Action Alert!
Help Build a Program at WSU to Support Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming
February 12, 2006
In the next two weeks, the Washington State Legislature will make a decision that will affect the future of agriculture in Washington. After years of work, we're down to the wire for an important program that could help shape the future of sustainable farming in Washington State. By the end of this legislative session on March 9th, we'll know if the Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming (BIOAg) program will be funded by the state legislature.
For Biologically Intensive Agriculture & Organic Farming to be a priority in funding decisions, legislators need to hear how important this program is to Washington residents. You can help:
- Call 800-562-6000, the legislative hotline, to urge your legislators "to support sustainable agriculture by including $800,000 in the budget for WSU's BIOAG program." (The receptionist will figure out your district and route your call.)
- E-mail the chairs of two key committees where budget decisions take place: Senator Margarita Prentice, Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, at prentice.margarita~at~leg.wa.gov and Representative Helen Sommers, Chair of the Appropriations Committee, at sommers.helen~at~leg.wa.gov.
- Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. This is the most read section of the paper and you can bet legislators will see these letters. (Tips on Writing Letter to the Editor)
- Meet with your legislators. This is he most effective means of swaying them. The Network can help you set up a meeting.
- Write letter to your legislators. (Sample Letter to Legislators)
As an individual who cares about the food you eat, supporting the Biologically Intensive and Organic Farming Program at Washington State University (WSU) is an important step toward a sustainable, local food system.
The BIOAg program will:
- Help farmers manage rising fertilizer costs, new pests, changing climates, and new market expectations with organic and sustainable options.
- Fund research, educational opportunities, and promote better connections between farmers and consumers.
- Be useful to the full spectrum of farming operations-organic and non-organic, small and large, eastside and westside.
The primary goal overall is economic viability and sustainability in Washington agriculture.
If you need help or want more tips, contact the Network at 360-336-9694.
For more information about the Biologically Intensive Agriculture & Organic Farming Program, visit the WSU website at www.csanr.wsu.edu/BIOAg/#proposals
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More BIOAg Program and Legislative Information
Eating is an agricultural event. Please stand up for local foods and family farms by calling or writing your legislator today. Request $800,000 for the Biologically Intensive Agriculture & Organic Farming Program at WSU.
Below is contact information for key legislators. If you are in one of their districts, your call is especially important! Legislative district information follows contact and message info below. If you are a constituent from their district, you can call the legislative hotline (800-562-6000) toll free and leave messages.
Sen. Margarita Prentice—Chair of Senate Ways & Means Committee
prentice_ma~at~leg.wa.gov, 360-786-7616
Sen. Mark Doumit—Vice Chair of Senate Ways & Means Committee
doumit_ma~at~leg.wa.gov, 360-786-7636
Rep. Helen Sommers—Chair of House Appropriations Committee
sommers_he~at~leg.wa.gov, 360-786-7814
Rep. Bill Fromhold—Vice Chair of House Appropriations Committee
fromhold_bi~at~leg.wa.gov, 360-786-7924
Rep. Frank Chopp—House Speaker
chopp_fr~at~leg.wa.gov, 360-786-7920
Sample Message for calls, letters or emails:
Please support $800,000 in funding for the Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming Program (BIOAg) at Washington State University.
This innovative program will help growers across the state by reducing input costs, protecting the environment, accessing higher value markets and meeting the public demand for a sustainable and accessible local food supplies. This program offers new tools for producers to keep farms, ranches and orchards in successful production. It will fund research, educational opportunities, and promote better connections between farmers and consumers. It will be useful to the full spectrum of farming operations-organic and non-organic, small and large, eastside and westside. The primary goal overall is economic viability and sustainability in Washington agriculture.
Legislative district info:
Senator MARK DOUMIT
(D) 19th Legislative District
Pacific, Wahkiakum, and parts of Grays Harbor and Cowlitz county
Senator MARGARITA PRENTICE
(D) 11th Legislative District
South Seattle communities of West Seattle, Int'l District, Beacon Hill,
White Center, South Park, and Harbor Island. Also includes
portions of Burien, Kent, Renton and Tukwila and the Boeing Industrial Park.
Rep. HELEN SOMMERS
(D) 36th legislative district
Seattle: Magnolia, Queen Anne, Phinney Ridge and parts of Ballard,
Crown Hill, Denny Regrade, Fremont, Greenwood, Lake Union,
Loyal Heights, Sunset Hill.
Rep. BILL FROMHOLD
(D) 49th legislative district
Parts of Vancouver and Clark County
Rep. FRANK CHOPP
(D) 43rd legislative district
Seattle communities including downtown Seattle, Capitol Hill, Madison Park, Wallingford, Fremont, Ravenna
FUNDS SECURED TO DATE: almost $1million dollars in federal funds (2002-2005)
BIOAg Conceptual Budget
The Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming Program
The Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming is being developed by WSU's Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources (established by the Legislature in 1991). Its purpose is to help Washington producers meet current and future economic and environmental challenges while responding to growing consumer interest in food issues.
Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming recognizes key trends likely to impact agriculture: increasing markets for local, fresh and natural foods; global competition and downward pressure on prices; and the increased scarcity and cost of fossil fuel-based inputs. BIOAg integrates research, teaching, and extension to help growers combine time-tested practices with cutting edge innovations in production and marketing for Washington's $6 billion agricultural sector that provides more than 200 different crops and products.
What is Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming?
"Biologically intensive agriculture" refers to farming practices and systems that rely on
biological processes which are renewable, non-polluting, and mutually beneficial to
both farmers and society. Examples include:
- Direct seed cover cropping systems
- Management intensive grazing
- Organic farming
- Agroforestry
- Biological pest control
- Perennial polyculture
BIOAg practices are useful to the full spectrum of farming operations in Washington-conventional and organic, small and large, eastside and westside. Growers are interested in biologically intensive options to deal with rising fertilizer costs, new pests, changing climate, and new market expectations. Economic viability and sustainability of Washington's agriculture is the primary goal of the Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Program.
What is the difference between Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic?
Organic farming embodies many Biologically Intensive Agriculture principles but is more
narrowly defined than all of the biologically intensive agriculture opportunities that exist or
that may be discovered. "Organic" is legally defined by the federal government (Organic
Food Production Act) through a set of standards and a certification system. U.S.
demand for organic food grew by more than 20% yearly over the past decade and now
represents some $12 billion in sales, or about 2 - 3% of total food sales. Growers often receive
premium prices for organic products, and both Biologically Intensive and Organic farms may
be eligible for "green" payments for their conservation efforts. Research on organic systems has
proven useful to conventional growers, and vice versa.
What will the Biologically Intensive and Organic Farming Program accomplish?
Increasing the sustainability of Washington agriculture requires new knowledge from research, more
educational opportunities, and better connections between farmers and consumers. Like other leading
industries such as Microsoft or Boeing, agriculture requires new research to address new challenges
and to stay competitive.
Teaching: Biologically Intensive Agriculture and Organic Farming will help draw students to WSU's new Agricultural Systems degree. This program will fund a core agro ecology teaching position and assistantships to attract top-quality students, and teaching farms for hands-on learning to complement classroom instruction.
Outreach to Producers and Consumers: Value-added Extension educators will assist producers in finding new market opportunities, and other university educators will help identify ways to cut costs and reduce environmental impacts. Research and extension faculty in human nutrition will uncover links between food production, food quality, and human health, helping growers and consumers take advantage of benefits. The Biological Intensive Agricultural economist will offer applied analysis of the program themes regarding profitability, public benefit, and policy incentives or barriers.
Demonstration: Learning sites on actual farms will accelerate adoption of successful BIOAg practices. A farm with ten years of direct seed experience, for example, would provide a credible educational platform for producers, students, and the non-farm public on the cost savings and environmental benefits of the practice.Examples of Biologically Intensive Agriculture practices
- Mustard green manure, already used on some 20,000 acres prior to potato planting, suppresses certain disease organisms as it decomposes in the soil, allowing some growers to forego a soil fumigant while seeing soil quality improvements. BIOAg research will refine this practice and apply it to other crops.
- Cherry fruit fly is the key pest of cherries in the Pacific Northwest, with a zero tolerance quarantine status in many markets. Tim Smith of WSU Extension developed the use of spinosad, a microbial insecticide, as a 100 percent effective control using a low rate application that cut costs by more than 50 percent. The practice is now used by virtually all organic cherry growers in the western U.S., and by an increasing number of conventional growers who appreciate the reduced cost and greater worker safety.
- Biologically Intensive Agriculture for biofuels. Production of renewable fuel from agriculture must be done in a way that protects the soil, water and other natural resources. New uses for by-products from biofuels, such as glycerin from biodiesel, must be developed to add value to the whole enterprise. Biologically Intensive Agriculture, in collaboration with the proposed Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy, will provide the production cornerstone for biofuels to cut the $8 billion a year petrodollar leakage from the state and help create the bioeconomy.
- No-till farming (direct seeding) and organic farming have often been seen as mutually exclusive, as no-till systems rely on herbicides and organic systems rely on tillage for weed control. Now, growers with the Pacific Northwest Direct Seed Association are requesting information on green manures, a traditional source of nitrogen for organic farms, which may work for direct seeding as an alternative to increasing synthetic fertilizer costs. Research is already underway in other states for no-till management of green manures, using mechanical techniques to terminate the crop. Finding cost-effective renewable nitrogen fertilizer solutions will be a priority of the BIOAg program.
- Compost tea, long used by organic growers, is intended to suppress diseases and stimulate plant growth. Other growers, some large scale, now use it and report positive results. BIOAg will deliver the much needed research to develop compost tea into a predictable, effective, and low cost farm input.
- Health benefits are why consumers increasingly seek out natural pasture-raised meats without antibiotics and growth hormones. The quality of the food products (e.g. meat, milk) can be influenced by the grazing diet to increase the concentration of positive nutrition elements, such as conjugated linoleic acid. Biologically Intensive Agricultural research and education will help livestock producers take advantage of this market opportunity in the state.
- Adding value to their products is something growers are already doing in many ways, such as ecolabels (e.g. Food Alliance), direct marketing, natural meats, and specialty cheeses. These tactics exploit market niches that cannot absorb the production volume of most of our commercial farm products. Growers frequently ask for help with economic analysis and assessment of new ideas. BIOAg will assist in creating new products, new markets and new relationships, as is being done by the Shephard's Grains products from eastern Washington.
WSU, The Network, and a broad coalition of supporters will be asking the legislature to support $800,000 of funding to begin implementation of this program in the current legislative session, ending March 9th, 2006.
A fully funded program will require $2.4 million to launch it as a statewide program with all components operational.
Partial List of Supporters
- Washington Sustainable Food & Farming Network
- Washington Farmers Union
- Tilth Producers of Washington
- Washington State Grange
- Cattle Producers of Washington
- Pacific NW Direct Seed Association
- Rural Roots
- PCC Natural Markets (40,000 member households)
- Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance (Seattle)
- Small Planet Foods
- Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington State
- Cascade Harvest Coalition
- Seattle Tilth
- Washington Toxics Coalition
- Earth Ministry
- Anti-Hunger and Nutrition Coalition
- Physicians for Social Responsibility (WA State Chapter)
- Washington Chefs— Letter to Governor Gregoire from Washington Chefs
For more information, please contact Maryon Attwood, Director, Washington Sustainable Food & Farming Network (360-336-9694, mattwood~at~wsffn.org).
Please consider making a donation to the Network to support our BIOAg campaign, and/or becoming a member, if you're not already!
Send your contribution to: WSFFN, P.O. Box 762, Mount Vernon, WA 98723. You can download a membership form from our web site—see the 'Join the Network' bar on our Home page.