Activ.Rept.99-01
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1999 – 2001 ACTIVITY REPORT AND RESEARCH SUMMARY Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems University of California, Santa Cruz “Controversy Over Agricultural Biotechnology Continues”1 The mission of the “Central Valley Evolving into Patchwork of Poverty Center for and Prosperity”2 Agroecology & “Pesticides Linked to Frog Decline”3 Sustainable Food Systems is to research, hese recent headlines touch on the range of issues develop, and advance challenging the long-term sustainability of agricul- sustainable food and ture and the human and natural resources it im- agricultural systems T pacts. At the Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food that are Systems (the Center) these and many other issues drive our environmentally research, education, and outreach efforts as we work to sound, economically create agricultural and food systems that sustain both hu- viable, socially man communities and the environment. responsible, The past two years have been a period of both growth nonexploitative, and challenge for the Center. We have received unprec- and that serve as a edented support from within the University for our work. foundation for future The Division of Social Sciences—our bureaucratic “home” generations. at UC Santa Cruz—has provided funding for new and up- graded facilities, grants, and program development. Thanks to the efforts of UCSC chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood, So- cial Sciences dean Martin Chemers, and other campus administrators, the UC Office of the President added a per- manent funding augmentation to increase our operating budget. In addition, they negotiated a five-year award from the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources to support the Center’s farm and watershed extension pro- grams. Support has also come from outside the university, mak- ing possible several special projects. Congressman Sam Farr helped secure a substantial allocation from the US Depart- ment of Agriculture, which we used to initiate research and extension activities on water quality, organic production, and food systems in the Central Coast region. Grants from several foundations underwrote development of an organic farming training manual based on the Center’s Apprentice- ship in Ecological Agriculture curriculum. A benefit concert by singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman raised funds for ap- prenticeship scholarships. And efforts by the California Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and California leg- islators, including Assemblyman Fred Keeley, focused attention on the need for the state to better support its University-based sustainable agriculture programs, includ- ing the Center. New and renewed partnerships have strengthened our current work and laid the groundwork for new projects. California BioAg Initiative Passes Thanks to the efforts of the California Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and many individual growers and consumer activists, California governor Gray Davis signed Assembly Bill 2663, the California BioAg Initia- tive, in October 2000. This initiative calls for the University of California to provide permanent and adequate funding for all of the UC system’s sustainable agriculture research and education programs, including the Center. We teamed with faculty and academic programs at UCSC to develop plans for expanded research and education in farmscaping, landscape ecology, and con- Funding Sources, servation; sustainable agriculture and rural change; and organic agriculture. We 1999-2001 hope these plans will result in additional faculty positions with departmental and Center responsibilities. Funding for research, educa- On a broader front we continued to work with regional and national aca- tion, and community outreach demic and non-governmental organizations. Along with the Organic Farming efforts was provided by the Research Foundation (OFRF), the Center co-hosted the first Scientific Congress University of California, the on Organic Agriculture, a gathering of researchers and farmers charting a course UCSC Division of Social Sci- for organic agricultural research. We were also invited to join the Organic Agri- ences, and by grants and cultural Consortium, a nationwide cooperative endowments from the follow- of groups with programs in organic farming re- Jim Leap ing individuals and organiz- search and education. Lo- ations – cally, we helped establish a Melanie Okamoto harvests strawber- The Arkay Foundation network of researchers con- ries from a variety BioLogixs ducting organic farming trial at the Center’s California Environmental Pro- investigations. on-campus organi- cally managed re- tection Agency Despite the growing in- search fields. terest in organic farming, Mary A. Crocker Trust investment in research, education, and exten- Honore Dash Family sion on alternative and organic production Foundation for Deep Ecology methods continues to lag. OFRF’s “State of Friends of the UCSC Farm & the States” study reports that only 0.02% of Garden the available agricultural land in the land grant Margoes Foundation of system is being used for certified or- San Francisco ganic research. The Center’s organic Newman’s Own farm on the UCSC campus represents a major portion of certified farmland Newman’s Own Organics devoted to research and teaching on Organic Farming Research agroecology and organic production Foundation methods in the UC system. Stanley Smith Horticultural Among the challenges the Center Trust faces are plans by UCSC to build fac- True North Foundation ephen Gliessman ulty and staff housing on a section of St UC Division of Agriculture and certified farmland that had been on Natural Resources loan to the Center. The proposal triggered a search A UCSC agroecology class UC Sustainable Agriculture takes part in a field-based for new field sites to permanently preserve and ex- experiment on intercrop- pand our on-campus research and teaching capacity, Research and Education ping at the Center’s on- an effort that will continue in the coming year. Program campus farm. The Center’s own growth has prompted the need US Department of Agriculture to upgrade and expand office and laboratory facilities to accommodate addi- US Environmental Protection tional staff and graduate students as we add new teaching, research, and outreach Agency components. Although challenging, we view this growth as a positive step to- Harry O. Warren Endowment ward developing a more effective Center that can help meet the demand for sustainable farming and food systems. In the following pages we summarize Center research projects and highlight accomplishments of our education and outreach efforts from July 1999 through June 2001. 2 THE CENTER FOR AGROECOLOGY & SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS Research he breadth of research undertaken by Center staff, CASFS: Patricia Allen faculty, and students over the past two years re- Related publications T flects the complexity of the sustainable agriculture Allen, Patricia. 2000. Fitting into Procrustes bed?: Sustainable and food systems movement. Much of the work in farming agriculture and community food security programs in the systems and agroecology (page 4) was conducted as part United States. In Consuming Foods, Sustaining Environments, of the Center’s Farm Extension Program, which provides S. Lockie and W. Pritchard (editors). Brisbane: Australian Aca- demic Press. on-farm research and extension services to organic and tran- sitional (those converting from conventional to organic Allen, Patricia. 1999. Out of the mouths of babes: An explora- tion of contemporary U.S. farm and food policy. In practices) farming clients, as well as clients who want to Hunger-proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems, ed. M reduce their use of synthetic agricultural chemical inputs. Koc, R. MacRae. L. J. A. Mougeot, and J. Welsh. Ottawa: The following is a summary of ongoing and completed IRDC Books. research projects; also listed are related research reports and publications produced from July 1999 through June “GREEN CONSUMERISM” AND THE ORGANIC FOOD INDUSTRY 2001 (additional publications are listed on page 12), as Can shoppers change the food system? The Center’s so- well as extramural funding sources that augmented Center cial issues staff studied the impact of the “green consumer” contributions. movement, to assess the extent to which the public’s grow- ing interest in organic products can continue to influence Sustainable Food Systems food production practices and agricultural policies in the U.S. They also evaluated changes in the organic farming ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTION, MARKETING, AND RESEARCH movement as larger-scale growers and markets enter the PROGRAMS ON CALIFORNIA’S CENTRAL COAST industry. California’s Central Coast is home to a range of organic CASFS: Patricia Allen, Martin Kovach farms, farmers’ markets, Community Supported Agricul- Related publication ture (CSA) projects, research on organic production, and Allen, Patricia and Martin Kovach. 2000. The capitalist compo- other alternative programs. But how effective are these sition of organic: The potential of markets in fulfilling the promise programs in improving the environment and conditions for of organic agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values 17:221- farmers and consumers? As part of a USDA-funded study 232. of Central Coast farming practices and food systems, the Farmers’ markets offer an alternative to Center’s social issues staff is examining the effect of alter- conventional grocery stores and give con- native production, marketing, and research efforts on both sumers the chance to directly support ecological sustainability