Northeastern Sustainable Ag
WILLIAMSBURG, Mass.
How can a declining agriculture in
the Northeast be revitalized and a
more sustainable system of food
production and distribution be
established that is ecologically
sound, economically profitable for
farmers, and makes affordable,
safe food accessible to everyone?
About 85 farmers, environmen
talists, hunger, and safe food
activists and representatives of
federal and state agencies and uni
verisides considered this question
at a Western Massachusetts con
ference November 14-15.
The newly-formed Northeast
Sustainable Agriculture Working
Group (NESAWG) convened the
working seminar to chart the
course for future activities in
prompting sustainable agriculture
in the region that includes the New
England states. New York, Penn
sylvania, and New Jersey. The
network consists of sustainable
and family farm, environmental,
and safe food/consumer advocacy
organizations from throughout the
Northeast. Representatives of sev
eral land grant univerisities and
state agriculture agencies have
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been actively supporting the effort
as well.
Pennsylvania Association for
Sustainable Agriculture (PASA)
Pennsylvania Farmers Union, and
Rodale Institute have been instru
mental in helping to organize the
broad-based network. Tim Bow
ser, director of PASA, spoke at
one of the conference workshops.
"As farmers, we know how
important it is to farm sustainab
ly,” he said. We need to protect
the soil and water resources as
well as the economic stability of
the farmer. We also need to bring
farmers, consumers, and environ
mentalists together to work for the
common goal of a sustainable
food system that will take us into
the future.”
During the two-day conference,
a regional sustainable food system
was offered as an alternative to the
existing system that is currently
dominated by large agribusiness
and has caused the loss of family
farms and decline of rural econo
mies, as well as pollution and
depletion of topsoil and water by
excessive use of agricultural
chemicals. Chemical-intensive
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agricultural practices have also led
to increasing consumer concern
about the possible harmful affects
of pesticide residues in food. In
addition to Bowser, who serves as
co-chair of the NESAWG Policy
and Farm Bill Committee, Penn
sylvania was represented by
Rochelle Kelvin of the Rodale
Institute. Kelvin serves on the
NESAWG Marketing Committee.
Gregory Watson, Massa
chusetts Commissioner of Food
and Agriculture, advocated a
holistic approach as he addressed
the conference. He suggested
incorporating traditional and inno
vative techniques that, besides
being ecologically sound and eco
nomically viable, would foster a
sense of community and empow
erment of both farmers and
consumers.
“There is no single formula, no
magic bullet,” said Watson. “The
key is diversity at all levels in the
system.” He described some sus
tainable strategies used to revital
ize his state’s agricultural eco
nomy, including programs to pre
serve exisiting farmlands and to
help farmers with new marketing
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 12, 1992-C9
Advocates Meet
methods.
The keynote speaker, Mark
Ritchie, director of the Institute
for Agriculture and Trade Policy
in Minneapolis, Minn., asserted
that U.S. farm policies have
encouraged resource-depleting
agriculture by rewarding chemical
and capital intensive agribusiness
and penalizing small and mid
sized family farms and farmers
that would like to switch to sus
tainable practices.
Ritchie said, “We need policies
that offer incentives as well as
prohibitions, based on respect for
the land, people and other ani
mals, present and future, and that
are decided through democratic
processes.’’ He advocated policies
that would promote more stability
between supply and demand,
balancing the need for adequate
food reserves for times of crisis
and the need to control overpro
duction. These policies should
Alfalfa Offers
%
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developed by the University of
Wisconsin. It assumes one forage
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provide fair prices to farmers and
incentives to farm smaller parcels
of land which are more efficient
and can be farmed more
sustainably.
Ritchie cautioned that the North
American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) and the pending Gener
al Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
(GATT) would preempt or under
mine U.S. policies and state laws
that now protect farmers, consum
ers, and the environment.
The diverse group wrestled
with creating a vision of a sustain
able food system and discussed
how federal farm and trade poli
cies and research at land grant uni
versities could promote such a
system. Another major topic of
discussion was alternative market
ing systems which would encour
age more food self-sufficiency in
the region and would provide fair
prices to farmers for food grown
in a sustainable manner.
is fed to dairy cows producing 70
pounds of milk a day.
An early maturity variety, At
tainer also affords an expanded
time period for harvest to Kelp
maintain relative feed value, even
under adverse hay-making condi
tions. It is recommended for high
management farm operations
where high quality hay or haylage
is desired.
Attainer is highly resistant to all
major alfalfa diseases, including
bacterial wilt, anthracnose, phy
tophthora, verticilliuip wilt, and
fusarium.
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