The Michael Sligh papers document Sligh's long career as an organic farmer, activist, program administrator, policy analyst, and spokesperson for organic and sustainable agriculture. The collection is arranged in roughly chronological order, starting with early farm crisis organizing in the early 1980s until Sligh's retirement in 2018, and includes sixteen series: BIOGRAPHICAL; FARM CRISIS ORGANIZING; SOUTHERN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP (SSAWG) and SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION (SARE); NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATIONS; NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM (NOP) and NATIONAL ORGANIC STANDARDS BOARD (NOSB); RURAL ADVANCEMENT FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL (RAFI); OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL FILES-ORGANIC AGRICULTURE; AGRICULTURAL JUSTICE AND FAIR TRADE; BIOTECHNOLOGY; INTERNATIONAL ISSUES, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO), and GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE (GATT); CODEX, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION (FAO), and UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (UNCED); SUBJECT FILES; WRITINGS; PHOTOGRAPHS; AUDIO RECORDINGS; and VIDEORECORDINGS.
Issues on which Sligh has worked include agricultural biodiversity, support for public plant and animal breeding, monitoring the use of biotechnology in food production, social justice projects involving agricultural workers, legislation affecting the sustainability of small farm operations, environmental protection, the integrity of national and international organic standards, the implications of trade agreements for agriculture, and systems-based on-farm research. The series include the many organizations with which Sligh has been affiliated over the course of his career, particularly the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), where he was the founding chairman, and Rural Advancement Foundation International-USA (RAFI-USA), where he worked in various capacities from 1984 to 2018. Researchers should be aware that there is overlap between series. While based at RAFI, Sligh was involved with many other organizations, and the arrangement of the series reflects his multi-faceted roles.
The BIOGRAPHICAL series provides an overview of the scope of Sligh's work and includes appointment books, news clippings, résumés, to-do lists, and thank you notes.
The FARM CRISIS ORGANIZING series documents Sligh's work for RAFI's Farm Survival Project (FSP), the National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC, also known as the National Save the Family Farm Coalition (NSFFC)), South Carolina Christian Action Council (SCCAC), Farm Aid, and the United Farmers Organization (UFO), as well as materials from allied organizations primarily in the Southeastern United States. Also included in this series are two folders of material relating to Booker T. Whatley, a Black farmer, author, and entrepreneur.
The SOUTHERN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE WORKING GROUP (SSAWG) and SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION (SARE) series documents the activities of SSAWG, another regional organization of which Sligh was a founder, and includes Farm Bill and other rural development legislation, conferences, workshops, and marketing efforts promoting sustainable agriculture; as well as administration of, and research proposals submitted to, the regional SARE grant program, part of a national program funded by the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
The NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATIONS series documents Sligh's work with the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture (NCSA), the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), the National Sustainable Agriculture Coordinating Council (NSACC), and the National Dialogue for Sustainable Agriculture, including legislative and committee work, meetings, conferences, and campaigns around specific topics such as genetic engineering, organic standards, and competition and concentration in agriculture.
The NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM (NOP) and NATIONAL ORGANIC STANDARDS BOARD (NOSB) series documents Sligh's role as founding chairman of the NOSB and the establishment of the National Organic Program (NOP), and includes comments on the proposed organic rule, comments from individuals and constituency organizations, standards for organic certification in individual states and other countries prior to the establishment of a U.S. national organic standard, and committees overseeing the development of various aspects of the organic standards.
The RURAL ADVANCEMENT FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL (RAFI) series primarily documents the RAFI-USA organization, but includes some files from the Canadian office, later renamed the ETC Group (Action Group on Erosion, Technology, and Concentration), and materials from an earlier iteration of RAFI-USA: the Rural Advancement Fund of the National Sharecroppers Fund. This series includes major projects on which Sligh worked such as Greener Fields (eco-labels), contract agriculture reform, farm legislation, pesticide reduction, peanuts, tobacco, and Seeds and Breeds (public plant and animal breeding).
The OTHER ORGANIZATIONAL FILES-ORGANIC AGRICULTURE series includes organic organizations with which Sligh worked including the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS), and the National Organic Coalition (NOC). Sligh was a founder of the latter, an umbrella group with many member organizations that advocated for organic integrity on the national level. Included are materials on campaigns, correspondence on strategy, fly-in events, meetings with USDA officials, and testimony.
The AGRICULTURAL JUSTICE AND FAIR TRADE series documents the Agricultural Justice Project (AJP) and the Domestic Fair Trade Association (DFTA), both of which Sligh was involved in founding. Also included are materials related to the AJP's Food Justice Certified label, standards development, and training materials.
The BIOTECHNOLOGY series includes Sligh's committee work in this area, a chapter on organics he wrote for the book Fatal Harvest (edited by Andrew Kimbrell), work on legislation and lawsuits, liability and coexistence concerns, strategy meetings, and testimony.
The INTERNATIONAL ISSUES, WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO), and GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TARIFFS AND TRADE (GATT) series documents work relating to agriculture and trade agreements, and the positions of agriculture organizations regarding these negotiations.
The CODEX, FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION (FAO), and UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT (UNCED) series documents Sligh's work serving as a U.S. NGO delegate to the United Nations FAO/WHO (World Health Organization) Food Labeling Commission for the development of international organic guidelines, and his involvement in both the 1992 Earth Summit (UNCED) and the 1996 World Food Summit.
The SUBJECT FILES series includes topical, project, and conference files; materials related to the National Organic Action Plan (NOAP), for which Sligh served as the National Coordinator; North Carolina specific projects such as a breeding project with North Carolina State University (NCSU); and his service on the Board of Directors of a local food cooperative.
The WRITINGS series includes Sligh's articles, publications, speeches and other presentations, and teaching materials, as well as related correspondence and drafts of unpublished work.
PHOTOGRAPHS include black-and-white prints (17 5x7-inch and 3 8x10-inch) by Robert Amberg, photographer for the Rural Advancement Fund, 1986-1994; promotional black-and-white photo for an Organic Harvest project of the Organic Foods Production Association (OFPANA) and the Committee for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA); two color snapshots of World Food Day, 1993 and 1994; and unidentified color snapshots from gatherings and conferences.
AUDIO RECORDINGS include Sligh's sessions for the 1993, 2000, and 2006 Ecological Farming Conferences, and an Organic Trade Association (OTA) conference call regarding the 2005 Arthur Harvey case, which challenged the National Organic Program and its alleged violation of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA).
The VIDEORECORDINGS cover the 1989 Capitol Hill negotiations on the OFPA and a Senate hearing chaired by Senator Thomas Daschle on Research, Education and Extension.
Note: Researchers should note that many publications were separated during processing to the Organic and Sustainable Agriculture Publications collection (see Part 21: M2018-071 for publications separated from the Sligh papers).
