Sustainability, Freshman Inquiry UNST 172C

1
Sustainability, Freshman InquiryUNST 172C

• Dr. Tom Ricciardi
• Guest Presenter for Dr. Jeff Fletcher
• 3/4/2009

2
Todays Class Outline

• Homework questions
• Organic Local Farming definitions resources
• Social Engineering in Agriculture
• Links to Local Food

3
Homework
4
Homework/Exercise

• Take a number, 1-8, corresponding to your
  homework question.
• Take 5 minutes and review/proof your answer to
  the homework question.
• Read your answer to that question to the class.

5
Homework Questions

• What was the original definition of organic
  food?
• Why does Joel Salatin consider industrial
  organic to be a contradiction in terms?
• Do you think that the term industrial organic
  really is a contradiction in terms? Why or why
  not?

6
Homework Questions

• What are some of the differences between Big
  and Small organic?
• What are some of the negative consequences of
  industrial organic farming techniques, in terms
  of soil health?

7
Homework Questions

• What is beyond organic?
• What are some of the positive consequences of
  large-scale organic farming? What are some of the
  negative effects?
• If you had to write a realistic definition of
  what organic food should be, what would it say?

8
Organic and Local Food

• Definitions Discussion

9
What Qualifies as Organic Food?

• Organic is what the government says it is
• USDA regulates the definitions
• Government does not directly label food as
  Organic
• Instead, the USDA certifies accrediting agencies
  through the National Organic Program
• European Union similar
• Pollan p. 131

10
US Government Definitions

• National Organic Program http//www.ams.usda.gov/A
  MSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?templateTemplateA
  navIDNationalOrganicProgramleftNavNationalOrga
  nicProgrampageNOPNationalOrganicProgramHomeacct
  nop
• What do you notice about this website?
• Organic Food Production Act of 1990
• Certified Organic
• 7 C.F.R. Part 205 http//ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/
  text/text-idx?cecfrsid9f7d238c82480a19673ba2706
  78268f6rgndiv5viewtextnode73.1.1.9.31idno
  7

11
What qualifies as Local?

• What is a small farm? What is an industrial farm?
• How many head of cattle?
• How many acres of corn, grass, soy?
• What plant diversity is required?
• What income? USDA ? 5,000?
• What radius of distribution? 100 miles?
  http//100milediet.org/get-started/map Eugene,
  Olympia, The Dalles.

12
Case study 1 Polyface Farm

• Joel Salatin video http//video.google.com/videose
  arch?qjoelsalatinoeUTF-8rlsorg.mozillaen-US
  officialclientfirefox-aum1ieUTF-8saNtab
  wveiZ4euScpiiZ4z9e_17AQoiproperty_suggestions
  resnum0ctproperty-revisioncd1

13
Case Study 2 Abundant Life Farm (Dallas,
Oregon)

• Abundant Life Farm (Oregon) http//www.localharves
  t.org/farms/M3686
• http//www.veoh.com/videos/v14930416rdD3sj8g
• What did you notice about the chicken coops?
  (Pollan, pages 126-127)
• How much land did the pigs require?
• What did the fences look like?
• How big were the cattle?
• How do they sell their products?

14
Pig Farm
Industrial or Local? Organic or Not? How can you
tell?
15
Broiler Chickens
Industrial or Local? Organic or Not? How can you
tell?
16
Cows
Industrial or Local? Organic or Not? How can you
tell?

• What are they eating?
• How much land do the need?
• How much do they weigh?

17
Social Engineering

• Agriculture

18
Social Engineering

• Policy Legislation, regulation, standards
  guidance.
• Economic or Financial Stimulus Subsidies,
  creating markets, pricing, grants and loans,
  investments.
• Technology Encouraging inventions, adoption of
  new technology, implementation on a wide scale.

19
Social Engineering in AgricultureA mini -
exercise

• Write down one of each of the following
• Examples of Agriculture Policies
• Examples of Technologies in Agriculture
• Examples of Financing in Agriculture

20
Social Engineering in Agriculture

• Examples of agriculture policies
• Industrial agriculture (Butz)
• USDA definitions certifications of organic
  foods
• Examples of technologies
• King Corn plant 1 acre in 18 min
• GM crops
• GPS/Satellite auto-steering (fertilizer, fuel
  costs)
• Soil, nutrient sensors
• Feedlots, antibiotics
• Examples of Financing
• Public funds make the difference for a corn
  farmer
• Private/ventures in biotech,
• agribusiness (Cargill, ADM, Unilever)

21
Discussion Questions

• Do we have effective social engineering targeted
  to increase production and consumption of Organic
  food?
• Do we have social engineering targeted to
  increase production and consumption of Local
  foods? Should we?
• What about water energy needs?
• What about land use?
• Who will do the work of local farming?

22
Local Food

• Links to Resources

23
Links to Local Food

• http//www.eatlocal.net/ scorecard
  http//www.eatlocal.net/downloads/EatLocal_scoreca
  rd.pdf
• Locavores http//www.locavores.com/ Guidelines
  http//www.locavores.com/how/
• Dining halls Whitman, Swarthmore, Stanford,
  Bates, Vassar, Penn State, Yale, Santa Cruz,
  PORTLAND STATE? http//earthfirst.com/green-colleg
  e-spotlight-portland-state-university/
• PSU Community Garden http//www.dailyvanguard.co
  m/1.1305046-1.1305046

24
Sustainability, Freshman InquiryUNST 172C

• Dr. Tom Ricciardi
• Guest Presenter for Dr. Jeff Fletcher
• 3/4/2009