The tenor of meetings changed as diverse groups began to view the university as a partner and to operate on a consensus basis for decision even when they disagreed about details. Gerber's efforts to bring broad-based, diverse constituent groups together with faculty also paved the way, he suggested, for development of the Illinois Council on Food and Agricultural Research. The discussions and debates that played out in the newsletter, hallways, seminars and meetings illustrated how complex agriculture is, he added. We have to foster the kind of environment where differences can be expressed and resolved through rational discourse, through experimentation and through good science. A free and open forum to raise questions and controversial issues and to challenge entrenched viewpoints is still needed today.
Many newsletters do a fine job of reporting research, but few publish debate on issues.
It s not easy, but it s important. John Gerber, former assistant director of the Office of Research, Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station and managing editor of the early issues of Agro-Ecology News and Perspectives newsletter. Today, Gerber is director for University of Massachusetts Extension and serves as an editorial advisor to Inquiry in Action, published by the Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. People would stop me on the street and send notes. As a member of the early newsletter production team, I welcomed any response that signaled people were reading the newsletter.