November
23 , 2004: In 1997, some fortuitous alignment of
the planets brought University of Vermont Cooperative Extension
specialist Vern Grubinger into the studio of his local NPR
affiliate to tape the first of a series of short radio addresses
on sustainable agriculture in the Green Mountain State and
beyond. With an Ear to the Ground, the latest title put out
by by the USDA's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
program, collects six dozen or so of these addresses into
book form. As Grubinger admits having learned along the way,
these are not lectures, but informal, informative, often humorous
ruminations about everything from raspberries to the National
Organic Program to lawn mowing. The result is something like
a collection of lay sermons, or homilies, perfect for lulling
you to sleep at the end of a hard day (I mean that in the
best possible sense) or filling an indefinite number of minutes
in the waiting room of your dentist or mechanic.
I was fortunate enough to pick this book up the same week
I attended the biennial SARE conference, held this year in
Burlington, Vermont, and so for me it also served as a timely,
genial primer on sustainable ag happenings in the Green Mountain
state. While maintaining a perspective broad enough to keep
the interest of readers nationwide, Grubinger describes projects
like the Vermont Fresh Network, which encourages restaurants
to purchase directly from local farms and food processors;
Land Link Vermont, which matches retiring and aspiring farmers
and assists with alternative land transfer arrangements; or
Kindle Farm, a non-profit educational center that uses farming
and other rural vocational activities as a focus for working
with at-risk youth. As director of UVM's Center for Sustainable
Agriculture, Grubinger is well-placed to survey such efforts.
Some of Grubinger's most enjoyable pieces center on individual
species or groups of species: clover, blueberries, tomatoes;
lady bugs, Colorado potato beetles. Another group of essays
center on Vermont's dairy sector—its diversity, its
productivity, its role in shaping and preserving the characteristic
Vermont landscape of fields and farms and small towns. As
the father of two small boys, Grubinger also talks about issues
related to family life, environmental education, and dietary
health, applying liberal quantities of anecdote for comic
relief.
Other essays are more serious. Grubinger offers a brief introduction
to the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 and its ongoing
consequences for pesticide regulation, and argues passionately
for the value of small farms to local economies and rural
aesthetics. Perhaps the boldest essay, from 2000, tackles
the question of 'neutrality' on the part of extension personnel:
although Grubinger acknowledges he can't speak officially
for the University of Vermont or the USDA when voicing an
opinion about, say, genetically modified crops, he argues
that dogged neutrality is neither possible nor desirable.
"Many of the farmers I work with want more than a list
of pros and cons when they face a tough decision. They ask
me, "What do you think?" And they want a straight
answer." By declaration and by example, Grubinger carves
out a space for extension personnel to act as forceful advocates
for a diverse, vibrant sustainable agriculture, to not feel
that they must hedge their advice between the conventional
status quo on the one hand and organic-farming-as-niche-market
on the other. This in itself is a valuable contribution to
the public good.
Aimed at the broadest possible audience, this book is not
a thorough-going treatise on agriculture in the Northeast
or even in the state of Vermont. It might be valuable, however,
for convincing your Uncle Joe to consider reducing the size
of his lawn or explaining to your cousin Jane what Integrated
Pest Management is about. And above all, it will remind you—should
you need reminding—of the quiet leadership one small
state is providing in the realm of sustainable agriculture,
and it will renew your faith—should it need renewing—in
the value of cooperative extension for both rural and urban
constituencies. 
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