News & Events

Slow Foods Movement Focuses on Sustainable Agriculture
www.slowfood.com

This year's Slow Foods International Congress was held in Naples, Italy from November 6th-9th. Alice Waters of San Francisco's Chez Panisse restaurant was elected vice president. She challenged each Slow Foods Convivium, of which there are over 130 in the U.S. alone, to take on a school garden project. Waters helped to develop the highly regarded Edible Schoolyard Project in Berkeley California nearly a decade ago and the concept of hands-on gardening and cooking education for children has spread to over 30 schools nationwide. In school gardens, Waters points out, "children become connected to the land, learn about seasonality and enjoy the unparalleled taste of freshly grown food." (See Hope's Edge by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé for more about Alice Waters and the Edible Schoolyard Project.)

Continuing the agricultural theme at the Congress, Slow Foods officer Giacoma Majali, called for an increased emphasis on "environmental sustainability in agriculture into Slow Food's taste education projects", imploring local groups to get more involved with regional heirloom vegetable production and seed saving.

Furthermore, awards were given to many people and organizations involved in conserving biodiversity and traditional food culture throughout the world. Most notably were the awards to Ethio-Organic Seed Action for their commitment to recovering and protecting endangered Ethiopian grain varieties, and to the Kapéy Association—Union of Kraho Villages (Brazil) for their work to recover the seeds and lost knowledge pertaining to indigenous varieties of maize, sweet potato and cassava.

To learn more about the Slow Foods International and their Awards for the Defense of Biodiversity click here: www.slowfood.com.

Genetically Engineered Crops Lead to Increased Herbicide Use
www.biotech-info.net/technicalpaper6.html

According to a report released November 25th by the Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center, the planting of 550 million acres of genetically engineered (GE) corn, soybeans and cotton in the United States since 1996 has increased pesticide use by about 50 million pounds.

The report is the first comprehensive study of the impacts of all major commercial GE crops on pesticide use in the United States over the first eight years of commercial use, 1996-2003. It draws on official U.S. Department of Agriculture data on pesticide use by crop and state. The report is entitled "Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The First Eight Years," and is the sixth in a series of "Technical Papers" prepared for Ag BioTech InfoNet. It was published via the Internet and can be printed for free from the website.

The report calculates the difference between the average pounds of pesticides applied on acres planted to GE crops compared to the pounds applied to otherwise similar conventional crops. In their first three years of commercial sales (1996-1998), GE crops reduced pesticide use by about 25.4 million pounds, but in the last three years (2001-2003), over 73 million more pounds of pesticides were applied on GE acres. Substantial increases in herbicide use on "Herbicide Tolerant" (HT) crops, especially soybeans, accounted for the increase in pesticide use on GE acres compared to acres planted to conventional plant varieties. Many farmers have had to spray incrementally more herbicides on GE acres in order to keep up with shifts in weeds toward tougher-to-control species, coupled with the emergence of genetic resistance in certain weed populations.

"For years weed scientists have warned that heavy reliance on herbicide tolerant crops would trigger ecological changes in farm fields that would incrementally erode the technology's effectiveness. It now appears that this process began in 2001 in the United States in the case of herbicide tolerant crops," according to Charles Benbrook Ph.D., author of the report.

The full 46-page report is posted on Ag BioTech InfoNet at: www.biotech-info.net/technicalpaper6.html

Organic Seed Grower's Conference to be Held in Oregon
www.seedalliance.org

The first ever Organic Seed Growers Conference will be held January 9-11th, 2004 at the LaSalles Stuart Center on the Oregon State Universtiy Campus in Corvallis, Oregon. It will be hosted by the Organic Seed Alliance (formerly Abundant Life Seed Foundation), and cosponsored by Oregon State University and Oregon Tilth. The Conference Schedule Includes:

• Lindsey Du Toit (Wash. State Univ.): Diseases in vegetable seed crops— Identification, prevention and treatment
• John Navazio (Organic Seed Alliance): Identifying the best seed crops for your farm
• Frank Morton (Wild Garden Seed): Whole farm benefits of seed production
• Keith Aoki (U of Oregon): Seeds and breeds—a legal perspective
• Tom Stearns (High Mowing Seeds) and Frank Morton: Seed Cleaning
• Panel discussions on seed research, economics and marketing, and production techniques
• Public Seed Swap!!!