Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4.1
Growers, scientists, and USEPA staff visit the Wilke Farm for a field day.
Photograph courtesy of Diana Roberts.
Kupers came right out and said he did not trust the USEPA. Another
farmer said that those who would subjugate first regulate. The head of
the listening tour was equally frank in his reply to the farmers, but the
honesty helped opened the door for a more substantive conversation.
The farmers challenged the USEPA to back up its stated goals by fund-
ing progressive agricultural initiatives, and the ACIRDS farmers just
happened to have a research plan for the Wilke farm that was the most
holistic approach to agro-environmental problems the staffers had seen
(figure 4.1). The CPAI team returned to the Seattle office with a much
greater understanding of the problems and possibilities of partnering
with farmers and their organizations to produce positive change in agri-
culture. Over the next several years, the Seattle office contributed more
than $600,000 to CPAI-related projects, including the Wilke
Farm/ACIRDS farmer partnership. CPAI helped the USEPA learn that
progress toward pollution-prevention goals in agriculture was possible.
When I visited Kupers in the summer of 2000, he was waiting for a
mechanic to fix a piece of machinery. He took me on a walking tour of
a few fields, and showed me what he had learned to see. He radiated
enthusiasm for his work with the land. This new way of farming gave
him a great deal of satisfaction, partly because it allowed him to farm in
a way consistent with his values, and in part because he had largely
devised it. He had discovered a way to put his land ethic into action.
We spoke of the challenges of creating markets for alternative crops,
those that he managed so his system more closely mimicked the native
ecosystem.
