Forage Crisis Green New Deal Conservation Vote for Programs Workshops Page 5 Page 10 Page 13 Page 15 TM Volume 27 | Number 4 Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service July | August 2019 National conference to bring together women working in sustainable ag By Lisa Kivirist Women from across the country will gather committed to sustainable agriculture to gather together to exchange ideas, find resources, and network at and share ideas, resources and visions for the future,” the National Women in Sustainable Agriculture cultivate explained Mary Peabody, program director for the Conference this October in St. Paul, Minnesota. connections, friendships, support Women’s Ag Network (WAgN) at the University of MOSES hosts this year’s event, which serves as the Vermont. “As the number of women farmers committed only national conference that brings together farmers, to conservation and sustainability continues to grow, educators, activists and others who are committed to your skills,nourish your strengths, your self it is inspiring to see the WISA Conference continue women in sustainable agriculture. and bring more voices and perspectives to the table.” “MOSES is excited for the opportunity to bring Peabody will present workshops at the October confer- together a diverse agenda focused on women connect- ence on negotiation and growing successful teams. ing, leading, and working together to grow a larger movement of sustainability within the food system,” grow! WFAN Collaboration said Lauren Langworthy, Interim Executive Director MOSES has been organizing the 2019 WISA at MOSES. “We’re looking forward to putting out the WOMEN IN Conference in partnership with the Women, Food and welcome mat for women from different regions and Agriculture Network (WFAN). The MOSES In Her backgrounds as we cultivate an event for powerful SUSTAINABLE AG Boots Project has teamed up with WFAN on various peer-to-peer learning.” projects over the years, including facilitating Women The event will take place Oct. 17-19, 2019 at the CONFERENCE Caring for the Land sessions. InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront hotel in Oct. 17-19, 2019 | St. Paul, MN “So much of our work at WFAN focuses on downtown St. Paul, Minn. Tickets are $240 for the encouraging women to speak up and to speak out, to conference and $150 for full-day intensives on Oct. mosesorganic.org/wisa-conference take on leadership positions within their communi- 17. Single-day tickets also are available. Registration ties, and to join foundational conversations to create opens Aug. 1. A block of rooms at a group rate is avail- change within the food system,” said Sherri Dugger of able at the InterContinental hotel. See mosesorganic. WFAN and a farmer herself running Dugger Family org/wisa-conference. Farm in Indiana. “Conferences like WISA offer these female farmers, food producers, advocates, and activ- WISA History ists a chance to turn inward, to take a break from the Over the past decade, different organizations have outside world, to reflect on and share the good work hosted this national conference, known as the WISA they do, and to find inspiration and renewed energy Conference (Women in Sustainable Agriculture). The from a wonderful community of smart, powerful, first WISA conferences on the east coast were hosted Extension hosted the event in Portland. Attendance and respected women. As the newly minted executive by the University of Vermont Women’s Agricultural runs about 200-350 women. director of Women, Food and Agriculture Network, Network (WAgN) and the Pennsylvania Women’s “The WISA Conference today serves the same goal I feel really lucky to have the opportunity right out of Agricultural Network (PA WAgN). The most recent as it did when we started organizing these events over the gate to participate in WFAN’s collaboration with WISA conference took place in 2016 when Oregon a decade ago: to provide a national forum for women To WISA Conference on page 6 Mandatory labeling of GMOs expected to expand market for non-GMO, organic crops By Peter Golbitz and Jacob Golbitz The food landscape in America is being reshaped synthetic pesticides or grown and processed without the about the safety of consuming GMO foods and the by shifting consumer preferences driven by a younger use of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), antibiot- potential negative impact of their use on the environ- demographic that values transparency, sustainable ics or questionable food ingredients or additives. ment. These groups initiated various voter referendums farming practices, and humane treatment of animals. First, there was the USDA Organic seal. Consumers focused on labeling GMOs and also pressured state This dynamic is causing millennial and Gen Z consum- who wanted to enjoy foods grown and processed legislatures to write laws requiring mandatory labeling ers—as well as aging baby boomers who helped set the without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides could simply of foods containing GMOs. stage for these products—to seek out foods that can purchase foods that carried the USDA Organic label. In 2011, for example, the Center for Food Safety, a be identified as having been produced without toxic Next, came the Non-GMO Project Verified seal. national nonprofit public interest and environmental Shoppers looking to avoid foods that contained ingre- advocacy organization, submitted a formal legal peti- dients derived from genetically engineered crops could tion to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) look for products that carried the Non-GMO Project asking that the FDA require mandatory labeling of Verified label. Now, we have a new USDA labeling genetically engineered foods. Other groups, such as Just program about to roll out, the National Bioengineered Label It and the Organic Trade Association, began to Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS), that instead of get involved in similar initiatives, and by 2013, a num- identifying products that are not genetically engi- ber of state legislatures passed the first wave of GMO neered, will actually identify foods that do contain labeling laws. Eventually, 54 bills were introduced in 26 GMO crops or ingredients. states. But it was the Vermont law, passed in 2014 and For many consumers, there already has been which was set to go into effect July 1, 2016, that finally mounting confusion about organic and non-GMO made a national rule more imperative. The idea of a product claims: about how they’re different from one patchwork of differing state regulations requiring the another, and in some cases, how they overlap. Now add labeling of GMO foods was a nightmare scenario for to this a new mandatory label that uses radically differ- the food industry. ent terminology and threshold levels to describe which With the Vermont law pending, and after additional foods contain, or may contain GMOs, and we have the public input and debate among congressional lead- makings of a major disruptive event for the food indus- ers, the U.S. Congress passed an act, which President try. And any major disruptive event that impacts food Obama signed into law July 29, 2016, requiring the processing and marketing has the potential to have a USDA to develop a new rule that would require food direct impact on the supply, demand, and pricing for manufacturers to disclose the content of genetically organic and non-GMO crops, foods, and ingredients. engineered ingredients in packaged food products. The The development of the new rule came about after law gave authority for the development of the rule to years of pressure on the USDA and FDA from con- the USDA and required that the agency conduct a study PO Box 339, Spring Valley, WI 54767 Spring Valley, 339, PO Box sumer and environmental groups that were concerned To GMO Labeling Impact on page 8 TM From the Executive Director Volume 27, #4 July | August 2019 To say it has been from different perspectives were needed to get us here. a tough year so far is a There is still a long way to go, but this enforcement Editor Audrey Alwell severe understatement. step was crucial. We need to keep flexing our muscles It has been really of community to get where we ultimately want to go. Advertising Coordinator Tom Manley rough for farmers of That’s why I think it’s important for us all to look Digital Content Producer Stephanie Coffman all stripes across the around the industry, our neighborhood, and our per- country. As we came sonal networks to find where there is common ground. out of a long winter As we develop and strengthen partnerships, we also into an unforgiving spring, we found winterkill in develop and strengthen power. There is a snare in the our alfalfa, unforgiving markets, and fields too wet road called “division;” it’s easy to get caught up in it. The Organic BroadcasterTM is a bimonthly to plant. When times get tough, it becomes essential It’s easy to identify where we disagree and to dwell newspaper published by the Midwest Organic & to gather and to share. It’s painful to talk about the on differences. However, our power comes when we Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), problems, but if enough of us can engage, we can find identify what reality we want and choose to pool our a nonprofit that provides education, resources our areas of common cause and work together on efforts in growing the needed change. I might come to and practical advice to farmers. solutions. a solution on an entirely different path than someone This spring, I went to D.C. a few times, sharing sto- else, but our underlying reasons do not negate our Opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. ries from farmers who talked with me at the MOSES common goal. Inclusion of an advertisement does not imply Conference, what I heard at spring meetings, topics of I’ve always felt that we should work together on our endorsement of a product.