Hi all,

I should properly introduce myself. I'm Juliann Aukema, I'm a postdoctoral researcher at NCEAS. I'm originally from Iowa (Iowa City). I got my Bachelor's Degree from Brown University in Rhode Island, and my PhD from the University of Arizona. I studied the spatial distribution and dispersal of desert mistletoes. I also took an OTS course in Costa Rica, and did research in Ecuador and Mexico along the way. I worked for the US Forest Service in Washington state on forest management. Then I spent two years in Puerto Rico working on conservation planning and landscape level assessment of tree and bird communities in karst forests. At NCEAS I'm working on the economic and ecological impacts of non-native forest pests and pathogens. So the long and the short of it is that I have lived in the time zones of all of the schools represented in our theme!  I am very interested in the intersection of conservation and social justice and I'm excited about working with you on this theme.

To business. I want to stress that I see this theme as being really guided by the interests of the students. Unlike some themes for which faculty have data, we have no such constraints. That said, we will also have to go out and FIND any data we want! Some ideas for this theme were presented in the third lecture, but they are just ideas to get the ball rolling. I had suggested a comparison between the US and Costa Rica, but we are not limited to those countries. It may be that depending on the question we choose, it will be easier to get data or information for another country. I would suggest that we try to think about both developed (probably US) and developing countries as we seem to have students with interests in both of those realms.

Keep posting here in the discussion area and we will all meet next week in chat. You might also be interested to browse the chat transcripts of other theme groups (I think you can do that, but I'm not positive). Feel free to email me.

Juliann

Hello, team --

My name is Devan McGranahan. I grew up on a small, family farm in northwest Iowa. I grew up working in the farm and my parents still operate on the land. We own about 900 acres, ~300 of which is conventional corn and soybeans, while the remainder is pasture and hayground.

After earning my degree in biology and studying private wildlife management and grazing on southern African rangelands, I am currently enrolled in the Sustainable Agriculture program at Iowa State. My research here focuses on ecologically-analagous grazing systems in Iowa prairie. I have broad interests in conservation development and environmental and agricultural ethics.

As a student of sustainable agriculture, and as an Iowan, I'm very interested in the development of the 2007 farm bill. As the national rhetoric around the new "bioeconomy" reaches a fever pitch, agriculture is struggling again to define itself in terms of national security. Our last go at this -- Butz's "fencerow to fencerow" after the great Russian grain buy-up -- was an ecological and social nightmare, and farmers were still just growing food. How the agricultural sector reacts to the call for energy production in a country that consumes the greatest disportion of the world's oil is a serious question indeed.

Given this crux -- this particular topic, this particular course, the economic and political climate as we know it, and the preparations for the 2007 farm bill -- I believe that we are in a unique position to inject some rational science into the fracas and hopefully have a positive effect on policy. I foresee a reasonable product for this group to be a combination of popular essays and/or "letters" type correspondences directed at 1) educating the public about the current status of a sector most pay no attention to -- i.e., agriculture, and 2) offering relevant opinion, analysis, and suggestion to policymakers. The discussion could easily be couched in the context of ecosystem services, and to include our fellows in Costa Rica, can offer insight into the effect of U.S. farm policy beyond our borders (like it or not, U.S. farm policy serves as a model -- either to be followed, or inverted -- around the world, and has very real direct and indirect effects on global agricultural markets).

I believe this direction is capable of including and addressing some of the issues raised above:

- Certainly, farm size is an issue in this country, but I believe that it is beyond our capacity to offer a meaningful, novel contribution to the already extensive rhetoric and literature. Framed in the context of the current ag policy debate, however, the concerns of rural sociology play an important motivator for our concern and determinant in our recommendations.

- Denise brought up farm subsidies, which are a large part of U.S. ag policy and probably the most influential on a landscape level. The effects of subsidy policy structure on aspects of rural life, e.g. farm size, are complex and the bibliography is piling up. I think that a specific, novel discussion of subsidy policy is beyond our grasp and beyond the scope of this project. However, because of their political mass (they aren't going anywhere, not in 2007, anyway), their capacity to drive many decisions within and across agricultural landscapes, and their social/economic effects (which are both positive as well as negative) both at home and abroad, they merit considerable attention from this group. Farm subsidies need to be overhauled. To keep it as brief as possible, at least for now, the basic guideline is: we need to move towards subsidizing producers, not their commodities. For example, under today's farm policy structure, a farmer is effectively penalized for crop diversification. Progressive farm policy will go beyond price supports and acreage credits to include incentives for product diversification, reinvestment into local ecology, and human labor.

- This is an appropriate sequeway the Pavel's interests. Exciting developments in multi-crop and integrated crop/livestock systems are occuring across the country, but R&D in these fields is a cottage industry in the States. There is an ecological imperative for that to change. Analysts predict that it might, beginning with the 2007 farm bill. Let's take advantage of this unique opportunity to inform and encourage a diverse farm policy, one designed for our future rather than for the talking points of today's pundits.

Looking forward to continued discussion.

Devan

Hello Group.  This is Leo Douglas - Columbia University in New York.   I am posting a notice about a meeting in a few days that has a very interesting topic relevant to our area of focus.  It is about: Bird Habitat Conservation and the Farm Bill.  See Below:

There is still time to
register for the spring Bird Conservation Alliance
meeting on March 12^th at the new offices of Conservation
International in Crystal City, Arlington.
Our focus for this meeting will be looking at bird habitats and the Farm Bill.
Materials for BCA members that are interested in the optional visit to Capitol
Hill on March 13^th will be provided at the meeting on the 12^th.
In addition to a wealth of information presented by the speakers, we will gain
some insight into the current political climate on Capitol Hill and take a peek
at the latest climate change issues. Our Keynote speaker is Omar Carvajal from Central Peru, who will take us on a virtual tour of the
country, and discuss the area’s ecotourism issues. We end our meeting with a happy
hour (cash bar). $15 meeting registration (register at https://www.abcbirds.org/membership/bca_spring07_reg.htm
) includes lunch and coffee breaks. The agenda and more details will be posted
in the BCA member Website. Contact Alicia Craig at acraig@abcbirds.org for more information. Please
share this information with others in your organization.

Bird Conservation
Alliance National Spring Meeting

Conservation International
Office

2011 Crystal Drive, Suite 500

Arlington, VA

March 12, 2007