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Rodale Institute
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I was asked to forward this message to Sanet. Please send all questions to
Scott Overholt at: 73306.3420@compuserve.com
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Yesterday on this network, we explained why we retired THE NEW FARM magazine.
Today, here's a look at where Rodale Institute came from, and where we're
going.
RODALE INSTITUTE TODAY
Everything we have built here grew from the simple, logical, common-sense
ideas of two great communicators, J.I. and Bob Rodale, who said that what we
eat and how it's grown has a lot to do with how healthy we are, how long we
live and how good we feel. They took those ideas directly to ordinary people.
Eventually, a critical mass developed that threatened to change established
markets and institutions. They challenged us to prove our ideas with science,
having plenty of their own science to pit against us to preserve the status
quo. In effect, they said, "OK, Rodale, prove it. You've got these people all
riled up, but the kind of food you're making them demand can't be grown."
No-one was doing this kind of research, so we bought a farm and did it
ourselves. We matched science with science, and our ideas gained credibility.
This is how the Rodale Institute as you know it now came to be an
agricultural research organization.
Today, research we once did is now being done all over the country and around
the world, by people like you. There is more to be done, we know, but now the
ideas and methods we took to the people are part of the health consciousness
of the people, and the policies and goals of the nation.
With dedicated research organizations taking up most of the scientific work,
we can now turn some of our attention back to the original mission and reach
a broader audience. Our goal is to help people around the world get the
healthy foods that are grown in the healthy soils of regenerative farms. We
are returning the Institute to its communications roots and spread the
simple, logical idea to more people. It must be done, and Rodale can do it.
What other research farm is a publisher too?
We will continue to do ground-breaking research at our Research Center. But
we will discontinue other research that is no longer cutting edge. In its
place, we are looking beyond quantity, at the nutritional quality of the food
coming off our fields - and will link the results to what is known about the
nutrition-health connection. The work of studying, proving and communicating
the soil health - human health connection is core to our mission, and we will
dedicate ourselves and our resources to it.
We will continue to publish cutting edge information for farmers in the most
efficient media possible.
What's more, we will begin to build two more things that regenerative
agriculture won't take hold without - huge consumer demand, and ways to get
the food to the people that want it.
To create demand, we'll invest in reaching the general public by the millions
like J.I. and Bob Rodale used to do. "Buy this," we'll tell them, "it's
better." And we'll invest in our children, through education and outreach.
To get the food to the people, we'll work to build a distribution
infrastructure, including farmers markets featuring real farmers, and be an
information hub linking growers, processors, distributors, marketers,
retailers and consumers, so buying and selling can happen.
While we're changing the infrastructure at home, we'll be building it abroad,
guiding countries that are still developing toward a sustainable future. We
were invited to Haiti less than two months after the restoration of democracy
there. Our programs in Senegal, Russia and Guatemala are already working.
Those countries may succeed before ours does. We're building models
everywhere.
To make sure we're able to do this work, we'll evaluate each project for its
fit with the mission, its role in accomplishing it, its effectiveness, and
its efficiency.
And we have ambitious fundraising goals. Right now, we have a nice mix of
grant money and unrestricted money from private donors. Unrestricted money
allows us to try things - to fail, to learn, to innovate. We've always had
that ability, and that's why we've been able to contribute to change for the
better. So we'll continue to build our fundraising from private donors.
We're small, private institution doing big things.
OUR MISSION:
To show people how to get food that will improve their health and secure
their future by making sure it is grown only by healthy means in health soil.
Our work is not for its own sake, or for the sake of science. It's people
we're feeding - men, women, children. Will their lives and their planet be
better or worse because of the way they get their food? Better, we hope!
If you have any questions, please contact me at:
73306.3420@compuserve.com
or better yet, call me directly at:
(610) 967-8497.
Scott Overholt