.
| Photo
Competition: Win a Trip to SARE’s 20th Anniversary Conference Groundbreaking Innovations, People and Partnerships in Sustainable Agriculture |
The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, one of Southern SAWG’s valued partners, provides education, resources, and funding information on farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound, and good for communities. In celebration of their 20th anniversary, they are holding their first-ever national photo competition, seeking photos from all corners of the nation that depict innovations, people and partnerships advancing the frontier of sustainable agriculture in America.
The top four photos, one from each of SARE’s regions in the United States, will receive grand prizes of free attendance and accommodations at SARE’s 20th Anniversary conference, to be held March 25-27, 2008 in Kansas City, Missouri.
To learn more and to enter the competition, click here.
| Wendell
Berry and Joel Salatin at Southern SAWG Conference January 16-19, 2008 Galt House Hotel and Suites, Louisville, KY |
Southern SAWG’s annual Practical Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms Conference program is already shaping up to be a blockbuster! Joel Salatin will give the keynote address at our Taste of Kentucky dinner Saturday evening, and will lead two conference sessions--one on his multi-species grazing and one on his marketing strategies.
Plus, in a unique event with Wendell Berry, his readers will have the opportunity to participate in a structured conversation with him that will take place on Thursday evening. We will talk with Mr. Berry, the renowned essayist, poet, author of novels and short stories, and farmer, about why he and the rest of us in the sustainable agriculture community have taken on this necessary work, what is the heart and soul of our vocation, how we see ourselves in the larger cultural picture, what gives us hope, and what sustains our love for farming.
Watch for more details about our conference next month. The full program, including conference sessions, short courses, mini-courses, field trips, and other special activities, will be posted on our website October 1. We look forward to seeing everyone in January!
| Southern
SAWG Presents a New Enterprise Video: Artisan Cheese Production and Marketing |
Visitors to film festivals won’t get to see it, and you
can’t order it from Blockbuster or Netflix, but you can get
it right
here. The latest
video in the highly acclaimed Natural Farming Systems in the South
series, featuring Sweet Grass Dairy, is available exclusively from
Southern SAWG. 
The veteran video production team, headed by Southern SAWG’s
Jean
Mills, takes you inside Sweet Grass Dairy, the award-winning
handcrafted cheese enterprise located near Thomasville, Georgia. Learn
how this family operation developed a sustainable dairy using
rotational grazing, and broke into the gourmet artisan cheese market in
a big way. Owners Jessica and Jeremy Little, along with
Jessica’s
parents Al and Desiree Wehner, who founded the operation, share the
production and marketing expertise that has allowed them to exceed
expectations and produce an outstanding line of cows’ and
goats’ milk cheeses that is coveted by chefs and consumers
throughout the country.
Artisan Cheese Production and Marketing was produced under Southern
SAWG’s Southern Region Educator Training program, funded and
supported by the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and
Education (SARE) program. Also in the works under this program are an
accompanying training manual, video guide, and enterprise profile, as
well as an additional new video, Pastured Dairy Production, all of
which will be completed soon.A two-minute preview clip of the twenty-minute video can be downloaded from our Farm Videos web page, which also features previews of the other videos in the series. You can order the full video here.
| Southern
SAWG’s CFS Training a Hit Building and Sustaining Effective Community Food Projects |
Can local organizations
achieve the structural, organizational, and
financial capacity to effectively develop community food systems?
Twenty-five participants tackled this question with Southern SAWG
management and food systems experts Ruth Peebles and Keecha Harris in a
workshop held in Nashville TN on July 25-26, 2007.
The workshop, entitled Building and Sustaining Effective Community Food Projects and funded by the USDA-CSREES (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service ) Community Food Projects Program, had two main objectives:
- Developing organizational capacity building skills in order to achieve financial sustainability
- Creating partnerships and alliances for more effective food systems work
Participants from the host organization, Food Security Partners of Middle Tennessee, were able to highlight community food work efforts being made in the Nashville area. Organizations as diverse as the Mvskoke Food Sovereignty Initiative in Oklahoma and the North Carolina Farm Workers Project described being inspired by the “excellent training and trainers.” One participant commented, “I think the introduction to using asset-based language, and developing programming from an asset-based perspective will help me be more effective in my work.” Another participant began forming a community board within a week after returning from the workshop.
Southern SAWG provides ongoing training and technical assistance to organizations working on community food systems in the South. A similar training, building on the Nashville workshop experience, will be held in 2008. In addition, numerous sessions addressing community food work will be included in the 2008 Southern SAWG conference.
| Herbicide-Tainted
Hay: A Cautionary Tale from Virginia |
An ominous headline, “Bitter Harvest in Sperryville,” appeared in the Washington Post last month, announcing the story of a sustainable farming couple in Virginia who found their natural system undermined this summer in an unexpected way. Rachel Bynum and Eric Plaskin, who operate Waterpenny Farm, experienced unusual deterioration of many of their crops almost overnight, with no obvious explanation. The discovery that the destruction was caused by an herbicide didn’t make sense, as they don’t use pesticides or herbicides, until investigations revealed that a large amount of hay they had purchased for mulch had, in fact been sprayed with an herbicide called Grazon.
Read the Washington Post story here, and learn how these resourceful farmers have staged a cleanup and recovery with a lot of help from their friends, in their letter published in the Rappahonnock News. Read letter here.
| Continuing
Education Program in Sustainable Agriculture First Online Course for from SARE for Ag Professionals Now Available |
The first course in the series, "Sustainable Agriculture: Basic Principles and Concept Overview" is now available. Produced by Sustainable Agriculture and Research (SARE) as part of their new National Continuing Education Program in Sustainable Agriculture, the online course is designed for agricultural professionals. The program provides a detailed introduction to sustainable agriculture and what it means for farmers, ranchers and communities. Perhaps most importantly, it explains how sustainable concepts and principles relate to the roles of educators as they try to improve farming and ranching systems. Future courses will cover subjects such as agroecology, strategic marketing, and more. Learn more…
Visit Southern SAWG online at
Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Inc. (Southern SAWG) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1991 to promote sustainable agriculture in the Southern United States.
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