meat science professor?

[Guest guest]

 

 

><http://www.newtimesslo.com/news/3411/controversy-erupts-over-michael-pollans-p\

oly-lecture/>

\>Controversy erupts over Michael Pollan's Poly lecture

>Harris Ranch Beef chairman calls for 'balanced forum'

>BY KATHY JOHNSTON

>Award-winning environmental journalist Kathy

>Johnston can be reached

>at <kjohnstonkjohnston.

><<

>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

>Nationally known sustainable food expert Michael

>Pollan will now be part of a panel discussion at

>Cal Poly on Oct. 15 rather than giving his

>planned one-hour lecture. The recently announced

>format change comes on the heels of a letter to

>Cal Poly President Warren Baker from Harris

>Ranch Beef Company Chairman David E. Wood,

>threatening to withdraw a pledged $500,000

>donation for a new meat processing facility on

>the campus.

>

> " I find it unacceptable that the university

>would provide Michael Pollan an unchallenged

>forum to promote his stand against conventional

>agricultural practices, " Wood wrote in a Sept.

>23 letter to Baker. The invitation " caused me to

>rethink my continued financial support of the

>university, " he wrote.

>

>Pollan is the award-winning author of " An

>Omnivore's Dilemma " and " In Defense of Food, "

>and appears in a recent documentary, Food, Inc.

>He is a Knight Professor of Journalism at

>University of California, Berkeley, Graduate

>School of Journalism.

>

>The Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium,

>which invited Pollan to speak at a free lecture

>at 11 a.m. on Oct. 15 at the Performing Arts

>Center on campus, will now present " A

>Conversation with Michael Pollan, " which will

>also include Gary Smith, Monfort Endowed Chair

>in meat science at Colorado State University,

>and Myra Goodman, cofounder of organic vegetable

>company Earthbound Farms.

>

>Baker replied to Wood in a Sept. 28 letter, " We

>are diligently working to create a more balanced

>forum for October 15. Š Our singular goal is to

>provide our students with a full perspective on

>how the agriculture industry is working to be

>efficient in its production techniques, and to

>make sure that our students are familiar with

>the full range of ideas that are being advanced

>today. "

>

>Baker's letter also stated his appreciation for

>Harris Ranch's financial support, noting, " It's

>your prerogative to direct it elsewhere if you

>are so inclined. It is possible such a decision

>may result in the delay of Cal Poly's

>construction of a meat processing center Š In

>the end, I fervently hope that you choose to

>support Cal Poly. "

>

>According to the dean of the College of

>Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences,

>David Wehner, the decision to change Pollan's

>lecture format to include a representative from

>the beef production industry did not necessarily

>result from the Harris Ranch letter.

>

> " We had planned to have some kind of panel,

>whether it was on the same day, the next day, or

>a week later, " he told New Times.

>

>Wehner said he is " not worried " about Harris

>Ranch withdrawing funding from Cal Poly, adding,

> " It's their prerogative. If they pull it, they

>pull it. " The new $5 million meat processing

>facility is about to go out for construction

>bids, he said.

>

>It was Pollan's decision to join a panel

>discussion, rather than speaking beforehand, the

>dean said.

>

> " A fair number of students will already have

>read Michael Pollan's writings. Having a

>discussion with him is actually going to be more

>valuable, " Wehner said. " It's a sustainability

>event, and we wanted to hear about how the

>industry is doing more with less-less water,

>less fertilizer, less pesticide. "

>

>Each speaker will make opening comments before

>accepting written questions from the audience.

>

>Harris Ranch spokesman Michael Smith, assistant

>to Wood, said in a phone interview from the beef

>company's headquarters in Selma that a decision

>about funding for Cal Poly's meat facility " has

>yet to be made. " Smith, a Cal Poly agriculture

>alumnus, said many alumni will be coming to the

>forum " as a show of force about the direction

>the College of Agriculture is taking. "

>

>Smith said, " People across the nation are upset.

>They are saying enough is enough. This is bigger

>than Michael Pollan. "

>

>The Sustainable Agriculture Resource

>Consortium's director, Hunter Francis, said with

>the new format, " the audience will hear

>something they won't hear anywhere else. " The

>newly added industry representatives, he said,

>will attract a wider audience to the event.

>

> " Our goal is to involve as many people as

>possible in discussions on how to improve the

>sustainability of our agriculture production and

>food system. People really seem ready to have

>this discussion. Michael Pollan has raised many

>people's awareness, " Francis said.

>

>The letter from Harris Ranch Beef Company did

>not surprise him, since Pollan is critical of

>production agriculture. " Harris Ranch is facing

>their own challenges with regulations, water

>resources, and the economy, " he added.

>

>In a follow-up letter to President Baker dated

>Sept. 30, Wood and Smith of Harris Ranch wrote,

> " We applaud Cal Poly for negotiating a

>'compromise format' for the exchange of ideas

>and representation of opposing views. Š The

>views of elitists like Michael Pollan can no

>longer go unchallenged. "

>

>Their letter also stated, " We find it

>incredulous that the Sustainable Agriculture

>Resource Consortium Š has been allowed to

>operate as an autonomous entity " that made an

>independent decision to invite Pollan to speak.

>The Harris Ranch representatives pointed out,

> " Effective September 25th, SARC now officially

>answers to CAFES [College of Agriculture, Food

>and Environmental Sciences]. "

>

>The sustainability group has been working for

>some time to become an official Sustainability

>Center under the agriculture college, according

>to Francis. That process is nearing completion.

>

>Wood's letter to Baker also criticized the

>viewpoint of Animal Science Department professor

>Rob Rutherford, a sheep specialist who is

>chairman of the California Sheep Commission and

>president of the California Wool Growers

>Association. Smith of Harris Ranch had a phone

>conversation with Rutherford about

>sustainability, and Rutherford's opinions

> " provided me with both displeasure and outright

>anger towards the university, " Wood wrote.

>

> " I have shared Mr. Rutherford's opinions with a

>number of Cal Poly graduates, donors, and others

>in the ag industry. They are uniformly shocked Š

>They have likewise questioned whether they

>should continue to support the university, " his

>letter stated.

>

>Wood suggested that Rutherford should be removed

>from teaching a required class called " Issues in

>Animal Agriculture. "

>

>Rutherford later told New Times the faculty

>recently voted, in an unrelated action, to

>eliminate the requirement for that class but to

>keep offering it.

>

>Regarding the evolving word " sustainability, "

>Rutherford said, " We're trying to sustain

>civilization. It's a matter of using the tools

>at our disposal in an effective fashion, to feed

>people and all organisms far, far into the

>future. "

>

>He added, " The purpose of a university-the root

>word is universe-is to explore as many different

>ideas as we can. Students ought to be capable of

>critical thinking and analysis. "

>

>Rutherford welcomes the idea of a Sustainability

>Center at Cal Poly, not just for organic farming

>but also for architecture and engineering.

>

> " I'm certain it will cause conversations. I think that's what we're about. "

> >>