{"id":5262,"date":"2009-12-20T11:17:30","date_gmt":"2009-12-20T17:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=5262"},"modified":"2009-12-20T11:17:30","modified_gmt":"2009-12-20T17:17:30","slug":"can-an-agriculture-conference-not-include-small-farmer-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/can-an-agriculture-conference-not-include-small-farmer-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Can an Agriculture Conference not include Small Farmer Concerns?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5269\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/files\/2009\/12\/small-farm-missouri.jpg\" alt=\"small farm missouri\" width=\"250\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/small-farm-missouri.jpg 250w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/small-farm-missouri-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/>With all of the recent attention given to the environmental and social impacts of large-scale agriculture, and the benefits of organic and <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/categories\/natural-foods\">natural foods<\/a> (<em>yep&#8230; a link to sustainablog store<\/em>), you might expect to see a strong focus on small-scale, more sustainable agricultural methods at farming conferences&#8230;right? According to small farm activists here in Missouri, you&#8217;d be quite surprised by the draft agenda of the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/mda.mo.gov\/governor_conference\/\">Missouri Governor&#8217;s Conference on Agriculture<\/a>: issues related to sustainable agriculture and small farming don&#8217;t appear anywhere. The activists have taken to the state <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkoutsidethebarn.mda.mo.gov\/mda\/2009\/11\/register-now-for-the-42nd-missouri-governors-conference-on-agriculture-on-january-7-9-2010-at-the-hyatt-regency-st-louis-a.html\">Department of Agriculture&#8217;s blog<\/a> to register their discontent&#8230; and are asking others to do the same.<\/p>\n<h2>Governor&#8217;s Conference on Agriculture&#8230; or Governor&#8217;s Conference on Agribusiness?<\/h2>\n<p>First, let&#8217;s give credit where it&#8217;s due: I&#8217;ve been doing some research lately on state government blogs, and have found there just aren&#8217;t a lot of them&#8230; at least that deal with specific issues like agriculture. So, the Missouri Department of Agriculture deserves credit for having a space where this debate can take place. And Dr. Jon Hagler, Director of the Department of Agriculture, did <a href=\"http:\/\/thinkoutsidethebarn.mda.mo.gov\/mda\/2009\/11\/register-now-for-the-42nd-missouri-governors-conference-on-agriculture-on-january-7-9-2010-at-the-hyatt-regency-st-louis-a.html?cid=6a0120a5d0bbef970c0128764746c4970c#comment-6a0120a5d0bbef970c0128764746c4970c\">respond<\/a> to the first comment (and even left his phone number)&#8230; though he and other department representatives have been quiet since then&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The crux of the debate here involves both the topics planned for discussion at the conference&#8230; or, more accurately, the issues not on the agenda. <!--more-->Dan Kelly of Canton&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blueheronorchard.com\/\">Blue Heron Orchard<\/a> was the first to chime in, and noted a range of topics not addressed, including<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>developing local food systems<\/li>\n<li>diet<\/li>\n<li>child obesity<\/li>\n<li>healthy eating<\/li>\n<li>land use concerns<\/li>\n<li>sustainability<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Molly Rockamann, founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.earthdancefarms.org\/\">EarthDance FARMS<\/a> (for which I&#8217;ve done some volunteer work), added to the list with<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>rural revitalization efforts<\/li>\n<li>farmland preservation<\/li>\n<li>training the next generation of farmers<\/li>\n<li>agritourism (which is on the agenda)<\/li>\n<li>direct selling via farmers markets and CSAs<\/li>\n<li>engaging youth<\/li>\n<li>innovative crop rotations and pest management strategies that eliminate the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Sustainable Farms&#8230; and Sustaining Agriculture<\/h2>\n<p>I have no doubt that some will see the comments on the conference announcement as a few radicals pushing for specific farming methods in line with their environmental values&#8230; While I don&#8217;t think &#8220;radical&#8221; accurately characterizes these folks, they definitely are proponents of more ecologically sound agricultural methods (and I&#8217;m right with them on that). Clearly, there&#8217;s much more going on in this discussion, though: you only need browse through the lists I&#8217;ve provided above to see that these activists aren&#8217;t just pushing an agenda for environmental sustainability&#8230; they&#8217;re also very concerned about the broader sustainability of agriculture in the state, and don&#8217;t think that the participants in the conference represent the diversity needed to maintain a healthy farming sector.<\/p>\n<p>If you watched recent films like <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/food-inc-documentary-movie-removes-shroud-of-secrecy\/\"><em>Food, Inc.<\/em><\/a>, you&#8217;re aware of the damage created by large-scale, monocultural farming practices. If you&#8217;ve read <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/localization-agriculture\/\">Lester Brown&#8217;s most recent post<\/a> here, you&#8217;ve seen that a demand for local food has created economic opportunity for farmers and business people. And Sustainable Table recently noted that small farms have tremendous <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sustainabletable.org\/issues\/economics\/\">local economic impact<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Shouldn&#8217;t these issues be a part of the discussion?<\/p>\n<h2>Time for Missouri small farmers to take action?<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s good to see some small Missouri farmers bringing these issues up at the Department of Agriculture blog&#8230; hopefully, these are just the first steps. I wouldn&#8217;t be surprised if some suggest a demonstration outside the conference&#8230; that&#8217;s not a bad idea. Or, how about a shadow conference where these issues, and the overall health of Missouri&#8217;s agricultural sector, receive the attention they deserve?<\/p>\n<p>What do you think? Let us know in the comments&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Image credit:<\/strong><a rel=\"cc:attributionURL\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/briannaorg\/\"> http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/briannaorg\/<\/a> \/ <a rel=\"license\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/\">CC BY 2.0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With all of the recent attention given to the environmental and social impacts of large-scale agriculture, and the benefits of organic and natural foods (yep&#8230; a link to sustainablog store),&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":5269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,60],"tags":[50,18,904,4147,82,8512],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Did Missouri Agriculture Conference Forget about Small 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