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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] California agribusiness pressures school to nix Michael Pollan lecture
  • Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:43:12 -0600


California agribusiness pressures school to nix Michael Pollan lecture
October 14, 2009 | 12:07 pm
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/10/california-agribusiness-pressures-school-to-nix-michael-pollan-speech.html

Agribusinesses across the U.S. have a beef with sustainable food guru Michael
Pollan, but at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo it has taken on a definite sizzle.

Threatening to pull donations from the school, a major California
agribusiness has succeeded in turning what was to be a campus lecture by
Pollan tomorrow into a panel discussion involving Pollan, a meat-science
expert and one of the largest organic growers in the U.S.

"While I understand the need to expose students to alternative views, I find
it unacceptable that the university would provide Michael Pollan an
unchallenged forum to promote his stand against conventional agricultural
practices,'' David E. Wood, chairman of the Harris Ranch Beef Co., wrote in a
scathing Sept. 23 letter to the Cal Poly president.

Wood has pledged $150,000 toward a new meat processing plant on campus. In
his letter, he said Pollan's scheduled solo appearance had prompted him to
"rethink my continued financial support of the university.'' He also
criticized an animal sciences professor who said that conventional feedlots
like the one run by Harris Ranch were not a form of sustainable agriculture.

Cal Poly officials said they had contemplated using Pollan's talk as the
basis for a panel discussion at some point, but the negative reaction to the
scheduled lecture from Harris and other agricultural interests propelled the
plan onto the front burner.

"When we realized how significant a backlash was coming, we thought of having
the panel right after his speech," said David Wehner, a Cal Poly dean.

"I'm frustrated and saddened by some people's attitudes,'' he said. "They've
looked at this as us supporting his views and not supporting them. We don't
have a political position -- we only educate students.''

In an interview, Pollan said he rejected the idea of appearing on a panel
after his scheduled talk.

"I thought, 'Wow! You're going to add some whole other event at the behest of
some cranky donors?' " he said of his response to the change. Pollan said he
offered the university a choice of either having him lecture or participate
in a panel.

Pollan, who teaches in the journalism program at UC Berkeley, has encountered
resistance to his campus appearances from farm businesses in Washington and
Wisconsin. "It's part of what appears to be a more aggressive industry
pushback against critics of industrial agriculture,'' he said in an interview.

He said the Harris letter raised troubling questions about academic freedom.

"The issue is about whether the school is really free to explore diverse
ideas about farming,'' he said. "Is the principle of balance going to apply
across the board? The next time Monsanto comes to speak at Cal Poly about why
we need [genetically modified organisms] to feed the world, will there be a
similar effort? Will I be invited back for that show?"




  • [Livingontheland] California agribusiness pressures school to nix Michael Pollan lecture, Tradingpost, 10/20/2009

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