I think it is fair to say that there were few surprises at last Wednesday’s CPAG meeting, at which the group gave their final opinions for the policy related to Genetically Engineered crops on Open Space land. There were some, like Emily Priscoe, who kept quieter then I had hoped, and others, like Dea Sloan,

Wednesday night’s CPAG meeting Part 1: Listen to sound advice from an expert in agricultural policy building at a national and local level. Wednesday night’s CPAG meeting Part 2: Largely ignoring everything you have heard in Part 1 and repeat yourself from previous discussions. Shall I give you the details? Who we heard from: Dr.

It has taken a full week to digest everything that I bit off at last week’s CPAG meeting. The conversation ping-ponged around many of this debate’s toughest questions and with so much fodder to choose from I couldn’t decide what to focus on. So I chose a Top Three of things that really left me

The CPAG is reconvening this Wednesday after having a couple of weeks off—well, off from meetings at least, as certain panel members have been plenty busy on their farms and in their offices. I thought it might be helpful to give a little recap of what happened last time they were all at the table.

At each of the Cropland Policy Advisory Group (CPAG) meetings the audience is reminded that there will be a time and place for their comment and feedback in the policy making process (“and this,” they make clear, “is not it”). People are offered a “Comment Form” as they enter the meeting room, which will be submitted at the end of the process for review. The idea is that, while they are public, these biweekly meetings are to be a place where the panel can have productive discussion without interruptions or outside input.

Ewell Culbertson of Pachamama Farm ( see “Cast of Characters” below) has been piping up in recent meetings, and with a very specific message: Let’s start talking about the elephant in the room. For the better part of the first few months of meetings, the CPAG panel has been studying up on all things ag

…this policy debate is greater than what can be covered in a single magazine article. I have discovered that GM seed is only one part—although arguably a critical and divisive part—of a much greater policy; the web of philosophies, politics, and science is both fascinating and confounding at times.