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  • From: "Kevin Ancell" <kancell AT goodearthgardens.com>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Organic Farming Expo
  • Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 07:18:26 -0700

NM Organic Farming Expo




By DANICA TUTUSH | The New Mexican 02/09/2003




Dealing with organic certification, soil fertility and management and
sustainable agriculture are just a few of the topics tackled over the
weekend at the New Mexico Organic Farming and Gardening Expo, held at the
Glorieta Conference Center.

More than 400 participants attended the two-day conference, according to
Joan Quinn of the New Mexico Organic Commodities Commission. The conference,
coordinated by the NMOCC and The Farming Connection, included 27 workshops
on topics such as organic greenhouse design, high-desert gardening,
regional-marketing networks, farm-business planning and record keeping and
organic goat and sheep production.

"This year one of the big concerns on the minds of New Mexico farmers are
the new federal organic standards," Quinn said.

In October 2002, the federal government implemented unified, national
standards for all farmers, ranchers and food processors to follow in order
to claim their products are "certified organic."

Under the new measures, farmers must be certified by an agency accredited by
the Department of Agriculture.

In the past, certification was often done on a state-by-state basis, and the
standards varied greatly, Quinn said. The New Mexico Organic Commodity
Commission is the state's certifying agency.

Quinn said the federal standards were developed with several ideas in mind:
protecting the consumer and regulating products, and setting specific
guidelines for all growers and producers to follow.

Today, all food labeled "certified organic," for example, must adhere to the
following:


No use of synthetic (chemical) pesticides or herbicides


No genetically modified organism in plants or seeds


No irradiation


No use of sewage sludge on the soil

The new federal guidelines are similar to those New Mexico had in place,
Quinn said. But with the political climate in Washington, small producers in
New Mexico worry about the future. There are approximately 100 certified
producers in New Mexico and about 50 registered producers (those who expect
to make less than $5,000 annually from farming and are subject to fewer
regulations).

"There is always concern that the larger agricultural enterprises with their
own power lobbies will want to water down the standards in the future," she
said.

When the U.S. Agriculture Department drafted the guidelines, for example,
organic certification included irradiated and genetically modified food,
Quinn explained. It was only after the USDA heard complaints from consumers
and producers that this was changed.

Water, drought and soil management also weigh heavy on the minds of New
Mexico farmers this year, Quinn said.

"We had organic wheat farmers in Northern New Mexico who couldn't plant last
year, and we have farmers along the Rio Grande who will probably only have a
few inches of irrigation water this year," she said.

Agricultural sustainability - creating profitable and environmentally
friendly small-farming operations, particularly in the face of
globalization - was the theme at the conference, now in its 14th year.

Guest speaker Wes Jackson, co-founder of The Land Institute in Salina, Kan.,
and author of New Roots for Agriculture, Becoming Native to the Place, From
the Good Earth and Meeting the Expectations of the Land, addressed this
topic.

"The so-called movement is stalled and feels like it's grinding to a halt,"
Jackson said in his keynote speech.

In the mid-70s, Jackson left academic work as a geneticist-agronomist to
pursue his vision of natural-systems agriculture based on perennial crops.
At his research and demonstration farm in Kansas, he has developed a program
to convince farmers to replace annual grains with perennial crops.

In building sustainable agriculture, the United States needs to encourage
ecological rather than technological measures, Jackson said.

Soil erosion, disrupted ecosystems and dwindling natural resources are some
of what happens when technology goes too far, he said, citing the
Mississippi River Valley, where nitrates used in farming have leached and
created hypoxia, or a "dead zone."

There are 50 such dead zones around the world, Jackson said.

"Science and technology cannot always solve the problems they create," he
said. "Nothing beats thrift, efficiency, discipline and restraint."

When planting crops around the world, Jackson said farmers should "mimic
nature's ecosystem."

For more information on organic farming in New Mexico, contact the New
Mexico Organic Commodities Commission at 505-266-9849 and The Farm
Connection at 983-4098.




  • [Market-farming] Organic Farming Expo, Kevin Ancell, 02/10/2003

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