Summer 1993 (v5n4)
by Jill Auburn, SAREP
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's
Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Team held its third quarterly
telephone conference call on May 5, 1992. The conference calls
are designed to share information between the USDA staff in Washington
and people in the states.
Jim Bushnell, the leader
of the team from the Extension Service, described the $3 million
earmarked for new sustainable agriculture activities in the President's
budget for the USDA. Both Bushnell and Ferd Hoefner, Washington
representative for a coalition of sustainable agriculture nonprofit
organizations, expressed hope that the final figure might be even
higher. The funds are expected to be used for Chapters 2 (Integrated
Management Systems) and/or 3 (Education and Training) of the sustainable
agriculture section of the l990 Farm Bill, each of which is authorized
for up to $20 million in funding but has received no funding to
date.
George Bird, Cooperative
State Research Service director of the national Sustainable Agriculture
Research and Education (SARE) program (Chapter 1 of the same Farm
Bill), reported that the $6.725 million that the program currently
receives leverages approximately $l5 million more in matching
funds from grant recipients. The National Sustainable Agriculture
Advisory Council (NSAAC), appointed to advise the USDA on sustainable
agriculture, was scheduled to hold its first meeting June 9-11
in Omaha, Nebraska. Administrative changes in the program include
a change in the host institution for the Southern region SARE
program from Louisiana State University to a new (as yet unannounced)
site, and the appointment of a new director as Bird returns to
his nematology position at Michigan State University in September.
Despite the end of his two-year term as director, Bird will maintain
his involvement in sustainable agriculture with CSRS. Of particular
interest is the review of "sustainable agriculture relevancy"
of research beyond the SARE program (e.g. research conducted by
the Agricultural Research Service; research funded by the National
Research Initiative), stimulated by Senator Thomas Daschle's
hearings last September.
Jim Bushnell reported on the draft
guidelines being developed for the administration of Chapters
2 and 3, if they are funded. Chapter 3 includes regional training
centers for training extension workers and other agricultural
professionals, competitive grants for educational programs, and
technical guides and handbooks. The training center funds would
not be for "mortar & bricks," he emphasized, but
would involve faculty from universities and nonprofit organizations
throughout each region. Farmers and ranchers would be involved
as teachers, and their farms might be satellite centers for the
training. The ad-hoc group developing the guidelines will be seeking
input over the coming months.
The conference call concluded
with brief reports from the participants in various states. Teresa
Maurer of Appropriate Technology
Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA, a non-profit information center
in Fayetteville, Arkansas) said that they are seeking nominations
for the second version of the SAN Directory of Expertise (see
Resources, page 9);contact ATTRA at 1-8O0-346-9140
for more information. Chuck Francis of the University of
Nebraska described a binder of information available at cost ($35)
from the recent four-state (MI, IA, KS, NE) training on integrated
resource management, and other forthcoming publications. Bill
Given of the University of Georgia described the recent Southern
region meeting at Callaway Gardens (a tabloid summary and proceedings
are planned), and David Granatstein of
Washington State University announced plans for an October 2-26
meeting addressing issues of systems research and education.
Greg Gajewski of the Economic Research Service described
a data template they have developed for researchers to compile
information for their national model of the economic, environmental,
and social effects of sustainable agriculture.
While most of the several dozen participants
in the May call were from universities, the quarterly conference calls
are open to any and all participants on a first-come, first-serve basis.
The dates and telephone number to call, along with other timely information
and dialogue about sustainable agriculture, are shared through the computer
electronic mail group "sanet-mg," accessible via the Internet
computer network and the many commercial and nonprofit networks that connect
to it (e.g. Compuserve, MCI-Mail, Econet, America On-Line, etc.) The e-mail
group is sponsored by the national Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN)
chaired by UC SAREP's Jill Auburn, and staffed by Gabriel
Hegyes at the National Agricultural Library. For more information
about SAN, contact Auburn (within California) at (916) 757-3278 (Internet:
jsauburn@ucdavis.edu) or Hegyes (outside California) at (301) 504-6425
(Internet:ghegyes@nalusda.gov). Audio cassette tapes of the most recent
conference call are available from Charles Morgan, USDA extension
Service, South Building, Room 3335, Washington, DC 20250-09OO, (202) 690-3656.
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