The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy promotes resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology, and advocacy.

1/29: Reuters. Farm, trade expected to surface in Bush speech

1/28: Voice of America. Multilateral Trading System Marks 60 Years

1/28: High Plains Journal. Meeting Seeks Unity on Bioenergy and Water

1/24: Star Tribune. Free Trade Isn't Up to the Task of Making America Thrive

1/15: United Press International. Biofuels Law Attracts Opposition

1/11: Topeka Capital Journal. Trade Deals Boost Illegal Immigration

1/10: Minnesota Post. Beyond Corn Ethanol

1/08: Rochester Post Bulletin.Expert Says Biofuels Can Harm the Landscape

1/07: Bike Radar. Coffee Taste Test

1/06: St. Cloud Times. They Come From Near and Far to Discuss the Outdoors Future

1/04: Minnesota Public Radio. Alternative Energy Plans a Boost to Wildlife Habitat

1/02: Marketplace. NAFTA Deadline for Mexican Sugar

Sow the Seeds Fund Gives Over $375,000 to Flooded Farmers

At a January reception in Minneapolis, the Sow the Seeds Fund celebrated an effort that donated $383,900 to 31 farms in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa that were damaged by massive storms in August 2007. The money was raised in only four months from individual donors, many shoppers at regional food co-ops and Whole Foods stores, along with churches, local restaurants and businesses. The money was dispensed by a volunteer advisory committee of agriculture and community leaders, with 100 percent of individual donations going directly to farmers.

The Fund targeted assistance to organic and sustainable farmers who market directly to stores, food co-ops, foundations and consumers in the region. Farmers who market directly often have difficulty finding the same fair value crop insurance that is available to conventional farmers. The Sow the Seeds Fund is a joint project of the Wedge Community Co-op and IATP to support local food systems in the Midwest. In 2008, the Fund will launch a new campaign to help sustainable and organic farmers in the region strengthen their infrastructure and extend their growing season.

You can find out more at the Sow the Seeds Fund.

Organizing Rural Somali Communities in the Midwest

IATP is pleased to announce the arrival of Garat Ibrahim to work with rural Somali communities in the Midwest. With more Somalis moving to the Twin Cities and rural areas, there is a growing need for dedicated services, resources and coordination for these new community members. As IATP's newest rural organizer, Garat will build connections among rural Somali communities and work toward strategies for their long-term success in this region.

Garat moved to Minnesota from Somalia eight years ago, and has a background in social services and community organizing. For the past five years, Garat has worked as a Case Manager for Lutheran Social Services Refugee Resettlement Program. More recently, he has worked with the Saint Paul Police Department and the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department as an outreach coordinator to improve communication and relationships between law enforcement agencies and the community.

U.S., Canadian and International Groups Call for NAFTA Suspension

In December, more than 70 U.S., Canadian and international groups called for the suspension of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and said the controversial treaty should be renegotiated. In a letter to government leaders in all three countries, the groups expressed their support for Mexican farm organizations challenging the implementation of the final agricultural provisions of NAFTA, which went into effect on January 1, 2008.

The final provisions of NAFTA removed tariffs on white corn, beans, powdered milk and other staple foods. The groups called for the U.S., Canadian and Mexican governments to "halt the agricultural trade liberalization that is destroying the Mexican countryside, rural communities, indigenous peoples and farmers, driving them into economic exile." Their proposal to the Mexican legislature would exclude all staple foods in the Mexican diet from NAFTA's tariff elimination and would increase Mexican government support for agriculture that was cut sharply under NAFTA.

IATP's Steve Suppan presented the letter at a press conference of Mexican farmer and indigenous groups in Mexico City. You can find the letter, press release, and Suppan's blog entries from Mexico City at Trade Observatory.

Free trade in Rochester, NY

Some economists have argued that the benefits of free trade in the form of lower prices for consumers, far outweigh any costs related to job losses. In a new commentary, IATP's Mark Muller challenges free trade cheerleaders to drive through his hometown of Rochester, New York, and view the full effect of free trade on local businesses, farmers and the Great Lakes.

Read Muller's full commentary, Free trade isn't up to the task of making America thrive.

Meat Trade Needs Better Regulation

The new issue of Food Ethics magazine looks at environmental, health and development impacts of global meat production. IATP's Steve Suppan writes about the urgent need to better regulate the global meat trade. "It is in everyone's interest that trade in this sector is better governed. . . (But) no multilateral policy mechanism currently exists to steer us toward the win-win, which is better agricultural practice, fewer CAFOs and fewer antibiotics."

Read the full article, Meat Trade: Food Safety Needs a New Global Fund.

Trade Deals Ignore Immigration

The U.S. Senate approved a Peru free trade deal in December that will continue the deregulation model established by the North American Free Trade Agreement. Lost in the Peru debate was the impact that free trade agreements have on immigration, writes IATP's R. Dennis Olson in a new commentary.

Olson writes, "Some say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Passing the Peru and other pending trade deregulation agreements fits that definition. . .Like Mexico, Peru farmers will be forced off their land, because the Peru trade deal requires the removal of the remaining tariffs that provide the only protection for these staple crops against predatory dumping by U.S. agribusinesses into Peru's local markets. And, like Mexico, these small farmers will be forced to migrate to urban areas and to the north-including to the United States."

Read the full commentary, Trade Deals Ignore Agricultural Impacts on Immigration.

Children's Hospitals a National Leader in Local, Sustainable Foods

Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is the first children's hospital nationwide to support local, sustainable food by signing the Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge, a voluntary commitment to serve food that is healthier for people and the environment. IATP and Healthcare Without Harm (HCWH) are working with health care institutions around the country to support the pledge.

"Across the country, healthcare leaders increasingly recognize that dollars spent on local, fresh and sustainably produced food are dollars wisely invested in preventing disease. At stake are not only improvements in health, but also keeping down the long-term cost of healthcare," said IATP's David Wallinga, M.D.

Menu items at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota include organic cranberries, organic salad greens, and organic coffee, along with locally sourced dairy (produced without the hormone rBGH), maple syrup, Food Alliance Certified apple cider and bakery goods. More than 100 healthcare facilities around the country have taken the pledge.

Read more details on the healthy food pledge.

Prescription for Greener Chemistry and Public Health

In a new article published in Minnesota Physician, IATP's David Wallinga, M.D., outlines the failure of the U.S. regulatory system to protect public health from toxic industrial chemicals. Wallinga writes that "the vast majority of toxic chemicals still have undergone little or no testing to determine whether they represent a hazard to humans." Less than five percent of chemicals registered in the U.S. have been reviewed for safety by U.S. government agencies.

Wallinga recommends that physicians find out more from their patients about their environmental history or exposure to toxic chemicals, support "green chemistry" that is better for public health and the environment, and advocate for effective chemical regulation at the state and national level.

Read the full article, Chemicals, products, and regulatory failure.
Fact sheet on Why We Need Green Chemistry.
Read more about efforts to support green chemistry in Minnesota at Healthy Legacy.

Sears/Kmart is Latest to Phase Out Vinyl (PVC) Plastic

Sparked by a national campaign of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ), together with health and environmental organizations including IATP, the Sears Holdings (Sears and KMart) has announced plans to begin phasing out products and packaging containing vinyl, or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), plastic. PVC is a major source of human exposure to toxic lead, hormone-disrupting phthalates and dioxins.

Sears and Kmart's announcement follows PVC phase-outs announced earlier by Target and Wal-Mart. Read more detail on the CHEJ PVC Campaign.

Fair Trade Coffee Grows in Sumatra

In the latest issue of Fair Grounds, Peace Coffee's Anna Canning writes about the fast-growing fair trade coffee market in Sumatra - a region that has bounced back from a major tsunami in 2004 to see more farmer coffee co-ops try to meet the needs of a surging fair trade market. Peace Coffee is a 100 percent fair trade and organic coffee company owned by IATP.

Read more about Anna's trip to Sumatra.

Radio Sustain

Listen to the latest Radio Sustain podcast, where IATP's Steve Suppan discusses the final implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement; John Foster of the North-South Institute discusses the Security and Prosperity Partnership between the U.S., Canada and Mexico; and IATP's Dennis Olson discusses international debates about the biofuel sector.

Listen to Radio Sustain -January 14 podcast.

Blogging on China, Mexican Farmers and Global Poverty

At the Think Forward blog you can read about IATP President Jim Harkness's recent trip to China, Steve Suppan's meeting with farm groups in Mexico City, the media's role in addressing global poverty, and much more. Read Think Forward.

Save the Date - Upcoming Events

Celebrate the Chinese New Year - February 6 (6:30 pm), Common Roots Café, 2558 Lyndale Ave., S., Minneapolis.

As the Chinese New Year approaches, please join IATP President Jim Harkness at the Common Roots Cafe for a slide show of a recent New Year he spent in a remote mountain village in China. The presentation and discussion will provide a unique glimpse into life in rural China. Jim will also discuss the dilemmas facing China's farmers and the potential for a fair trade market. Before and after Jim's talk, you can sample certified fair-trade Rishi Tea from China. This event is free and open to the public.

Linking Agriculture, Migration and Development: A Critical Look at NAFTA Past, Past, Present and Future - March 5, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

This public seminar will analyze the impacts of NAFTA on farmers, communities, agriculture, and the food system in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Speakers will discuss migration patterns, their relationship to U.S. trade policy, and how this connection should be emphasized more in the 2008 election campaigns. Lastly, we will review initiatives underway to expand NAFTA with the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) and discuss policy options moving forward that will ensure national democratic accountability. The event is being co-organized by IATP, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Global Exchange, Alliance for Responsible Trade, Institute for Policy Studies, Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University, and the Washington Office on Latin America. For more information, please contact Alexandra Spieldoch at IATP (aspieldoch@iatp.org) or Liane Schalatek, Heinrich Böll Foundation (liane@boell.org).

Equine Forestry - February 16 (8pm) and March 22 (10pm) on Twin Cities Public Television.

Harvesting timber from forest-land without damaging the ecosystem can be challenging. One approach in the Upper Midwest utilizes horses instead of destructive machinery to remove harvested trees. To educate landowners about the benefits of equine forestry, IATP and Twin Cities Public Television co-produced a 30-minute documentary that will appear on February 16 at 8 pm and March 22 at 10 pm, on Twin Cities Public Television. The documentary follows the work of Tim Carroll of Cedar Horse Logging, who uses this low-impact tree harvesting method to slow down soil erosion and promote the healthy growth of remaining trees.

Donate to IATP! You can help. IATP does very important work to keep family farmers on the land, to ensure the safety of our food supply and to preserve biodiversity and the environment for future generations. We cannot do this work without you. Your tax-deductible contribution will help us secure a sustainable world. For more information about our programs, or if you would like to discuss different contribution options, please contact Kate Hoff, Development Director, at khoff@iatp.org or (612) 870-3404. We appreciate your interest in our work. Thank you for your support.

IATP News is an occasional publication reporting on recent events and activities at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). It is sent to board members, supporters, partners and friends. Your comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)
Jim Harkness, President
2105 First Avenue South Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404 USA
Tel. 1 (612) 870-0453 Fax. 1 (612) 870-4846
Email: iatp@iatp.org Web: iatp.org