150 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
150 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
Subject: CATTLE and RAINFORESTS
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Here's a chance to send the same message to three of my
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favorite listservers: ANTHRO-L (anthropology), SANET-MG
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(sustainable agriculture), and CHIAPAS-L. Allow me to
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recommend you all to each other. While I am at it, I will
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also send it to my very favorite list, HARP. I am harping
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here in the more usual sense, not in the musical sense which
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would come first to mind with my harper friends.
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I refer you to an article entitled "Animal Agriculture for the
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Reforestation of Degraded Tropical Rainforests," by Ronald
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Nigh. (CULTURE AND AGRICULTURE, the Bulletin of the Culture
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and Agriculture Group of the American Anthropological
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Association, Numbers 51-52, Spring-Summer 1995, pp. 2-6.)
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Nigh's institutional affiliation is Centro de Investigaciones
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y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social del Sureste, San
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Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.
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Instead of summarizing, I will give some quotes.
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"My view has moved from . . . seeing cattle as the principle
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cause of tropical forest destruction . . . to the present
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argument that livestock production is a key element in
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tropical forest restoration!" (Author's own exclamation
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point!)
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On traditional animal management: "(The) Maya . . . managed
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secondary vegetation . . . to increase wild animal density.
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The temporary, artificial creation of early successional
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vegetation associations - fields, grasslands, or forage
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brushlands, - may . . . provide the overall strategy for
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animal production."
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On intensive grazing (citing Savory): " This method . . . has
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allowed us to reduce the area of a ranch devoted to pasture to
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one-third or even one-tenth of the area, while at the same
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time increasing bioeconomic production in absolute terms.
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This . . . has permitted the freeing up of lands, many of
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which should never have been converted. . . ."
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Early observations on degraded pastures sown with African
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exotics: "pastures respond (under controlled grazing) by
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diversifying; especially, we note a welcome increase in some
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native legumes. . . . (under a recent mild drought) our
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pastures held up and recovered much better than our neighbors
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with uncontrolled grazing or no grazing at all."
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On "enrichment planting" (citing Ramos and del Amo) and the
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"natural ecosystem analogue approach" (citing Hart and
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others): "It is possible both to speed the successional
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process and to greatly increase the economic return at each
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stage of succession, thus providing an important incentive for
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forest regeneration. Production is achieved by substitution
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of . . . more economically valuable species of the same
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structure and behavior. . . ." Example: vanilla.
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On aquatic resources: "The restoration of the tropical
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ecosystem and the elimination of the use of agrotoxics allows
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the recovery of important aquatic resource zones that formerly
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supplied a rich harvest of fish, crustaceans, mollusks,
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reptiles, amphibians, turtles and birds. Some of these were
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managed intensively in the past."
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Cattle production system: "Dual-purpose organic milk and meat
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production is based on intensive, controlled grazing,
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concentrated only on appropriate lands and combines the use of
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cattle genetically selected for pasture-based tropical
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systems." Specifically, the animal is "a Holstein Brahmin
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(Sahiwal) F1 from New Zealand. . . adapted to a pure grazing
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system . . . for organic milk production in the tropics."
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Closing paragraph:
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Tropical regions have been especially intractable to
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modern technology. The complex ecology of the tropics
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responds with particular vehemence to management methods
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that view agriculture as an "industrial process" rather
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than as a natural system. Organic methods, along with a
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holistic approach to resource planning and marketing and
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a respect for traditional knowledge provide a viable
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strategy for the design of sustainable production systems
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in tropical regions.
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Some personal remarks:
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Anthropologists: If you are not studying agriculture, you are
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not leaving out the main thing. Contemporary culture IS
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agriculture. Been that way for a long time.
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"SUSTAGGIES" (as tagged by Michele Gale-Sinex): US and MEXICAN
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farmers have a lot in common. Please PAY ATTENTION to what is
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happening in Mexico.
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To CHIAPAS-L: Thanks for being there, nursing the hopes of a
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civil society.
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The challenge in Chiapas and elsewhere is not just political,
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economic and social. It is also cultural, and specifically,
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it is AGRIcultural. All the goals listed in question 1 of the
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CONSULTA will be useless without a sustainable agriculture.
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THANKS TO RONALD NIGH, we have a fine piece of work which we
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can discuss, dealing SPECIFICALLY with the agroecology of
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Chiapas. Is there a Mexican or other agricultural scientist
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who will come forward with an agroecological analysis of
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extensive cattle production showing it to be technically
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superior? Or an economist who will show that with all social
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and environmental externalities taken into consideration,
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intensive grazing is more costly (or less beneficial) than
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extensive grazing? I'd like to see someone try.
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HARPING ON to a conclusion:
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The fabulous Latin American harper Alfredo Rolando Ortiz,
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on his training cassette, plays two tunes, both very
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charming, and then comments that the two tunes are
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political symbols of two opposing parties. "So," he
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says, "you must be careful to know who you are playing
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for. So much for politics."
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But Alfredo never tells us which means what.
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So much for politics.
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John Lozier
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Adjunct Associate Professor of Agricultural Education
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College of Agriculture and Forestry
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West Virginia University
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Morgantown, WV
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AND
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Assistant Professor of Anthropology
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California University of Pennsylvania
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California, Pennsylvania
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lozier@waldo.cup.edu
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AND
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** _____________________________________
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***// / Harping for Harmony
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\/// / John Lozier
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_____\/________________/______jlozier@wvnvm.wvnet.edu__________
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