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Weekly Harvest Newsletter
Sustainable Agriculture News Briefs - June 27, 2007
Weekly sustainable agriculture news and resources gleaned from the Internet by NCAT staff for the ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service Web site. The Weekly Harvest Newsletter is also available online.
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News & Resources
* USDA Amends Organic Handling Rule
* Organic Farmers Share Weed Management Strategies
* MOSES Seeking Nominations For Organic Farmer of the Year
* Minnesota Dairies Host Open Houses
* Center for Environmental Farming Systems Leads Local Food Celebration
Funding Opportunities
* Pennsylvania Agricultural Product Promotion Grants
* New York Farmland Protection Implementation Projects
* King County Heritage Barn Preservation Program
Coming Events
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Back 40 Celebration and Breaking New Ground Symposium
*
Sustainable No-till Vegetable & Cut Flower Production Field Day
* Business Planning for Small Producers
News & Resources
USDA Amends Organic Handling Rule
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has published an interim final rule that will amend USDA's National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) to include 38 minor ingredients recommended by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) during meetings in May 2002 and March 2007. The interim final rule, which is effective as of June 21, 2007, will also provide a 60-day period for additional comment on the amendments. The 38 minor ingredients contained in the interim final rule are non-organic, agricultural ingredients that may be considered for use in an "organic" processed product.
Organic Farmers Share Weed Management Strategies
Organic farmers Bob Quinn and Thad Willis highlighted their weed management strategies at a field day on Millennial Farms, located southeast of Big Sandy, Montana, reports The Prairie Star. The dryland farm produces wheat, Kamut, camelina, alfalfa hay, clover, peas, lentils, tomatoes and vegetables in a four-year rotation. Quinn and Willis described weed management strategies such as mowing, vinegar spray, and clover seeding. They also discussed on-farm trials of nitrogen-fixing cover crops, and described how researchers are studying the vegetable production capabilities of salt seeps in fields. The field day was one of a series of farm tours sponsored by Montana's Alternative Energy Resources Organization, and was co-sponsored by the National Center for Appropriate Technology
Related ATTRA Publication: Principles of Sustainable Weed Management for Croplands
MOSES Seeking Nominations For Organic Farmer of the Year
Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) is seeking nominations for its "2008 Organic Farmer of the Year" award. Nominees must be certified organic producers. Other criteria include the farmer's innovations in organic farming/livestock management, including crops and crop rotations, weed, pest and disease management, strategies, development of value added products and marketing; excellence in enhancing farm resources: soil, water, wildlife, and biodiversity; and inspiration and education of organic farmers, consumers and/or others in the organic community. Nominations are due September 1, 2007, and the award will be presented at the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference in February 2008.
Minnesota Dairies Host Open Houses
The University of Minnesota Extension and Minnesota Dairy Initiatives are sponsoring dairy farm tours throughout the summer. The sponsored tours focus on farms that have gone through a management and/or facility change. The Farmer reports that several of these farms have recently converted to organic production. The Successful Dairy Systems Field Days will each have a description of the farm and related topics, a farm tour, and a question and answer session.
Center for Environmental Farming Systems Leads Local Food Celebration
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS) is a leading force behind "Eat Local Triangle," a month-long celebration of local food and farms in North Carolina, says an article in The Independent Weekly. The local food event began in May, when CEFS brought Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini to the area to speak. The endeavor marks a slight shift in focus for CEFS, which is expanding beyond offering technical assistance to farmers, and will now increase its outreach to consumers, who play such an important role in strengthening and maintaining healthy local food systems.
> More Breaking News
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Funding Opportunities
Pennsylvania Agricultural Product Promotion Grants
The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has funds available for its Agricultural Product Promotion Matching Grants. These grants provide matching funds for projects that increase consumer awareness of Pennsylvania agricultural products. These grants are awarded to Pennsylvania non-profit agriculture product promotion or marketing organizations to help fund promotion and marketing projects, educational programs, and trade show participation.
Proposals are due July 10, 2007.
New York Farmland Protection Implementation Projects
The New York Farmland Protection Program is accepting applications for matching implementation funds from counties and municipalities with approved agricultural land protection plans.
Proposals are due September 17, 2007.
King County Heritage Barn Preservation Program
The King County Historic Preservation Program and 4Culture present the 2007 King County Heritage Barn Preservation Program. The goal of this program is to provide matching funds to assist property owners in the stabilization, rehabilitation and restoration of their barns, so that these historic buildings may continue to serve the community. In addition to barns, the program may also support the stabilization and restoration of significant agricultural buildings such as sheds, silos or other outbuildings which are historically associated with the working life of the farm or ranch. In 2007, approximately $75,000 in barn rehabilitation funding is available. Grants are anticipated to be in the range of $5,000 - $15,000.
Proposals are due July 23, 2007.
> More Funding Opportunities
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Coming Events
Back 40 Celebration and Breaking New Ground Symposium
July 27-29, 2007
Santa Cruz, California
2007 marks the 40th year of organic training for apprentices at the UCSC Farm & Garden. To honor this milestone and showcase the work of four decades of Apprenticeship alumni, there's a weekend celebration at UC Santa Cruz. The weekend will include a Friday evening reception, a Saturday symposium of alumni speakers, dinner in the farm fields, poetry and stories in the Garden, a Sunday morning networking workshop, and alumni farm tours. A list of speakers for the Breaking New Ground Symposium is posted online.
Sustainable No-till Vegetable & Cut Flower Production Field Day
July 18, 2007
Cologne, Virginia
Participants will learn about cut flower production systems, including species, varietal and cultural information, and marketing strategies. In addition to information about flower production, the field day will also address no-till vegetable production. Dayspring Farm has recently participated in a no-till production trail sponsored by the Southern Region Sustainable Research and Education program (SARE) and the Virginia Association for Biological Farming (VABF). Producers will tour the farm and learn about no-till vegetable production utilizing cover crops with examples of several vegetable systems at Dayspring Farm.
Business Planning for Small Producers
July 31, 2007
Macon, Georgia
Learn the essentials of business planning and management for the farm. Key topics of the "Risk-Assessed Business Planning for Small Producers" curriculum will be covered. This curriculum is designed for limited-resource, diversified agricultural producers to learn, understand, and implement business planning skills, and for their service providers to have a resource curriculum that is complete with reference materials, teaching materials, and case studies.
> More Events
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 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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