Produce market
‘plants’ co-op
seeds at opening
By Michele Matessa
01 th« EnwraM
After several years of planning
Organically Grown, a new co-op, finally
celebrated its grand opening Saturday, com
plete with food, music and ribbon-cutting.
But the market, a 40-foot by 60-foot
cooler, wasn’t the guest of honor, says
Thomas Forster, Organically Grown’s public
relations person.
“It’s not the building that is being com
memorated, but the marketing system
itself,” Forster says.
The cooperative system of marketing is
“very important from the standpoint of sup
porting local farm production” because it
“helps small growers get a more consistent
line of products to offer," he says.
This would allow less dependence on
California and regional production, Forster
says.
He says by working together — not
secretly trying to undercut each other like
bigger corporations do — the farmers can
expand their harvest time and produce
goods at higher levels.
The market will be run by a hired
manager and will provide a “real diversity of
produce" at wholesale prices and amounts,
Forster says. Customers will be able to
choose from more than 30 varieties of pro
duce, including raspberries, strawberries
and all of the “salad vegetables," he says.
Most of the "member farms” have pro
ryn
Photo by Dave Johnson
Organically Grown cooperative members
ceremoniously cut a garland of cloves
celebrating their grand opening.
vided produce at the Farmer’s Market, a
spin-off of the Saturday Market.
But "a lot of these same farmers have
more than they can sell at these Saturday
Market things," so they are making a move
to expand, Forster says.
He compares the co-op’s beginning to
that of Eugene’s Agripac, a 10-acre
warehouse and processing facility that
started in 1908 with $5,000 capital.
Pot advocates fight drug ‘war’
By John Healy
Of the Emerald
The Reagan administration
has declared war on the
“200,000 green collar workers
of America,” according to
George Farnham, director of
the National Organization for
the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Those green collar workers
grow domestic marijuana, Far
nham says, and they “are
treated as second class
citizens.”
Farnham was in Eugene
Saturday for the Oregon Mari
juana Reform Conference,
held at the Hilton Hotel.
He was also in Eugene to
show support for an initiative
drive to place a statewide
referendum on the 1984 ballot
that would decriminalize
possession and growing of
marijuana.
Under Pres. Ronald Reagan,
the federal government has
adopted a “confrontational ap
proach” against domestic
marijuana growers, Farnham
says.
As evidence of the Reagan
administration’s new tactics,
Farnham points to high
altitude reconnaissance
flights of the U-2 spy plane
over California, Arkansas and
Oregon, and an agreement bet
ween the Pentagon and 20
states that will allow the Na
tional Guard to search for
marijuana fields.
The administration’s $300
million war on domestic mari
juana growers also includes
the use of NASA’s Landsat
surveillance satellite and the
establishment of 12 regional
task forces set up to fight drug
trafficking in those areas. All
are modeled on the widely ac
claimed South Florida Task
Force, Farnham says.
‘‘Anti-marijuana forces have
re-established the Reefer
Madness syndrome,” he adds,
referring to the federal
government-produced film
which portrayed the evils of
“killer weed” in the late 1940s.
Farnham says the federal
government believes its "OK
to violate civil liberties if you
go after drug users,” especial
ly since Congressional legisla
tion was passed last year
allowing the government to
seize property of suspected
marijuana growers who are
arrested.
NORML plans to file a
lawsuit next month in federal
court that will seek to in
validate any search warrant
based on evidence gathered
by the military, Farnaham
says.
“Marijuana reformers,” as
Farnham calls himself, have
had more success over the
last several years because of
the aging of the largest group
of marijuana users.
Those are the “’60s genera
tion” that are now over 30 and
have amassed “more money
and impact,” Farnham says.
"Legislators don’t think we
are burned out hippies
anymore,” he says
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