A Message from the Western Coordinating Committee on Sustainable Agriculture (WCC-67)

This publication was conceived by members of the Western Coordinating Committee on Sustainable Agriculture (WCC-67) at its summer meeting in 1999.

WCC-67 is a committee of land-grant university scientists, educators and other interested agricultural professionals from all states and territories in the West. It is chartered by the Western Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors to coordinate and exchange sustainable agriculture research and education among scientists and educators, and enhance the sharing of this information with the public and policy-makers.

With the planning of the Western SARE 2000 conference on sustainable agriculture underway at the time, committee members felt strongly that the research and on-the-ground experiences of invited growers, ranchers, researchers, educators and advocates should be documented in a conference proceedings and extended to a broader audience in the Western U.S. It was clear to the committee that the West’s remarkable diversity of geography, cultures and agricultural production systems, captured in the people and program of the conference, presented a valuable opportunity.

WCC-67 organized this publication to present some of the excellent sustainable agriculture research and education work done by universities, nonprofit organizations and other institutions in the past twelve years. The committee also felt strongly that the real-life experiences of farmers and ranchers who would be speaking at the millennium event were equally important to share.

Thus, the format of the proceedings was envisioned as a union of scientific and educational abstracts from sustainable agriculture experts, and feature interviews of producers who are active in the continuing development of sustainable agriculture.

The goals of this publication are to record the technical information and successful farming models showcased at the conference for participants’ future use; create a published resource so those who did not attend the conference can still benefit from it; and extend the knowledge presented at the event to elected officials and opinion leaders, farmers and ranchers, consumers and the ever-expanding sustainable agriculture community.

On behalf of WCC-67, I would like to thank the USDA Western SARE program for funding this publication, in addition to sponsoring the major conference it represents. Western SARE also donated the time of its regional communications specialist, Kristen Kelleher, to the effort. I also want to note the support of the University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (UC SAREP) for administering the proceedings project. And, finally, thanks to Matthew Buck and Sustainable Northwest for the coordination, editing and creative writing and design of the publication. The Sustainable Northwest team, with assistance from The Food Alliance, carried out and enhanced the vision of the project with eagerness and professionalism.

This is a profound time in the development of the philosophies, principles and practices of sustainable agriculture in the West. Never before have the partnerships between sustainable agriculture researchers, producers, educators and advocates been more inclusive and productive. Sustainable agriculture has arrived – in concept and practice, and as a legitimate scientific approach for addressing today’s pressing issues of agriculture and food systems.

Enjoy this inspiring and informative record of the state of sustainable agriculture in the Western region. Please share the publication with colleagues and friends, or point them to the Western SARE Web site at http://wsare.usu.edu/sare2000/toc.htm to read the producer profiles and presentation abstracts.

Sincerely,

Sean L. Swezey
Chair, WCC-67
Director, UC SAREP

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