Eco-Fair Part 3: Sustainable Agriculture Speakers

Ronnie Cummins, Steven Druker, Kathleen Delate, John Ikerd, John Fagan

I spent a beautiful May day in a dark cold theater in Fairfield IA, but it was worth it.

There were many other tempting presentations during the eco-fair, on environmental issues, soil structure, flowers as food, and sustainable agriculture in the Phillipines, to name just a few, but I hit the high points.

These five sustainable agriculture speakers were the best part of the Eco-Fair.

Powerdrive: How to Speed Up America's Movement Toward An Organic And Sustainable Future

Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association: On the crisis of industrial agriculture and genetic engineering and the movement toward a sustainable future. Topics included food safety, environmental sustainability, social justice, global marketplace trends, and global activism. Ronnie Cummins radiates intelligence and integrity, and he's certain that we don't have very long to change the way things are done before it's bye-bye world.

Ronnie Cummins talked about a small international clique of wealthy controlling the world economy, about widespread hunger (35,000 children die of hunger every day), about personal empowerment as the key to change. Here's the PR on Ronnie Cummins:

"Cummins has been active as a writer, activist, and organizer since 1967 - with extensive experience in human rights, anti-war, anti-nuclear, labor, consumer, and sustainable agriculture campaigns. In 1998, Cummins organized the SOS (Save Organic Standards) Campaign, spearheading the largest consumer grassroots backlash against the US Department of Agriculture in recent history. He is also a member of the International Forum on Food and Agriculture, and a frequent lecturer, both in the US and abroad. Cummins has written numerous articles for the alternative press and "Genetically Engineered Food: A Self-Defense Guide for Consumers" in 2000."

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"Why Genetic Engineering is Incompatible with Sustainable Agriculture"

Stephen Druker: Another passionate, articulate, brilliant, well-informed speaker. Stephen Druker spoke about the risks of genetically engineered (GE) foods as reported by the scientific staff of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Royal Society of Canada, the Public Health Association of Australia, and other eminent experts. He also discussed the extensive body of evidence indicating that genetic engineering tends to cause unintended and potentially harmful effects in the food-yielding organisms it reconfigures.

From the advance PR: "Steven Druker is a public interest attorney who founded the Alliance for Bio-Integrity, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting technologies that foster human and environmental health and addressing the problems of those that do not.

Steve came to international attention by organizing a lawsuit against the FDA that forced it to divulge its internal files on genetically engineered foods. This exposed how the politically appointed administrators had covered up the extensive warnings of their own scientists about the unique hazards of these foods and have systematically misrepresented the facts since 1992. In organizing the suit, he assembled an unprecedented coalition of eminent scientists and religious leaders to stand as plaintiffs.

Steve Druker has become known as one of the leading figures discussing the problems of GE foods.

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Organic Agriculture in Iowa

Dr. Kathleen Delate: The only sustainable ag presenter to show slides (I know, it's hard to believe). They were most welcome, on the principle that a change is as good as a rest. I don't know if they helped her presentation, but I'm always up for pictures of vegetables and fruit.

Organic production practices and research in the Organic Agriculture Program at Iowa State University. Kathleen's current position as Assistant Professor at ISU is a joint position between the departments of Horticulture and Agronomy, where she is responsible for research, extension and teaching in organic agriculture. I thought I heard that this was the first university department in the country for organic agriculture.

I was impressed to learn that Iowa is in the top five states for organic production, and has it's own state organic certification program. Also, IA was the 6th largest producer of grapes in the US in the early 1900's, and a big apple producer as well. Those crops are now making an organic comeback. (More good reasons to live here!) Kathleen has farmed organically in Florida, Hawaii, California and Iowa. Learn more about Kathleen and her research at: http://www.hort.iastate.edu/faculty/delate/

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Reconnecting People and Earth Through Sustainable Food and Farming

Dr. John Ikerd: Recently retired U of Missouri ag professor John Ikerd, is an amazing orator - fierce, fast, rhythmic, and loud, like an old style fire and brimstone preacher. Here's the gist of his talk, which had me on the edge of my seat with my mouth hanging open:

"The corporate industrialization of American agriculture is destroying once-vibrant rural communities by transforming diversified family farms into contract factory farming operations. This industrial transformation is degrading both the earth and people, by separating people from the land and separating people from each other. An industrial agriculture quite simply is not sustainable."

"Thankfully, a group of new American farmers has emerged to challenge the industrial paradigm of farming by developing a more sustainable agriculture. This new approach to farming reconnects people with the land, by farming in harmony with nature, and reconnects people with each other, through reliance on relationship marketing. These new American farmers are creating new sustainable systems of food and farming that are ecological sound, economically viable, and socially responsible -- by reconnecting with the land and with people."

Dr. Ikerd made the point that this isn't just the good old days of farming, dressed up in new clothing. The technology available today, along with advances in agricultural science - plant breeding, and natural pest control, for example, enables small farmers to farm both sustainably and profitably.

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A Cosmic Approach to Sustainability

Dr John Fagan: One of the world's leading authorities on GMO testing and non-GMO certification. Dr. Fagan pioneered the development of DNA tests to detect genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and agricultural products. He founded and serves as CEO and chief scientific officer of Genetic ID NA, Inc., with laboratories in the US, Japan, and Germany. Genetic ID NA, Inc. has licensed its proprietary GMO testing technology to laboratories in Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia. Dr. Fagan has also worked with all segments of the agricultural and food industries, and with consumers worldwide to develop the first non-GMO certification program. And he's a good, gentle, friendly person. All of which is why I went to his lecture.

Referring to the title of this lecture, I should mention that John Fagan is a teacher and practitioner of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's TM programs, and a professor at Maharishi University of Management. One of Maharishi's primary goals is to restore the Vedic Tradition of India to it's full glory. Thus, Vedic Agriculture. Dr. Fagan discussed this ancient science in the context of agriculture as it is practiced today.

The farmer practices Transcendental Meditation, arranges his land, buildings and fields according to Stapatyaved principles, uses Jyotish astrology to find out the best time and place for planting, harvesting, etc., and plays Gandharva Ved music for himself, his animals and plants. The idea is to raise organic agriculture to a more subtle and powerful level by enlivening the intelligence of the farmer, the land, and the crops. This might seem far-fetched, except I know from my own experiences that Vedic technology works. But I haven't yet tried Gandharva Ved music on my garden - I'm worried the bugs might enjoy it too much. On the other hand, if they were enjoying the music, they might forget to eat my veggies.

Well, ahem! Apart from that, Dr. Fagan had some things to say about GE that cleared up a few points on which I was a little vague. Such as: Integration of the recombinant gene with normal cells is not precise, but is random. We have no control of the range of effects of that gene on the organism. It's impossible to look at all possible problems that could come up. And, researchers in Germany and The Netherlands found that if they mixed marker DNA molecule with the food of mice, they found that marker DNA in every aspect of the physiology. That means that the DNA or intelligence of our food can temporarily re-program our cells, with unknown long-term effects. Which is precisely why GMO is so frightening

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Articles and Reviews on Related Topics:

Eco-Fair Pt 1: Introduction Eco-Fair Pt 2: Speakers and Events State of the Eco-Union, by Joel Salatin Organic Agriculture Standards Part 1 Organic Agriculture Standards Part 2 Organic Agriculture Standards Part 3 Farmers Backs Against The Wall Over GMO Products Book Review: The Food Revolution, John Robbins Ecological Organic Agriculture, by Francis Thicke: Got Local Organic Milk? What is Organic Food and Why Should We Eat It? Organic Consumers Association

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