opwg AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Organic Pineapple Working Group

Description: The Organic Pineapple Working Group (OPWG) is a semiautonomous subgroup of the Pineapple Working Group (PWG) of the Commission for Tropical and Subtropical Horticulture of the International Society for Horticultural Science

Monday, July 12, 2004

Dear Present and Future Organic Pineapple Working Group Members,

The OPWG now has it's own mailing list and all present members have been subscribed. New subscribers can do so below. From now on, all posts to the OPWG should be sent to:

Organic Pineapple Working Group

(ibiblio.org, which has kindly provided us with this valuable service, forms part of the University of North Carolina).

All posts sent to the OPWG will be emailed automatically to the address or addresses provided by each OPWG member previously.

OPWG POSTING PROTOCOLS

Please configure your email client or browser to send pure rather than html or rich text.

Also, when replying to previous posts or citing external information sources, please edit the quoted text so that only relevant information is resent. This means deleting all previously posted text that isn't relevant to the additional comments made in the current post. (Full quotes are usually copied automatically by most email clients).

A short reply that needlessly repeats the full text of the previous post, wastes bandwidth, increases download times and requires additional hard disk, server and archive space. This is a request commonly made on many lists.

Likewise, when posting long articles available on the internet, it may be best to supply only the url and a brief but comprehensive description of the content.

Lastly: Among individuals as with nations, respect for the rights, opinions, sensitivities and values of others, brings peace (paraphrasing Benito Juarez, one of Mexico's most respected Presidents and a full-blooded Zapotec).

Other suggestions in this regard are also welcome.

I will moderate the list at present but at least one other active member will be invited to share this task with me, soon. (Interested parties are invited to write me off list).

REGARDING THE OPWG ITSELF

A number of obstacles impeding a fuller realization of the OPWG's objectives have become apparent and should be addressed as soon as possible:

1).- Some OPWG members have neither provided the information solicited in the Organic Pineapple Production Progress Poll (OPPPP) sent to all members soon after the group was formed, nor contributed to the discussion since joining OPWG.

Hopefully, the existence of an organic pineapple list server will induce their participation. If not, it may be wise to bring the list of active members up to date.

2).- Some OPWG members grow organic pineapple on a commercial scale, while others do research, educate, administrate trade organizations and/or are responsible for governmental development programs.

Additionally, OPWG members are located in the Americas (Costa Rica, Guyana, Hawaii, Mexico, Nicaragua and Panama), the Caribbean (Cuba and Dominica), the Pacific (the Philippines, Australia and Papua New Guinea), Africa (the Ivory Coast and South Africa), India, and Sri Lanka; as well as in Europe (France).

Understandably, some commercial growers are hesitant to contribute technological information likely to facilitate their competitors ability to capture markets that they themselves depend on.

In order to resolve this obvious conflict of interest, it may be necessary to divide the list in two or more parts. I mention these difficulties with the hope of stimulating comments and suggestions that might help resolve these issues.

As stated previously, other fundamental and often interrelated areas that must be dealt with include but are not limited to:

Natural (and certifiable) Means of Inducing Florescence

Pest and Disease Control (including prevention),

Maintaining Soil Fertility and Providing for the Plant's and Fruit's Nutritional Needs,

Harvest and Postharvest Handling,

The Development of New Varieties,

Marketing,

Trade Barriers,

Organic Certification,

Contamination (and the loss of organic status) from external sources (including cross pollination from neighboring genetically modified pineapple crops); and

The Role of the OPWG in relation to these issues.

My priority today is getting the OPWG list up and running. Once that is done, the results of the OPPPP will be presented and discussed as an aid to establishing priorities, providing an effective structure and hopefully, programing joint activities.

Lastly, server space at The Socially and Ecologically Responsible Agriculture Network (a domain I reserved which is also hosted by ibiblio), is available for constructing a website containing whatever SERAnet and the OPWG require, at whatever point OPWG members reach an agreement in that regard.

A sustainable agriculture email group based on the The Socially and Ecologically Responsible Agriculture concept can be accessed via and similar a list for those preferring a Spanish language interchange can be found at (Although both are relatively quiescent at present, messages posted by subscribers are sent to the group as a whole).

In addition to , I will be glad to respond to private email sent to: Douglas Hinds

Douglas Hinds, Chair
Organic Pineapple Working Group (OPWG - semiautonomous subgroup)
Pineapple Working Group (PWG)
Commission for Tropical and Subtropical Horticulture
International Society of Horticultural Science
Posts to the Organic Pineapple Working Group's email list server
should be sent to: (members only)
Information regarding the Organic Pineapple Working Group
and subscribing to the OPWG mailing list can be found at:


Coordinator of National Support Program for
Forestry, Agricultural and Fishery Exports,
National Coordinator or Organic Production
Confederación Nacional de Propietarios Rurales
(& author of the official positions of this
organization re NAFTA & Transgenic Crops).

Dir. of Special Projects
Consejo Supremo Nacional Indígena

Director General of CeDeCoR, A.C.
Centro para el Desarrollo Comunitario y Rural, Asociacion Civil
(Center for Rural and Community Development,
a Mexican non-profit organization)
States of Jalisco, Colima, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, Oaxaca & Tamaulipas - Mexico