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The Provender Journal March-April, 2007 OGC Vendor Faire —from Organically Grown Company, www.organicgrown.com Organically Grown Company (OGC) announces sustainability-focused workshops and Vendor Faire 2007 to be held at the Vancouver, Washington Hilton Hotel on March 16 and 17, 2007. OGC, the largest organic produce wholesaler in the Pacific Northwest, chose to hold the events at the Vancouver Hilton because of the hotel’s commitment to sustainability, reflected in its prestigious LEED certification. Both events require pre-registration; the workshops are open to the public, while Vendor Faire is an invitation-only event for OGC’s community of customers and growers/vendors. On March 16, workshops hosted by the University of Oregon’s Resource I n n o v a t i o n s (www.resourceinnovations.org) and entitled “Food Packaging and Sustainable Alternatives” and “Energy Efficiency and Renewable Power” will build on the discussion and activity OGC prompted at its “Sustainability Summit” for the organic trade in 2005. The workshops will examine the negative impacts of current practices and focus on practical solutions businesses can employ to reduce waste and switch to renewable resources. The workshops are $95 each or $150 for the full day; lunch is included. For information and pre-registration, contact the program coordinator, Natalie Reitman-White, at nwhite@organicgrown.com, or 541.346.1609. On March 17, OGC will host the invitation- only Vendor Faire 2007 for the organic-produce trade. The event will expand on the success of OGC’s first Vendor Faire in 2006, which gathered the key players in the Northwest’s organic-produce industry for a large-scale farmers’ market. Vendor Faire 2007 will present OGC’s dedicated organic farmers from Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Canada and Mexico to OGC’s customers, which include retailers, wholesalers, restaurateurs and home-delivery companies. Using the theme “The Geography of Food” OGC will show where the Northwest’s organic produce comes from, explore the complex sustainability issues facing the organic- food industry. According to David Lively, OGC’s marketing director the Vendor Fair is “both a huge and a small event – huge in impact but small in scale, more like a campfire gathering than a convention, designed to allow for, and encourage, the opportunity to grow our relationships.” Michael Ableman (www.fieldsofplenty.com), farmer, author and photographer from Salt Spring Island, British Columbia will open Vendor Faire 2007 with a keynote address scheduled for 9 a.m. on March 17. Michael’s books, including Fields of Plenty and From the Good Earth, eloquently express organic agriculture’s “heart,” while challenging the trade to go “organic and beyond” with the same spirit, dedication and collaboration they used to develop and define the term “organic.” He will be available for interviews before and at the event. The Provender Alliance 31st Annual Educational Conference will be held October 4 and 5, 2007 at the Red Lion at the Quay in Vancouver, Washington. The conference theme is Growing With Integrity. The hotel is situated right on the Columbia River. There is an extensive riverside park less than a block away and another city park just a few blocks to the north. The hotel has been recently remodeled and promises to serve our needs quite well. We are pleased to announce that Jeffrey Smith, author of Seeds of Deception, will be one of our keynote speakers. We hope to have copies available for him to sign and for you to purchase. The format for the 2007 conference will mirror the same schedule as the 2006 conference, with the opening keynote on Thursday morning and the conference ending on Friday night after the dance party. We hope to offer a special event on Wednesday, October 3 as an extra enticement to arrive early and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow conference attendees. Please contact us if you would like to help sponsor such an event. Conference information will be mailed in early August. Once again, you will be responsible for your own lodging reservations. We will again have a large block of rooms available, many with views of the river. We are in the preliminary planning stages of the conference and welcome your ideas for speakers, presenters, and workshop topics you’d like to see addressed. Please contact the office or one of the Provender representatives listed on page 25 of this Journal with your suggestions. Speak Out About FDA Cloned Animal Approval —from Food and Water Watch, www.foodandwaterwatch.org Just as 2006 was drawing to a close, the Food and Drug Administration announced it had finished its long-awaited assessment of the risk from eating milk or meat from cloned animals. The agency said it found no significant health risks to humans eating these products, despite the fact that no long- term studies have been done and cloned animals often suffer from serious defects and health problems. The agency’s announcement kicked off a 90-day comment period on their draft “risk assessment” document. Right now there is a “voluntary moratorium” on the sale of milk and meat from cloned animals or their offspring. The FDA could lift that moratorium, allowing the sale of cloned food products, after it finalizes the risk assessment. This means that the agency is likely to approve the sale of food from cloned animals sometime in 2007. FDA’s support for animal cloning ignores widespread scientific concern about the health problems suffered by clones, and the uncertainty about whether or not it is safe to eat milk or meat from these potentially sick animals. The FDA’s position also ignores the ethical and animal welfare concerns that come with the cloning process. To make matters worse, FDA has said that cloned food will not have to be labeled, so consumers will have no way to avoid these controversial experimental foods. Please visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org and go to ‘Take Action’ to to tell the FDA that you don’t want meat or milk from clones. For more information on cloning, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org and go to ‘Food’. —from Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, www.pesticide.org Help NCAP celebrate 30 years of protecting the health of people and the environment by advancing alternatives to pesticides. They are planning special events throughout 2007, so please watch for invitations and announcements in the mail and on their web site. In honor of their anniversary, they hope you will join in the celebration and help NCAP raise $30,000 in order to grow their endowment to $240,000. NCAP’s endowment is protected, and over the years they have used the endowment earnings to create a reserve fund and support special programs. Your help will go a long way in sustaining NCAP’s work to create a future free from pesticides. Mouth Revolution Hits the Internet —from Pesticide Action Network, North America, www.panna.org Mouth Revolution is the latest zany video from the makers of wildly successful Internet hits Meatrix and Store Wars. Sponsored by Annie’s Homegrown (bunny mac and cheese), Mouth Revolution promotes healthy food. Pesticide Action Network is one of the organizations chosen by Annie’s and producer Free Range Studios to provide an action for viewers. Take Action Now! and Watch the video! Ask the U.S. EPA to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos. Chlorpyrifos (including Dow’s “Lorsban”), an organophosphate insecticide, is used on many crops including almonds, apples, broccoli, corn, cotton, oranges and pears. A powerful neurotoxin, it has been linked to both immediate human health damage and long-term developmental delays in children. Chlorpyrifos was banned for residential use in 2000 due particularly to danger to children. Yet people working and living in agricultural communities continue to be exposed to this unnecessary poison. Recent scientific studies at Columbia University link lower birth weights and reduced head circumference of children born to women who were pregnant while living where chlorpyrifos was used in their homes. For children living anywhere, switching to organic foods has been shown to immediately lower the levels of some of the most acutely dangerous pesticides, including organophosphates. What can you do? Watch Mouth Revolution. Go to www.mouthrevolution.com. Visit the PANNA web site, www.panna.org to demand that EPA ban chlorpyrifos. Take action with the United Farm Workers. Visit their web site at www.ufwaction.org. —from Food & Environment Digest, January 2007, www.ucsusa.org A new report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization found that domestic animals produce 18% of the world’s greenhouse gases–even more than the world’s global warming pollutants from transportation. To read the report, visit www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/ longshad/A0701E00.htm. Embrace Earth Day with a Meaningful Meal —from Organic Valley, www.organicvalley.coop Since 2004 Organic Valley has been involved in an effort to develop a springtime tradition with Earth Dinners to inspire a connection to our food, the earth, and one another by linking it to one of the few holidays without a celebratory meal-Earth Day. “Earth Dinners are a time to pause and reflect on where our food comes from and how it is grown,” says Theresa Marquez, Earth Dinner founder and Marketing Executive for Organic Valley. “Food is at the heart of every culture’s celebrations and Earth Day deserves no less. Bringing awareness to what we eat imbues the experience with joy and a sense of community.” Since its inception in 2004 Earth Dinners have been hosted around the world from the Spring (Vernal) Equinox on March 20th through Earth Day on April 22nd. Hosting your own Earth Dinner can be the start of your own annual tradition. All you have to do is follow two elemental guidelines–local, fresh, organic food and lively conversation. You can engage your guests with conversation starters focusing on food, through the use of “Earth Dinner Creativity Cards”. Award-winning author Douglas Love wrote the 49-card deck of “Earth Dinner Creativity Cards”. His playful, thoughtful collection of questions, facts, and thought-provokers is divided up into four suits: Fun Facts-Did you know you have 10,000 taste buds?; Storytelling-Unearth long lost food memories such as the taste of the very first tomato you plucked from the vine; Imagination- Conjure up a food Haiku, and Inspiration- think and delve deeper into your connection to nature, hope and food. Visit www.earthdinner.org to download free samples of the Earth Creativity Cards, or to purchase a full deck for $10. Organic Valley will donate all proceeds from the sale of Earth Dinner cards to the Organic Farm Friends Foundation, a program that aims to foster a strong connection between rural organic farmers and urban communities. Peruse the Earth Dinner web site for menu and recipe ideas and décor suggestions. Find out what other Earth Dinner enthusiasts have done. Then take all that information and put your own stamp of creativity on it. Make it your signature springtime entertaining event. Northwest Safeways Now rBGH-Free —from Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility Campaign for Safe Food, www.oregonpsr.org What was unofficial in December has now been confirmed - Safeway’s processing plants in both Portland and Seattle have now gone rBGH-free! Safeway’s public relations department has not made an official announcement but Oregon PSR has learned from multiple sources that this indeed has happened. The plants produce fluid milk for all of Oregon, SW Washington and a few parts of northern CA. Safeway packages two brands of milk, Lucerne and Dari-Glen. Apparently (unfortunately) only Lucerne will be labeled rBGH-free. They are going through the old inventory of packaging and all the new labeling should have been in the stores by mid-February. As with other dairy processors that have gone rBGH-free, Safeway is requiring that dairy farmers supplying them milk must sign affidavits stating they won’t use rBGH. For over two years, Oregon PSR has coordinated the campaign that led to hundreds of people sending post cards to Safeway asking them to go rBGH-free. From their office, they’ve sent 396 signed postcards to Safeway’s headquarters and have handed out nearly 200 to others that thave been sent on their own. Many thanks to NW Resistance Against Genetic Engineering (NW-RAGE) for helping gather these signed post cards and to all of you that signed post cards yourselves. Many thanks also to all of you who answered Oregon PSR’s request and filled out Safeway’s own comment cards inside their stores asking them to go rBGH-free. Another factor was Starbucks’ decision to ask its suppliers to go rBGH-free. Safeway Lucerne is the NW supplier and Starbucks has already disclosed that this move in the Northwest will take them to 37% rBGHfree nationwide from 27%. Safeway’s processing plant in San Leandro, California went rBGH-free about two years ago. Previous to the Northwest action, it had been Safeway’s only rBGHfree plant. Safeway is the 23rd largest dairy processor in the country, with 17 plants in the U.S. and three in Canada. This now leaves Fred Meyer’s Portland plant as the only fluid milk processing facility in Oregon still allowing rBGH. Fred Meyer is a division of Kroger, who was reported last June to be looking for rBGH-free milk for their stores. Thank you to Safeway and thanks again to all of you who have played a role, large or small, to help bring about this decision. —from Ashland Food Co-op, www.ashlandfood.coop In a decision broadly affecting field trials of genetically engineered crops, Judge Harold Kennedy has ruled that the USDA must halt approval of all new field trials until more rigorous environmental reviews are conducted. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed in 2003 by the Center for Food Safety, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and other individuals and organizations. At issue in the lawsuit are novel varieties of creeping bentgrass and Kentucky bluegrass manufactured by Scotts and Monsanto that have been genetically engineered to resist Roundup, Monsanto‘s popular herbicide. Users are able to spray entire lawns, fields and golf courses with large amounts of the weedkiller without hurting the grass. The Environmental Protection Agency studied the environmental contamination from GE creeping bentgrass and found multiple instances of pollen from GE bentgrass traveling several miles and transferring its traits to native grasses. Last year, EPA researchers found that the engineered grasses has escaped from field trials to contaminate a national grassland. The court‘s decision is available at www.centerforfoodsafety.org. Bulking Up Locally Grown at First Alternative —by Chris Peterson, First Altenative Co-op owner. This article originally appeared in the Co-op Thymes, January 2007. Eyebrows arched last May when I wrote about First Alternative’s bulk department and how none of the staple items I’d inquired about were grown locally. Some came from as far away as China and Paraguay. While some people saw this as dereliction of duty on the part of F.A. staff, Co-op owner Harry MacCormack knew it was more complicated than that. MacCormack, also the proprietor of Sunbow Farm, responded to the article by purchasing small amounts of sixteen bulk items and planting them. His results could prompt a mini-revolution in the local food system if enough people truly care about where their food comes from. At the very least, the experiment shines a light on the dark side of the current global food system. First, the samples MacCormack bought, all organically-grown, tallied up to less than $10. “This is because of cheap labor, especially in foreign countries, and cheap oil,” he said. The U.S. commodity system, where farmers are forced to store—or pay to store—their grains or legumes until a broker is ready to buy, means he may not get paid for a year or more. No wonder so many small and mid-sized farms go under. “That’s not a sustainable food system,” MacCormack said. “In a local, sustainable food system, the crop should be spoken for before it’s planted and paid for up front by the purchasers.” The experimental bulk crops were planted in May. Three days of frigid weather right afterward kept most snuggled tightly in their beds - except the black beans from China. “They came flying out of the ground,” MacCormack said, “and were four to six inches tall before most of the rest of the stuff was even up.” The golden flax came up quickly too, which isn’t surprising since flax was once a major crop here. Soybeans had the hardest time. The crops were purposely stressed by minimal irrigation to see how well they’d do in good organic soil. Mother Nature stressed them further with very hot weather, but all survived. Harvest dates were a concern for MacCormack. “Here, you want dry crops like these off the field preferably before the first of September because cool, wet weather can set in. The black, pinto and garbanzo beans were all done by mid-August, though if it had been a cooler summer, it might have taken longer.” Scale was another factor. At Sunbow Farm, 4-foot by 100-foot beds allow the ground to be prepared in fall and hand-planted in spring. “Using a tractor, you’d have to wait for the soil to dry,” MacCormack said. “With high organic matter, you’d be waiting into June.” MacCormack and fellow small-scale farmers, Dr. Alan Kapuler and Mark Stuart have been experimenting with crop yields on smaller acreage using smaller, lessdamaging equipment or hand methods. “Say the Co-op needs about 100 pounds of dry black beans a month,” MacCormack said. “That’s 1,200 pounds a year and we got about 2,860 pounds per acre this year, so less than an acre would take care of the Co-op.” Determine the needs of some restaurants, institutions and individuals and you could plan and sell crops efficiently forlocal consumption. But, here’s the rub: even though the Coop is willing to buy those beans, as are shoppers, where would they be stored until the bins need to be filled? Most small farmers don’t have such space and neither does the Co-op. Is either willing to invest in such dry, pest-free storage? Or, would customers be willing to purchase a year’s supply at a time and store it themselves? What are other options? Community storage facilities? Processing is another consideration. Most of the experimental crops can be managed with simple equipment, or by hand. Could a number of farmers or farmer/consumer cooperatives invest in and share a small combine that would harvest small plots? Would consumers be willing to finish the cleaning and bagging? Or, would people be willing to do this very parttime seasonal work in exchange for food or wages? The next obvious step is processing more perishable crops like vegetables (canning tomatoes) or fruits (freezing berries, drying plums, etc.). Think of all the tomatoes that go unused at the end of summer, but that would be eagerly consumed in winter—by restaurants and institutions, as well as individuals— if only they could be preserved. The lessons from MacCormack’s experiment? Like every food retailer, the Co-op has been sucked into the vortex of the global food system. We all have. But we can extricate ourselves, at least in part. MacCormack thinks we could supply 30% of the bulk items locally within a year or two. “In terms of survival foods—those that are dried and stored without electricity, like beans and grains—we have to think of more community involvement,” he said. Then the community would work towards the next step of refrigeration and processing (canning, drying, freezing). Ideally, every town would contract with its surrounding farmers for all kinds of foods—meats, poultry, eggs, vegetables, grains, legumes, dairy, honey, etc. This is happening somewhat at First Alternative now, but could be expanded. The local economy and community food security would strengthen in direct proportion to the growth of these relationships. But, the questions remain: are we, as consumers, willing to forgo the convenience of shopping—and maybe even eating—as we do now? Are we willing to alter our diets according to seasonal availability when necessary? Are we willing to be active Co-op owners and work through the necessary steps to support local growers and unharness ourselves from the all-or-nothing global food system? Rather than “go without,” it can mean opportunities for new culinary horizons. It might also inspire new small businesses to create new foods—even convenience foods. The potential is there. Is the interest and commitment? Montana’s Certification Meets Standards —from ATTRA–National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, Weekly Harvest Newsletter, February 14, 2007, http://ncat.attra.org USDA has announced that Montana’s organic certification program meets international standards, reports the Helena, Montana Independent Record. The accreditation under International Standards Organization Guide 65 will make it easier for Montana’s organic producers to export their products. Prior to the USDA approval, organic producers could only export by working with private, out-of-state organizations that achieved the ISO Grade 65 certification. Montana is the second state to receive the accreditation; Washington was first. To read the article, visit www.helenair.com. Threatened Farmland in Washington State —from American Farmland Trust, www.farmland.org The threat of farmland loss traditionally has been measured by projecting past losses into the future. It is already quite worrisome to know that, in Washington State, farmland is lost to development every year at a rate of about 23,000 acres. That’s an area the size of Lake Washington. This figure is based on USDA Census of Agriculture numbers from 1997 and 2002 (currently the most recent data). But what if conditions are changing—perhaps improving or possibly growing even worse? What impact does this trend have on the profitability of today’s actual farm businesses? And how widespread are these impacts, across our state, right now? American Farmland Trust (AFT) has argued for years that high land costs are driving good farmers out of business by forcing them to place their land on the market. For a farm business, land is not a luxury—it is an essential business asset whose value is determined by what it can produce in marketable food or fiber. Unfortunately, the actual market value of land is often driven instead by non-farm uses—by what that land can produce in the way of residential, commercial and industrial development value. When that happens, new farmers cannot enter the business. Existing farmers cannot expand. And long-term investments in needed farm business infrastructure can become unrealistic. So, as the market value of farmland rises above its productive value as a farm business asset, its loss to development at some point in the future becomes almost inevitable. But how much of our existing farmland is in that situation? How many of today’s farmers are already faced with such no-win investment decisions? How many are forgoing vital investments in the future of their farm businesses because they know that the future buyer of their land will almost certainly be a non-farmer who neither wants nor is willing to pay for the farm business “improvements” that those investments have purchased? Even if no such investments are needed, and even beyond normal land ownership costs like taxes, maintenance and insurance, land also has an annual carrying cost measured by what the same money could earn in an alternative investment. A 100-acre farm parcel worth $300,000 for agriculture at, say, six-percent interest might have an annual carrying cost of about $18,000. This cost will be shown as an expense on the farm’s annual income statement. Suppose, however, that the actual fair market value of that 100-acre parcel is actually $2 million rather than the $300,000 that a viable farm business could afford to pay. Then that annual business expense, still at six percent, rises from $18,000 to $120,000, an increase that can easily push the business into the red. How much of the current farmland is vulnerable to future development because it has acquired a fair market value that exceeds its value for agriculture? The state of Washington is fortunate to have a fairly straightforward way to find the answer. The state’s tax system allows a farmer to pay property taxes only on the “current use” or agricultural value of the land—not on the market value. To be eligible, a property must be in active, current agricultural use. When a landowner applies, the county assessor does a dual appraisal on the land, finding both its value for agriculture and also its possibly higher fair market value. The farmer then pays property taxes on the lower “current use” agricultural value. Counties report this information annually to the State Department of Revenue. So there is a county-by-county and a statewide record of the total acreage in this program, and there is a record of the differences between the current use value and the fair market value of the lands enrolled. Approximately 75 percent of Washington’s active farm and ranch land had a market value that exceeded its value for agriculture. The average agricultural value of the lands in the current use system was less than 30 percent of their average total fair market value. (Total fair market value of lands in current use program: $10+ billion. Total agricultural value of lands in current use program: nearly $3 billion.) The problem was as common in eastern Washington as it was on the Westside (although the average difference in value was less). The total agricultural lands figures came from USDA’s Census of Agriculture, obtained with a method that differs from that of the Washington current use program. If 75 percent of Washington’s farmers struggling to survive and prosper against the challenges of overvalued land, the threats to the future of the agriculture industry are enormous. Farming is tied with aerospace as the top industry in the state of Washington. Numbers like these highlight the importance of decisive action to assure that there will be an affordable land base to sustain this critically valuable industry for years to come. —from Horizon Organic, www.horizonorganic.com Horizon Organic® in early January announced their commitment and partnership to sponsor the construction of a new organic dairy research barn at the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH’s) Burley-Demeritt Farm. The company’s contribution helps to fund the university’s dairy farm and learning center focused on organic milk production, which carries a $1.8 million price tag. Horizon Organic joined UNH and other contributors in celebrating the fundraising, building, calving, and organic certification milestones at the farm. Launched in December 2005, UNH’s organic dairy research farm is the first of its kind at a land-grant university. The facility, which currently houses a 46-cow Jersey milking herd, will ultimately support 80 cows on 200 certified organic acres. It will provide much-needed educational and sciencebased research for present and future organic dairy farmers, while helping to secure the future of the northeast’s farming heritage. The barn, being funded by Horizon Organic, is slated for construction in 2007. The facility will house mature dairy animals and provide protection from the elements, while giving the best possible care when they are not on pasture. According to UNH, students will use the dairy farm and the herd of purebred Jersey cows as teaching tools to learn the best organic livestock and farm management practices for optimum production. The dairy will also provide important research on organic milk production, nutrition, rotational grazing, and other grazing and feeding options that will aid the industry. —from Organic Trade Association, www.ota.com All Things Organic is taking place May 5- 8, 2007 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Discover first-hand the value of attending the only all-organic tradeshow in North America - and take advantage of its co-location with the Food Marketing Institute’s FMI Show, the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade’s (NASFT) Fancy Food Show, NASDA’s US Food Export Showcase, and the United Fresh Marketplace. All Things Organic made Trade Show Week’s Top 50 list for the fastest growing trade shows in the industry. The full conference program is available at www.organicexpo.com. Keynote speakers include former Vice President Al Gore on Sunday, May 6. Monday, May 7, a panel discussion: The Next Generation of Organic Leaders, will be the keynote event and Tuesday, May 8, author Claire Raines will speak. All Things Organic attendees can “green” their travel to and from Chicago by purchasing Green Tags (also called renewable energy certificates) representing 100% new wind and solar resources. Remember to go carbon neutral when you register for your conference and trade show badge. Saturday, May 5, 2007 is OTA Member Day! Plan your travel so you can join fellow OTA members, board, and staff for business, education, networking and socializing. You can choose from a variety of activities throughout the day to match your interest and schedule. Check www.organicexpo.com for more information. —from National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, www.sustainableagriculture.net On February 14, the Senate passed the “Continuing Resolution,” which makes permanent funding decisions for the fiscal year already underway (Fiscal Year 2007), which wasn’t completed before the last Congress ended. Distressingly, this resolution would immediately eliminate funding for a program crucial to sustainable agriculture. The Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) program is a highly rated national information service that answers practical questions from farmers and others across the US who use its resources. Congressman Boozman (R-AR) is circulating a sign-on letter to USDA to fund ATTRA’s modest $2.5 million. It’s crucial that you call and ask your House member to sign onto the Boozman letter. Senators are also sending individual letters to USDA with the same message. Please call the congressional switchboard at 202.224.3121 and ask to be connected to the office of your representative and your two senators (this means 3 very quick calls). Ask to speak to the staffer handling appropriations. If he or she is unavailable, leave a message with your name, phone number and a quick message. Ask your representative to sign onto Congressman Boozman’s letter asking USDA to restore full 2007 funding to the ATTRA sustainable agriculture information service. Ask your Senators to send a letter asking the same thing. A TTRA is a national valuable source of information to farmers across the US about how to farm using sustainable practices, and it shouldn’t be cut. For twenty years, ATTRA has been one of the most reliable sources of information for farmers and others who want fact-based information on a wide variety of agronomic, livestock, marketing, and entrepreneurial questions with reliable information, evaluated and summarized from its extensive database. Though its funding has remained far too small, at $2.5 million since FY02, it accomplishes great work for farmers and consumers around the nation. ATTRA’s services are in great demand, exceeding 37,000 technical requests last year and drawing over 2.6 million unique visitors to its web site, resulting in over 673,000 publication downloads. For more about the ATTRA information service, visit www.attra.org. ‘Animal Welfare Approved’ Seal Launched —from ATTRA–National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, Weekly Harvest Newsletter, January 31, 2007, http://ncat.attra.org The Animal Welfare Institute recently launched a seal identification program for meat, poultry, dairy and eggs that feature what they term the highest standards for the humane treatment of farm animals. Products bearing the “Animal Welfare Approved” seal meet standards for all aspects of an animal’s life, from opportunities to socialize and behave naturally to assurances of comfort and freedom from intensive confinement. Only independent family farms can earn the Animal Welfare Approved seal, and more than 500 farms currently comply with AWI’s standards. The farms continue to be inspected by AWI after being endorsed. For more information, visit www.awionline.org.
Provender Alliance
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