Weekly Harvest Newsletter

Sustainable Agriculture News Briefs - October 5, 2005

Weekly sustainable agriculture news and resources gleaned from the Internet by NCAT staff for the ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service Web site.

News & Resources
* Debate Churns Over Fate of Organic Standards
* Food Service Provider Challenges Chefs to Use Local Food
* Producer Group Develops Nebraska Model for Pork Production
* CRP Contract Extensions and Re-enrollments
* Meat Goat Distance-Learning Course Offered
* Four Reports Document Perceptions of the U.S. Food System

Funding Opportunities
* Higher Education Challenge Grants Program
* Assistive Technology Program for Farmers with Disabilities
* Water Conservation Field Services Program - Lower Colorado Regional Area

Coming Events
* The Future Ain't What It Used To Be: Planning for Climate Disruption
* Suburbia to Sustainability: An Introduction to Permaculture Workshop
* Iowa Organic Conference

News & Resources

Debate Churns Over Fate of Organic Standards
An ongoing controversy over the use of synthetic substances in organic products has intensified in recent weeks, following a push to have the Senate include a draft amendment to the 2006 agriculture appropriations bill that would allow certain synthetic substances - such as ethylene and pectin - to continue to be used in the processing and packaging of certified-organic products. The Organic Trade Association lobbied for the draft amendment to the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (OFPA), arguing that banning synthetic substances would harm organic producers. However, the amendment would directly conflict with a recent court decision (Harvey v. Veneman) that concluded synthetic substances should not be allowed in products bearing the USDA organic seal. Numerous other proponents of organic products, including the Organic Consumers Association, have come out against the proposed amendment, worried in part that the amendment would weaken the role of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), an independent advisory group that provides guidance to federal rulemakers. For details on the debate, see the Grist article "O Brother, Where Artificial Thou?", policy comments from the Center for Food Safety, the Organic Trade Association, and the Organic Consumers Association.

Food Service Provider Challenges Chefs to Use Local Food
National food service provider Bon Appétit Management Company has challenged its 190 chefs in 26 states to offer diners a 100 percent locally grown meal, made entirely of ingredients from within 150 miles of the kitchen where it is served. The company serves 150,000 diners at corporate, university, and museum restaurants, and has launched the challenge to raise awareness about where the food on our plates comes from. The Eat Local Challenge highlights the issue of "food miles" – the distance food travels from the farm to the dining table – which environmentalists have described as the single most damaging factor to food quality and the environment. Whitman College ran a feature on how their food service participated in the Eat Local challenge.
Related ATTRA Publication: Selling to Restaurants

Producer Group Develops Nebraska Model for Pork Production
The Nebraska Pork Producers Association, in collaboration with University of Nebraska Extension personnel, has created a program that strives to bring added value to communities, the environment and today’s farm families. According to NPPA, the Nebraska Model offers a blueprint for a sensible, sustainable approach to pork production. It helps producers create economic opportunity without having to acquire more land and displace grain producers in the process. The program is designed to help the next generation stay on the farm. A workbook has been developed to provide producers with information about the key components of a Nebraska Model facility.
Related ATTRA Publication: Hog Production Alternatives

CRP Contract Extensions and Re-enrollments
Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns says farmers and ranchers can re-enroll or extend their Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts expiring in 2007 through 2010. CRP is a voluntary program for agricultural producers, which helps them protect environmentally sensitive land. In order to determine who might be eligible to re-enroll or extend their CRP contract, the USDA will use the Environmental Benefits Index (EBI), a measuring system that assigns point scores to the contracts and then nationally ranks all CRP land enrollment offers. Several environmental outcomes factor into EBI point scores such as improving wildlife habitat, water quality, and air quality and reducing soil erosion. Farm and conservation organizations praised the fact that farmers and ranchers will not automatically be re-enrolled in the program, a move that should help protect the most environmentally sensitive lands. A list of CRP acres by state with contracts expiring in 2007-2010 is available online.

Meat Goat Distance-Learning Course Offered
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Bedford County is offering a distance education course, "Meat Goat Home Study," to provide a better understanding of the basics of meat goat production. The course will be valuable for beginners, as well as for seasoned full-time and part-time producers. Participants in the course read one lesson per week and then complete and return worksheets. The course can be completed online or by mail. The lessons are available anytime on the Web, but the registration deadline for the next course is January 25, 2006, with sessions beginning February 1, 2006.

Four Reports Document Perceptions of the U.S. Food System
Four reports commissioned from FrameWorks by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation explore how people think about food and the food system. Published collectively as Perceptions of the U.S. Food System: What and How Americans Think about their Food, the reports conclude the first phase of a comprehensive strategic frame analysis on the food system to be completed in 2006. The four reports are:

• Not While I'm Eating: How and Why Americans Don't Think about Food Systems,
• All Trees and No Forest: How Advocacy Paradigms Obscure Public Understanding of the Food System,
• Digesting Public Opinion: A Meta-analysis of Attitudes toward Food, Health, and Farms, and
• Harmful and Productive Patterns in Newspaper Representations of Food Systems.

All four reports are available online, individually or as one document (PDF / 540 kb).

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Funding Opportunities

Higher Education Challenge Grants Program
The Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) requests applications for the Higher Education Challenge Grants Program (HEC) for fiscal year 2006 to stimulate and enable colleges and universities to provide the quality of education necessary to produce baccalaureate or higher degree level graduates capable of strengthening the Nation's food and agricultural scientific and professional workforce. The purpose of HEC is to strengthen institutional capabilities to improve teaching programs in the food and agricultural sciences or in rural economic, community and business development, including curriculum, faculty, scientific instrumentation, instructional delivery systems, and student recruitment and retention, to respond to identified State, regional, national or international educational needs.
Proposals are due February 2, 2006

Assistive Technology Program for Farmers with Disabilities
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) requests applications for State and Regional AgrAbility Projects for fiscal year (FY) 2006 to increase the likelihood that farmers, ranchers, farm workers, or farm family members with disabilities and their farms experience success. To address the specialized needs of AgrAbility’s customers, the program builds service capacity on national, regional, state, and local levels through education and networking. In the absence of capacity, projects provide assistance to customers. CSREES anticipates approximately $4.3 million will be available for support of AgrAbility in FY 2006. Of this amount, CSREES anticipates approximately $2.5 million will be available to fund new state and regional AgrAbility projects (SRAPs), and the remainder will be awarded to the National AgrAbility Project and SRAPs eligible for continuation.
Proposals are due December 23, 2005

Water Conservation Field Services Program - Lower Colorado Regional Area
The Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region, is requesting proposals to fund projects for activities in support of its Water Conservation Field Services Program (WCFSP) within the Lower Colorado Regional Area (LCRA). The area includes southern Nevada, northwest Arizona, and southwest Utah, and any other areas supported by the Regional Office located in Boulder City, Nevada. The objective of this request for proposals is to invite irrigation and water districts, states, local governments, water providers, universities, and other entities to leverage their money and resources by cost sharing with Reclamation of up to $60,000 on projects/activities that make more efficient use of existing water supplies through water conservation and efficiency in the LCRA.
Proposals are due November 14, 2005

> More Funding Opportunities

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Coming Events

The Future Ain't What It Used To Be: Planning for Climate Disruption
October 27, 2005
Seattle, Washington
This conference will engage a broad cross-section of Washington State governments, businesses, tribes, farmers, non-profits, and the community-at-large in a dialogue about climate change impacts and potential adaptations. Farmers and the agriculture sector are specifically named as part of the target audience, as the conference looks at climate change predictions, adaptations in progress, and resources.

Suburbia to Sustainability: An Introduction to Permaculture Workshop
November 5, 2005
Macon, Georgia
Central Georgia Permaculture Initiative announces a one-day workshop that will focus on introducing people to the concepts of Permaculture and the Ecological Footprint.

Iowa Organic Conference
November 14, 2005
Ames, Iowa
The 5th Annual Iowa Organic Conference focuses on organic production and marketing. Sessions include flax production, farmer-chef connections, marketing innovations, organic greenhouse production, and more.

> More Events

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Digital versions of recent Weekly Harvest and ATTRAnews newsletters are available online. ATTRAnews is the bi-monthly newsletter of ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.

ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. Visit the NCAT Web site for more information on our sustainable agriculture projects.

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