FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

The First Vegetables

 

NEWS:

Subsidy debate weighs farmers vs. children

Tufts' Merrigan tapped for No. 2 slot at USDA

Organic milk boom in Maine going bust

Farm-to-plate bill looks to boost Vermont economy

Delaware losing 6,000 acres of its farmland a year

Farming rises on Cape, across Massachusetts

N.J. open space groups oppose bill backing green energy for farms

Pollution pinches Chesapeake crabs

New Jersey and Pennsylvania add farms, according to agriculture census

 

EVENTS:

3/4: Grow Food Everywhere, Keene, NH

3/5-7: Professional Farmers' Market Managers Training Workshops, Schenectady, NY

3/7: Rain Barrel Volunteer Training Workshop, Accokeek, MD

3/7: Energize Your Farm's Future, Dighton, MA

3/14: Spring Growth Conference: Growing Grains in Maine, Unity, ME

3/15-17: Inaugural Meeting of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Alexandria, VA

3/16: Local Grower Local Buyer Gathering, Philadelphia, PA

3/18: Growing a 21st Century Agricultural Revolution, Washington, DC

3/18: Seed starting workshop, Accokeek, MD

3/19: Eating Green, Garden City, NY

4/3-4: Farm to Table Conference, Pittsburgh, PA

4/18: Garden preparation workshop, Accokeek, MD

 

FARM BILL: ACT NOW:

3/16: Regional Equity

3/16: Environmental Quality Incentives Program

3/16: Wetlands Reserve Program

3/17: Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program

3/17: Technical Service Provider Assistance

3/17: Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program

3/24: Grassland Reserve Program

 

OPPORTUNITIES:

Part Time Executive Director, Community Harvest Project, Grafton, MA

Organizational Coordinator, Gaining Ground, Concord, MA

Executive Director, NOFA New York, Cobleskill, NY

Gardening Program Assistant, Boston Natural Areas Network, Boston, MA

Major Gifts Coordinator, Sustainable Harvest International, Surry, ME

Assistant Director, Natick Community Organic Farm, Natick, MA

Membership Coordinator, FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement), Bethesda, MD

Multiple Job Openings, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA

Multiple Job Openings, Community Food Resource Center, New York, NY

Connecticut Farm Reinvestment Grant Program

Conservation Innovation Grants

Pride of New York Specialty Crop Cooperative Advertising

New York Community Garden Organization Capacity Building Grant Program

Connecticut Farm Reinvestment Grant Program

 

 

*******************

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

*******************

Editor's note: I'm tooting my own horn on this one, but it's not every day that I get an article into a national newspaper.  Enjoy.

 

THE FIRST VEGETABLES

(Chicago Tribune) - In Jerzy Kosinski's novel and award-winning screenplay, "Being There," the U.S. president turns to a plain-spoken gardener named Chance for wisdom at a time of economic crisis. The insight Chance offers is as simple as it is reassuring: Growth has its seasons and, as long as the roots of growth are not severed, all will be well. President Barack Obama would be wise to add a gardener or farmer to his team of advisers. I already know what advice I'd offer if called to serve: Launch a new victory garden campaign starting with one on the White House lawn. Full article here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-perspec0301gardenmar01,0,7242582.story

 

 

*******************

NEWS

*******************

Subsidy debate weighs farmers vs. children

(Reuters) - U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Monday he has heard some concern from lawmakers about the Obama administration's plan to cut subsidy payments to large farmers, but says the nation's hungry children need the money more. "We will do our best to frame this discussion in that way, so that people understand: 30 million children, 90,000 farmers," Vilsack told Reuters. "It is a tough choice but it's a choice that folks are going to have to make," he said. President Barack Obama last week proposed phasing out direct payments to farmers with sales of more than $500,000 a year, to save $9.8 billion over 10 years. The administration would redirect the money to school lunch and other childhood nutrition programs to curb hunger and help end obesity. Obama has said he wants to end childhood hunger by 2015. Full article here: http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKN02398362

 

Tufts' Merrigan tapped for No. 2 slot at USDA

(Scientific American) - Pres. Obama has tapped Kathleen Merrigan, an academic and former congressional aide who helped write federal organic food-labeling rules, to be deputy agriculture secretary. The White House announced the pick yesterday, drawing cheers from food-safety advocates, who have pushed for more stringent labeling regs." Merrigan will bring an excellent perspective to a number of troublesome labeling issues now before the agency," Jean Halloran, Consumers Union's director of food policy initiatives, said in a statement. Among the matters that need to be addressed, she said: loopholes in the current "grass fed" standard, lack of uniformity in meat marketing claims, defining "raised without antibiotics" label claims, and weaknesses in the current definition of "naturally raised." Merrigan, 49, director of the agriculture, food and environment program at Tufts University, helped develop the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 as a staffer on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. The law created national standards for organic foods and a federal program to accredit them. From 1999 to 2001, Merrigan served as administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), which oversees the agency's organic program. Full article here: http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=kathleen-merrigan-organic-foods-exp-2009-02-24

 

Organic milk boom in Maine going bust

(Bangor Daily News) - Too much supply and too little demand in a recession have caught up with the fast-growing organic milk industry, dealing a harsh blow to Maine producers. Dairy industry giant HP Hood recently told eight Maine organic dairy farms their milk contracts will not be renewed. In its next move, Hood notified most of the remaining 14 organic milk producers in the state under contract to the company that they must cut their production this year by 15 percent. There are 72 farms in Maine producing organic milk. Some sell in bulk to other processors such as Organic Valley and Ho-rizon Cooperative. The farms being dropped by Hood are in Aroostook and Washington counties only, an area courted heavily by Hood just three years ago, when the organic boom was at its peak. Full article here: http://www.bangornews.com/detail/100620.html

 

Farm-to-plate bill looks to boost Vermont economy

Three hundred farmers packed into the Statehouse on Feb. 17 for a legislative hearing on the future of agriculture before the Senate and House Agriculture Committees Tuesday night, and legislators listened. Farm and farm-related sectors in Vermont are responsible $503.3 million in total cash receipts each year, according to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, and the agriculture industry and allied businesses account for roughly 17,000 jobs in the state. But a report released in December by the Council on the Future of Vermont found that the nature of agriculture in the state is changing as the number of small, non-dairy farms rises while the number of dairy farms declines. Last week's hearing came just days after Rep. Chris Bray, D-New Haven, introduced legislation designed to do exactly what many farmers at the hearing requested: promote strong local foods systems. Bray argued that better "farm-to-plate" food systems would circulate more money back into the hands of Vermont's farms. The issue is particularly important in Addison County, which accounts for 22 percent of all agricultural sales in Vermont. Full article here: http://www.addisonindependent.com/?q=node/1935

 

Delaware losing 6,000 acres of its farmland a year

(The News Journal) - Delaware farmland has disappeared at a rate of 6,000 acres a year for much of this decade, according to new government data. From 2002 to 2007, Delaware lost nearly 30,000 acres -- about 5.5 percent of its total farmland -- according to the 2007 Census of Agriculture, a comprehensive look at the industry released every five years by the U.S. Department of Agricu-lture. Nationwide, the loss was 16.2 million acres, about 1.7 percent of total farmland. In spite of the diminishing acreage, Delaware's 2,546 farms produced more than $1 billion worth of products in 2007, up 75 percent from 2002, thanks largely to rising commodity prices.The second-smallest state was the nation's eighth-largest producer of broiler chickens, and Sussex County was the top broiler producer among 3,079 U.S. counties. Full article here:http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20090219/DCP01/902190356

 

Farming rises on Cape, across Massachusetts

(Cape Cod Today) - Agriculture, organic farming and agritourism in Massachusetts all grew from 2002 to 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.But you don't have to tell Bill Snowden of Hawk's Wing Farm in Yarmouth Port that farming is on the upswing.Snowden, who created the farm three years ago at a former sand pit, has seen demand growing at Cape farmers' markets, slow food events featuring local offerings, and even in tourism drawn to Cape farms. A two-day event at the farm last August drew 150 visitors, who were allowed to camp out on the property. "We have way more demand than we have farms," Snowden said. Full article here: http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2009/02/23/farming-on-rise-on-cape-across-massachus?blog=53   

 

N.J. open space groups oppose bill backing green energy for farms

(The Star Ledger) - Farmers in New Jersey have long tried creative methods to stave off bankruptcy, and their latest push to harvest wind and sun for electricity is gathering steam with a boost from state lawmakers. The bill, which broadens the rights of farmers to install wind turbines and solar collection systems on their property, has been on a fast track to passage and could gain final approval in weeks. The New Jersey Farm Bureau loves it and has been arranging well-attended informational sessions with farmers to encourage them to install the new technology. But a provision of the proposed law extending similar rights to owners of preserved farms has angered major open-space groups. The issue is sensitive in a state that has spent billions of dollars on popular open-space programs designed to slow sprawling development in rural and wooded areas. The League of Municipalities also has voiced concern that the rush to renewable energy may go too far in limiting local officials' ability to regulate the new land use. The controversy has divided the environmental community and ensnared Gov. Jon Corzine's agriculture-secretary designee before he is even sworn in. But with President Obama, Corzine and others beating the drum on clean energy, the measure appears certain to pass. The bill (S1538/A2859) was approved Feb. 23 by the Senate by a 36-3 vote, and the Assembly passed an earlier version overwhelmingly in October. The Assembly must vote again because the bill was amended, but it is expected to do so in weeks. Full article here: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/nj_open_space_groups_oppose_bi.html

 

Pollution pinches Chesapeake crabs

(The Tribune-Democrat) -  A century of water pollution killed native trout in the streams of northern Cambria and Clearfield counties. That same pollution also has contributed to the decline of blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay. That's how what happens here threatens the nation's largest estuary - the bay that brings salt water in from the Atlantic Ocean, while carrying fresh water from the Susquehanna River, which is fed by polluted waters from Cambria County. That's also one factor - just one - that is blamed by Virginia and Maryland for a growing threat to the fishing industry. The blue crab population is at an all-time low, and two factors are to blame: Pollution and overfishing. There are six sub-basins of the 444-mile Susquehanna that feed the bay. Acid-mine drainage is blamed for pollution from this region, while farm runoff is the main culprit to the east. There is less crab food, less crab habitat and too much catching of fish the crabs feed on. Full article here: http://www.tribune-democrat.com/local/local_story_059234213.html

 

New Jersey and Pennsylvania add farms, according to agriculture census

(Express-Times) - New Jersey may be the most densely populated state in the United States, but that hasn't prevented the Garden State from adding farms at an impressive rate. In the five-year period ending in 2007, Warren County added 119 farms and Hunterdon County another 109. While Pennsylvania gained more than 5,000 farms in this period, Northampton County had a net loss of one farm and Lehigh County lost 102, according to a census by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Agriculture is a business and there's a market for local-grown products," said Win Cowgill, a Hunterdon agricultural agent. "There are a lot of people that want to buy local when they can get local." Many of the newer farms in Warren and Hunterdon counties are small operations, according to the Rutgers Cooperative Extension. Full article here: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/today/index.ssf/2009/02/new_jersey_and_pennsylvania_ex.html   

 

 

*******************

EVENTS 

******************* 

3/4

Grow Food Everywhere, Keene, NH

Do you want to experience the many ways schools can strengthen their connection to local food and farms? Join us to explore specific strategies of how our schools can: cultivate food, learning, and community through the development of school gardening programs, build their curriculum around growing local food, and unite the community around local farming. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/grow-food-everywhere

 

3/5-7

Professional Farmers' Market Managers Training Workshops, Schenectady, NY

Farmers' Market Federation of New York presents this training opportunity for market managers, with sessions on event planning, maintaining market integrity, and more. For more info, see: http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/workshops.htm

 

3/7

Rain Barrel Volunteer Training Workshop, Accokeek, MD

Volunteers will be trained in the construction of rain barrels and leading rain barrel workshops. Volunteers will be able to conduct workshops and educate homeowners about water conservation, use and care of rain barrels.For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/rain-barrel-volunteer-training

 

3/7

Energize Your Farm's Future, Dighton, MA

This one-day conference and resource fair offers workshops on farm energy, farm transfer, season extension, grassfed poultry and meats, and pest management. For more info, see: http://www.farmfresh.org/learn/events.php?year=2009&month=3#294

 

3/14

Spring Growth Conference: Growing Grains in Maine, Unity, ME

Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners presents a full day of presentations and discussions for home-scale and commercial growers, addressing varieties, fertility, harvesting and storage, and seed saving. Keynote speakers are Klaas & Mary-Howell Martens of Lakeview Organic Grain. For more info, see: http://www.mofga.org/Programs/Events/SpringGrowthConference/tabid/190/Default.aspx

 

3/15-17

Inaugural Meeting of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Alexandria, VA
The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture have merged to form the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC).  In mid-March, NSAC members and partners will be meeting in the DC area to set the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's policy priorities for 2009, strategize farm bill implementation and appropriations work, visit with key legislators and new staff at the Department of Agriculture, and sharpen policy advocacy and media skills.  For more info, see: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=29988

 

3/16

Local Grower Local Buyer Gathering, Philadelphia, PA

This sixth annual industry-only event brings together local farmers/food producers with Philadelphia chefs, store owners and institutional buyers. The Gathering is a chance for farmers and wholesale buyers to meet and to make business connections face-to-face just before the growing season gets started. For more info, see: http://www.whitedogcafefoundation.org/events.html

 

3/18

Growing a 21st Century Agricultural Revolution, Washington, DC

This food and agriculture summit is being convened by the Sustainable Food Lab, SAI Platform and the Keystone Center's Farm to Market Initiative. For more info, see: http://www.sustainablefoodlab.org/calendar/

 

3/18

Seed starting workshop, Accokeek, MD

Why buy transplants when you can grow your plants from seeds? This class will provide you with the information you will need to grow your own seedlings and get a jump on the growing season. You will learn how to select the seeds, materials, and methods that will work best for you. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/seed-starting

 

3/19

Eating Green, Garden City, NY

The third in a series of vegetarian cooking classes. This class "The Gluten Free, Dairy Free Challenge" is designed to address food allergies and the changes one needs to make in their diet. We will explore the wonderful options that exist, while creating delicious, healthy vegetarian meals. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/eating-green-with-bhavani-2

 

4/3-4

Farm to Table Conference, Pittsburgh, PA

This event, "Farm to Table: Keep it Real, Keep it Local," will include a farmers' market, health expo, cooking demonstrations, presentations, speakers and exhibits about eating local, and a local food tasting event. For more info, see: http://www.pathwayswellnessprogram.com/farm_to_table_conference.html

 

4/18

Garden Preparation, Accokeek, MD

This class will teach you how to prepare your garden site, create successful planting beds, and put those seeds and plants in the ground. You will also learn how to set up your garden to accommodate the plants as they grow throughout the season. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/garden-preparation

 

 

*******************

FARM BILL: ACT NOW

******************* 

3/16: Regional Equity: http://www.nefood.org/events/public-comment-deadline-3

3/16: Environmental Quality Incentives Program: http://www.nefood.org/events/public-comment-deadline-1

3/16: Wetlands Reserve Program: http://www.nefood.org/events/public-comment-deadline-2

3/17: Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program: http://www.nefood.org/events/public-comment-deadline-farm

3/17: Technical Service Provider Assistance: http://www.nefood.org/events/public-comment-deadline-4

3/17: Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program: http://www.nefood.org/events/public-comment-deadline-5

3/24: Grassland Reserve Program: http://www.nefood.org/events/public-comment-deadline-6

 

 

*******************

OPPORTUNITIES

******************* 

Part Time Executive Director, Community Harvest Project, Grafton, MA

This is an opportunity to work with an established grassroots organization to help it reach the next level. The Executive Director is the principal staff executive of Community Harvest Project, Inc. (CHP) and reports to the Board of Directors. The Executive Director is responsible for carrying out the organization's strategic plan and the policies and goals approved by its board. Last day to apply: March 13, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/328608-244/c

 

Organizational Coordinator, Gaining Ground, Concord, MA

Organizational Coordinator needed to run our non-profit office, manage finances and fundraising, and help our community. Gaining Ground grows and distributes organic for hunger relief with the help of volunteers of all ages and abilities who work and learn in our gardens. Last day to apply: April 15, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/327997-209/c

 

Executive Director, NOFA New York, Cobleskill, NY

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY) is seeking a committed and dynamic Executive Director to build on its twenty five year history of promoting organic and sustainable agriculture throughout the state of New York; this person will lead an expanding organization into the next phase of education and advocacy for New York state farmers, gardeners, and consumers. Last day to apply: March 15, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/326328-216/c

 

Gardening Program Assistant, Boston Natural Areas Network, Boston, MA

BNAN is a 30 year old urban environmental non profit working to preserve, protect and expand open space in Boston. Working collaboratively with community, public agencies, and non profits, BNAN combines the environment with cultural and social issues. BNAN offers a wide range of educational, recreational and cultural programs to build constituencies for Greenways. Last day to apply: March 13, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/326175-172/c

           

Major Gifts Coordinator, Sustainable Harvest International, Surry, ME

Sustainable Harvest International seeks a new full time staff member to coordinate its major gift fundraising efforts. The successful candidate will implement SHI's fundraising plan by working closely with the President, other members of the staff, Board members and volunteers on building relationships with and soliciting major gifts from individual supporters. Last day to apply: March 22, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/325323-16/c

 

Assistant Director, Natick Community Organic Farm, Natick, MA

The Natick Community Organic Farm, located in Natick, Massachusetts, is a 30 year old, non-profit, certified organic farm providing productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education for all ages, year-round. NCOF is now searching for a year - round community farmer, a critical position to the day-to-day operations of the Farm. This person must be willing to both farm and work with the public on a daily basis. They must have a two to four year degree or equivalent work experience in agriculture, and be proficient in at least several, if not all, of the aspects of this diversified farm  Last day to apply: March 16, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/324735-28/c

 

Membership Coordinator, FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement), Bethesda, MD

Mid-level position responsible for communicating with and cultivating members and donors. The position involves maintaining the members database in MS Access, preparing direct mail appeals, and personalized outreach by letter, phone and e-mail.Last day to apply: March 15, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/324678-201/c

 

Multiple openings, Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston, MA

The Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England, and one of the largest food banks in the country, distributing more than 25 million pounds of food annually to a network of more than 600 member hunger-relief agencies. For more info, see: http://www.gbfb.org/aboutUs/CurrentOpenings.cfm

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, THE FOOD TRUST, PHILADELPHIA, PA

The Food Trust is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization improving the supply of affordable food and good nutrition in the mid-Atlantic region. The mission of The Food Trust is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food. For more info, see: http://www.thefoodtrust.org/php/about/jobs.php  

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, FOODCHANGE, NEW YORK, NY

FoodChange (formerly known as the Community Food Resource Center) is dedicated to helping low-income New Yorkers gain and maintain access to nutritious food, income support and decent housing. For more info, see: http://www.foodchange.org/employment/employment.html  

 

Connecticut Farm Reinvestment Grant Program

The purpose of the Department of Agriculture's Farm Reinvestment Grant Program Program (FRG) is to insure the viability of agriculture in Connecticut. By providing money for capital enhancement to farms, it is the department's hope to help preserve Connecticut's agricultural base and improve farm production. These competitive matching grants will be awarded on the basis of the quality of the business plan that is a part of the application. The farmer applicant must match or exceed the amount of the grant being requested. These funds must be used for projects that are defined as capital fixed assets and have a life expectancy of 10 years or more. The funds may be used for the expansion of existing agricultural facilities, or diversification-expansion into new production areas and site improvements related to such expansion or diversification.

Due date: April 30, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.ct.gov/doag/cwp/view.asp?a=3260&q=398988

 

Conservation Innovation Grants

NRCS requests applications for Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. Applications are accepted from all 50 States, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands), and the Pacific Islands Area (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). NRCS anticipates that the amount available for support of this program in FY 2009 will be approximately $20 million. Funds will be awarded through a nationwide competitive grants process. There are four CIG categories available in FY 2009: Natural Resource Concerns Category, Technology Category, Chesapeake Bay Watershed Category, and Grant Leveraging Category.Due date: March 2, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=J9xR5GymnvZ6Njbsgfh3K8hy6DT0d8vvF8chDGvWh2n28LPsJqhK!1169085978?oppId=44803&flag2006=false&mode=VIEW

 

Pride of New York Specialty Crop Cooperative Advertising

Pride of New York is offering its members an expanded cooperative advertising program for specialty crops, to now include television and radio as well as cooperative funding for print, point of purchase and promotional items. Cooperative funding will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Reimbursements of up to $5,000 per member are offered for qualifying advertising. For more info, see:

http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/RFPS.html

 

New York Community Garden Organization Capacity Building Grant Program

The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets invites applications for financial assistance to strengthen existing community garden organizations and support local garden coalitions. Each applicant may apply for and receive up to $5,000. These small, flexible grants can be used for capacity building efforts such as leadership development and organizational planning, membership recruitment activities, and strengthening a community garden's role within its neighborhood. There is a total of $50,000 available state-wide for the program. Due date: May 4, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/RFPS.html

 

Connecticut Farm Reinvestment Grant Program

The purpose of the Department of Agriculture's Farm Reinvestment Grant Program Program (FRG) is to insure the viability of agriculture in Connecticut. By providing money for capital enhancement to farms, it is the department's hope to help preserve Connecticut's agricultural base and improve farm production. These competitive matching grants will be awarded on the basis of the quality of the business plan that is a part of the application. The farmer applicant must match or exceed the amount of the grant being requested. These funds must be used for projects that are defined as capital fixed assets and have a life expectancy of 10 years or more. The funds may be used for the expansion of existing agricultural facilities, or diversification-expansion into new production areas and site improvements related to such expansion or diversification. Due date: April 30, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.ct.gov/doag/cwp/view.asp?a=3260&q=398988

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

CSAs: Not just for veggies anymore

 

NEWS:

Mid-Atlantic Presence Grows in House Ag Committee

Vermont dairy industry facing crisis

The Great Cow-Sharing Debate

Going back to the land in Maine

Kee tapped to head Delaware's agriculture department

Rhode Island aquaculture industry making waves

Massachusetts hopes tax break will spur land conservation

 

EVENTS:

2/4-7: PASA's 18th Annual Farming for the Future Conference, State College, PA

2/6: NESAWG's Annual Meeting and Resource Harvest, State College, PA

2/14-15: NOFA Vermont's 27th Annual Winter Conference, Randolph, VT

2/21-22: Northeast Real Food Summit, Amherst, MA

3/5-7: Professional Farmers' Market Managers Training Workshops, Schenectady, NY

3/7: Rain Barrel Volunteer Training Workshop, Accokeek, MD

3/7: Energize Your Farm's Future, Dighton, MA

3/14: Spring Growth Conference: Growing Grains in Maine, Unity, ME

3/15-17: Inaugural Meeting of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Alexandria, VA

3/16: Local Grower Local Buyer Gathering, Philadelphia, PA

3/18: Growing a 21st Century Agricultural Revolution, Washington, DC

3/19: Eating Green, Garden City, NY

 

OPPORTUNITIES:

Executive Director, NOFA New York, Cobleskill, NY

Gardening Program Assistant, Boston Natural Areas Network, Boston, MA

Outreach and Operations Manager, Small Planet Institute, Cambridge, MA

Major Gifts Coordinator, Sustainable Harvest International, Surry, ME

Program Officer, Southern Maryland RC&D Board, MD

Assistant Director, Natick Community Organic Farm, Natick, MA

Membership Coordinator, FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement), Bethesda, MD

Multiple Job Openings, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA

Multiple Job Openings, Community Food Resource Center, New York, NY

New York State Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program

Connecticut Farm Reinvestment Grant Program

Conservation Innovation Grants

Microloan Fund for New England Farmers

 

 

*******************

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

*******************

CSAs: NOT JUST FOR VEGGIES ANYMORE

Editor's note: It's encouraging to see the "community supported" model being piloted in other areas in the Northeast, including fish and fiber. 

 

A share in the shear

(Orion Magazine) - At a recent farmers' market, a woman came to look at Susan Gibbs's skeins of dyed wool laid out for sale. "Isn't that nice," Gibbs remembers the woman saying. "The farmer's wife, selling the yarn." Gibbs's reply came quickly. "I'm not the farmer's wife," she snapped. "I'm the farmer." If you'd known Gibbs several years ago, you wouldn't have liked her. That's her opinion, anyway. She carried a clipboard. She was competitive. She was compulsive. To hear her tell it, she was totally Type A. For ten years, she loved her New York City job as a news producer for CBS, every minute of it. Until she woke up one day and realized she hated it. In 2001, she quit her job, told her colleagues she was going to "write a book," and began a difficult two-year fallow period. Doing nothing wasn't easy. Sometimes she just didn't get out of bed in the morning. Then, one day, she wandered into a bookstore and picked up a how-to book about raising sheep. This child of American suburbia, who loves pedicures and religiously has her roots done every six weeks, decided to become a shepherdess. She had no livestock experience and owned none of the necessary equipment. And there was one other problem: she owned no land. Full article here: http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4270/

 

Here's the Catch

(Washington Post) - The idea of a community-supported fishery seems so obvious, you have to wonder why it took so long. The equivalent approach to farming, after all, is nothing new and has seen explosive growth in recent years, as farmers appreciate an upfront infusion of cash when they need it most, from consumers who get a guaranteed stream of produce throughout the season. Maybe it took this long for fishermen to try the same thing for one simple reason: They may be geniuses at harvesting from the sea, but they haven't until recently given much thought to marketing what they catch. To survive, though, they must sell at a decent price, and that's where the community-supported fishery (CSF) idea comes in. Similar efforts are happening in other coastal areas around the country, but the purest expression of the concept may be taking shape in this sweet little port on the southwestern shore of Maine's Penobscot Bay, where the fishermen have organized Port Clyde Fresh Catch, a novel way to buy fish and to market the catch of the Midcoast Fishermen's Association's 24 fishing members. Full article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011300700.html

 

 

*******************

NEWS

*******************

Mid-Atlantic Presence Grows in House Ag Committee

(Lancaster Farming) - The U.S. House Agriculture Committee will include four new members from the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions while the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will remain largely unchanged. Members of the House committee were selected last week after each party's respective steering committees made their selections. The newest members include two Pennsylvania representatives, Rep. Kathleen Dahlkemper (D-3) and Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-5); one representative from New York, Rep. Eric J. J. Massa (D-29); and one representative from Maryland, Rep. Frank Kratovil Jr. (D-1). Kratovil is the lone representative on the committee from Maryland. The additions of Dahlkemper and Thompson brings the total number of representatives from Pennsylvania to three. New York has two representatives on the committee while Virginia has one. Full article here: http://www.lancasterfarming.com/node/1708

 

Vermont dairy industry facing crisis

(Times Argus) - Vermont's dairy industry is bracing for what could be an unprecedented financial crisis as milk prices, already down dramatically from their 2007 highs, head toward lows unseen since the late 1970s. Forecasters project hundredweight prices, now in the $14 range, to dip below $11 in March and remain near that mark until at least the end of May. Prices already are down by about 30 percent from this time last year, and agriculture officials worry the plunging market could shutter barn doors around the state. "The lows are much lower than normal," Fairfax farmer Ralph McNall said after the annual dairy lunch at the farm show in Barre on Thursday. "And at this point I'm afraid it's going to last longer than the usual lows do, so it's kind of a double whammy." Economic malaise worldwide has eaten into demand for dairy products, according to Bob Wellington, economist for the milk cooperative Agri-Mark. The price problem, he said, is compounded by high costs. The price of feed, fuel and fertilizer, while down modestly from their record highs, remain significantly higher than in previous price troughs. Full article here: http://www.timesargus.com/article/RH/20090130/NEWS04/901300366/0/SPORTS

 

The Great Cow-Sharing Debate

(Green Inc. @ NYTimes.com) - It's not as luxurious as time shares or private jet shares. But the idea of "cow shares" -- that is, sharing a cow to get access to fresh, raw milk -- has plenty of adherents in this age of natural living. The idea of a cow share, according to realmilk.com, is that shareholders pay a farmer to keep the cow, and are able to consume its milk without paying an additional fee. Full blog post here: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/the-great-cow-sharing-debate/

 

Going back to the land in Maine

(Portland Press Herald) - Joe Grady teaches humanities at Casco Bay High School in Portland, but he is a farmer at heart. The former manager of a 130-acre farm in Rindge, N.H., Grady and his wife, Laura, continue to graze sheep, keep chickens and raise vegetables on the side at their small farm in Hiram. But Grady is itching to farm in a bigger way. So he joined Maine Farmlink, a service operated by the Maine Farmland Trust that matches people who want to farm with farms available for sale or lease. He and his wife now have their eye on a Hallowell farm that is available for lease. "Our goal would be to have as large a percentage of our income come from the farm as possible," said Grady. Grady is one of 200 people in the Farmlink database searching for a farm to buy or rent. It is just one sign of the growing interest in farming in Maine that, in turn, is helping to fuel a surge of interest in preserving farmland in the state. Farm preservationists say farmland protection also is gaining steam because of the growing demand for locally grown foods. Today, the decades-old loss of farmland to development has finally begun to reverse. Despite the economic meltdown, Maine Farmland Trust, the largest private land trust exclusively devoted to farms, has just had its best year ever. In the past year, its assets grew from $170,000 to $1 million, membership jumped from 844 to 1,608 and the number of acres that the organization protected more than doubled, from 6,221 to 13,079. Full article here: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=235086&ac=PHnws

 

Kee tapped to head Delaware's agriculture department

(Cape Gazette) - Walter Edwin "Ed" Kee will take on the duties of secretary of agriculture, and his confirmation is expected by the state Senate next week. Gov.-elect Jack Markell, on Friday, Jan. 9, nominated Kee to oversee the 130-person state agency. "It's never easy to be a farmer, but it is especially difficult in this historically hard economic climate," Markell said. "Ed has been in the field with the farmers and understands the difficult obstacles they must overcome," Markell said. Kee, a 57-year-old retired University of Delaware professor, has also served as an executive for the largest independently owned food processor on the East Coast, Hanover Foods. Kee said one of his biggest challenges will be balancing Sussex County's explosive growth with the need for increasing industry in the state's largest, agriculture-based county. Full article here: http://www.capegazette.com/storiescurrent/200901/keeagdept13.html

 

Rhode Island aquaculture industry making waves

(Providence Journal) - In seven years, Perry Raso has grown his business sevenfold. Matunuck Oyster Farm started as a 1.3-acre aquaculture operation, grew to 3.8 acres and then to 7 acres last year. It is in wading-depth water off the southern shore of Potter Pond, a salt pond connected to Point Judith Pond. Raso, who earned a master's degree in animal and veterinary science at the University of Rhode Island last year, grows oysters, littlenecks, steamer clams and bay scallops. During his first year of farming oysters, Raso had none to sell. Getting a harvest of oysters after buying "seed" stock takes at least two years -- sometimes longer. But last year he sold 400,000 oysters, his largest annual harvest. He also sold 50,000 littlenecks. "They're more difficult to grow, and they are worth less on the market," he said. Aquaculture is a seven-day-a-week job, he said. During the winter, two employees work in the water with him. They maintain the shellfish beds and harvest daily -- sorting, scrubbing and shipping shellfish to wholesale distributors and restaurants around the country. Rhode Island has 27 aquaculturists, Raso said, adding that a small group of them in South Country work cooperatively to ship shellfish and are planning to form a more structured co-op soon. Full article here: http://www.projo.com/business/content/BZ_MATUNUCKOYSTERS_01-06-09_NBCN3D1_v15.307799a.html

 

Massachusetts hopes tax break will spur land conservation

(AP) ­ - The 72-acre parcel owned by Bette and Bernard Holmes was a developer's dream, with more than 1,500 feet of pond front and room for 26 homes. But after the cranberry-growing Plymouth couple sat down with their children in 2003 to discuss out what to do with the property, Bette, 73, and Bernard, 83, decided to let the land's original inhabitants -- including rare flowers and an endangered red-bellied frog -- stay put by selling the parcel, then assessed at $1.25 million, to the Nature Conservancy. "This has always been virgin land out here and we like the idea of keeping it that way," Bette Holmes said. "We're not against development, but does every inch of town have to be developed?" A new law signed by Gov. Deval Patrick is designed to encourage others to follow the Holmes' lead by creating a state income tax credit for landowners who voluntarily donate property to their local community, the state or a nonprofit conservation group. Full article here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jK6oSxYaSdGki4gbysbJVohlKBDAD95Q3NKO0 

 

 

*******************

EVENTS 

******************* 

2/5-7

PASA's 18th Annual Farming for the Future Conference, State College, PA

PASA's FFF Conference brings together farmers, consumers, business people, experts, beginners and others involved in the sustainable agriculture community. With 13 Pre-Conference Tracks and over 80 Friday and Saturday workshops, you don't want to miss this educational and enjoyable opportunity. For more info, see: http://www.pasafarming.org/conf2009/

 

2/6

NESAWG's Annual Meeting and Resource Harvest, State College, PA

NESAWG is pleased to be organizing its annual gathering this year in conjunction with PASA's Farming for the Future Conference.  For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/nesawg-and-pasas-annual  

 

2/14-15

NOFA Vermont's 27th Annual Winter Conference, Randolph, VT

Grow It Here: Innovations toward Local Food Sovereignty, NOFA Vermont's 27th Annual NOFA Vermont Winter Conference will be held February 14-15, 2009 at the Vermont Technical College in Randolph. With over 1,000 farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, educators, and community members expected, this conference marks the preeminent annual gathering of Vermont's local food movement to share in two days of workshops and conversations focused on growing a vibrant, healthy, and safe local food system. For more info, see:  http://www.nefood.org/events/grow-it-here-nofa-vermonts

 

2/21-22

Northeast Real Food Summit, Amherst, MA

This year's Northeast Real Food Summit will unite over 300 food activists--from high schoolers to college students, young farmers to chefs, and food service directors to faculty--for a weekend of inspiring and rejuvenating workshops, performances, games and food. For more info, see: http://realfoodchallenge.org/northeast/summit09

 

3/5-7

Professional Farmers' Market Managers Training Workshops, Schenectady, NY

Farmers' Market Federation of New York presents this training opportunity for market managers, with sessions on event planning, maintaining market integrity, and more. For more info, see: http://www.nyfarmersmarket.com/workshops.htm

 

3/7

Rain Barrel Volunteer Training Workshop, Accokeek, MD

Volunteers will be trained in the construction of rain barrels and leading rain barrel workshops. Volunteers will be able to conduct workshops and educate homeowners about water conservation, use and care of rain barrels.For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/rain-barrel-volunteer-training

 

3/7

Energize Your Farm's Future, Dighton, MA

This one-day conference and resource fair offers workshops on farm energy, farm transfer, season extension, grassfed poultry and meats, and pest management. For more info, see: http://www.farmfresh.org/learn/events.php?year=2009&month=3#294

 

3/14

Spring Growth Conference: Growing Grains in Maine, Unity, ME

Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners presents a full day of presentations and discussions for home-scale and commercial growers, addressing varieties, fertility, harvesting and storage, and seed saving. Keynote speakers are Klaas & Mary-Howell Martens of Lakeview Organic Grain. For more info, see: http://www.mofga.org/Programs/Events/SpringGrowthConference/tabid/190/Default.aspx

 

3/15-17

Inaugural Meeting of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Alexandria, VA
The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture have merged to form the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC).  In mid-March, NSAC members and partners will be meeting in the DC area to set the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's policy priorities for 2009, strategize farm bill implementation and appropriations work, visit with key legislators and new staff at the Department of Agriculture, and sharpen policy advocacy and media skills.  For more info, see: https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=29988

 

3/16

Local Grower Local Buyer Gathering, Philadelphia, PA

This sixth annual industry-only event brings together local farmers/food producers with Philadelphia chefs, store owners and institutional buyers. The Gathering is a chance for farmers and wholesale buyers to meet and to make business connections face-to-face just before the growing season gets started. For more info, see: http://www.whitedogcafefoundation.org/events.html

 

3/18

Growing a 21st Century Agricultural Revolution, Washington, DC

This food and agriculture summit is being convened by the Sustainable Food Lab, SAI Platform and the Keystone Center's Farm to Market Initiative. For more info, see: http://www.sustainablefoodlab.org/calendar/

 

3/19

Eating Green, Garden City, NY

The third in a series of vegetarian cooking classes. This class "The Gluten Free, Dairy Free Challenge" is designed to address food allergies and the changes one needs to make in their diet. We will explore the wonderful options that exist, while creating delicious, healthy vegetarian meals. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/eating-green-with-bhavani-2

 

 

*******************

OPPORTUNITIES

******************* 

Executive Director, NOFA New York, Cobleskill, NY

The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York (NOFA-NY) is seeking a committed and dynamic Executive Director to build on its twenty five year history of promoting organic and sustainable agriculture throughout the state of New York; this person will lead an expanding organization into the next phase of education and advocacy for New York state farmers, gardeners, and consumers. Last day to apply: March 15, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/326328-216/c

 

Gardening Program Assistant, Boston Natural Areas Network, Boston, MA

BNAN is a 30 year old urban environmental non profit working to preserve, protect and expand open space in Boston. Working collaboratively with community, public agencies, and non profits, BNAN combines the environment with cultural and social issues. BNAN offers a wide range of educational, recreational and cultural programs to build constituencies for Greenways. Last day to apply: March 13, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/326175-172/c

           

Outreach and Operations Manager, Small Planet Institute, Cambridge, MA

Author Frances Moore Lappé' seeks a full-time Outreach and Operations Manager for the Small Planet Institute. In addition to this position, the Cambridge office comprises Lappé plus interns and volunteers and off-site consultants. (A second office, run independently, is in Brooklyn.) Since the Institute's founding in 2002, its principals have published five books--two of which are national bestsellers--along with numerous articles, book chapters, and three mini-documentaries. Last day to apply: March 1, 2009 for more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/325907-112/c

 

Major Gifts Coordinator, Sustainable Harvest International, Surry, ME

Sustainable Harvest International seeks a new full time staff member to coordinate its major gift fundraising efforts. The successful candidate will implement SHI's fundraising plan by working closely with the President, other members of the staff, Board members and volunteers on building relationships with and soliciting major gifts from individual supporters. Last day to apply: March 22, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/325323-16/c

 

Program Officer, Southern Maryland RC&D Board, MD

The Southern Maryland Resource Conservation and Development Board, Inc. (RC&D) seeks a Program Officer to administer a dynamic portfolio of resource conservation, agriculture and community development projects in Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's Counties in Maryland. Last day to apply: March 1, 2009 for more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/325277-203/c

 

Assistant Director, Natick Community Organic Farm, Natick, MA

The Natick Community Organic Farm, located in Natick, Massachusetts, is a 30 year old, non-profit, certified organic farm providing productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education for all ages, year-round. NCOF is now searching for a year - round community farmer, a critical position to the day-to-day operations of the Farm. This person must be willing to both farm and work with the public on a daily basis. They must have a two to four year degree or equivalent work experience in agriculture, and be proficient in at least several, if not all, of the aspects of this diversified farm  Last day to apply: March 16, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/324735-28/c

 

Membership Coordinator, FARM (Farm Animal Rights Movement), Bethesda, MD

Mid-level position responsible for communicating with and cultivating members and donors. The position involves maintaining the members database in MS Access, preparing direct mail appeals, and personalized outreach by letter, phone and e-mail.Last day to apply: March 15, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/324678-201/c

 

Multiple openings, Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston, MA

The Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England, and one of the largest food banks in the country, distributing more than 25 million pounds of food annually to a network of more than 600 member hunger-relief agencies. For more info, see: http://www.gbfb.org/aboutUs/CurrentOpenings.cfm

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, THE FOOD TRUST, PHILADELPHIA, PA

The Food Trust is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization improving the supply of affordable food and good nutrition in the mid-Atlantic region. The mission of The Food Trust is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food. For more info, see: http://www.thefoodtrust.org/php/about/jobs.php  

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, FOODCHANGE, NEW YORK, NY

FoodChange (formerly known as the Community Food Resource Center) is dedicated to helping low-income New Yorkers gain and maintain access to nutritious food, income support and decent housing. For more info, see: http://www.foodchange.org/employment/employment.html  

 

Connecticut Farm Reinvestment Grant Program

The purpose of the Department of Agriculture's Farm Reinvestment Grant Program Program (FRG) is to insure the viability of agriculture in Connecticut. By providing money for capital enhancement to farms, it is the department's hope to help preserve Connecticut's agricultural base and improve farm production. These competitive matching grants will be awarded on the basis of the quality of the business plan that is a part of the application. The farmer applicant must match or exceed the amount of the grant being requested. These funds must be used for projects that are defined as capital fixed assets and have a life expectancy of 10 years or more. The funds may be used for the expansion of existing agricultural facilities, or diversification-expansion into new production areas and site improvements related to such expansion or diversification.

Due date: April 30, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.ct.gov/doag/cwp/view.asp?a=3260&q=398988

 

Conservation Innovation Grants

NRCS requests applications for Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. Applications are accepted from all 50 States, the Caribbean Area (Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands), and the Pacific Islands Area (Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). NRCS anticipates that the amount available for support of this program in FY 2009 will be approximately $20 million. Funds will be awarded through a nationwide competitive grants process. There are four CIG categories available in FY 2009: Natural Resource Concerns Category, Technology Category, Chesapeake Bay Watershed Category, and Grant Leveraging Category.Due date: March 2, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=J9xR5GymnvZ6Njbsgfh3K8hy6DT0d8vvF8chDGvWh2n28LPsJqhK!1169085978?oppId=44803&flag2006=false&mode=VIEW

 

Microloan Fund for New England Farmers

The Carrot Project, in partnership with Strolling of the Heifers and Chittenden Bank, has created The Microloan Fund for New England Farmers. Loan applications for amounts ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, for terms of up to five years, will be accepted. For this initial, pilot round of loans, applications will be limited to farms located in Vermont or in Western Massachusetts (Berkshire, Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties), with a primary focus on loans to small- and mid-sized farms that use sustainable or organic methods (or are moving toward them), and that are marketing at least a portion of their products to local markets. In future years, as the fund grows, it will expand loan activities to all the New England states. Eligibility is limited to farms with 250 or fewer acres in active production, and annual gross revenue of $250,000 or less. Due date: February 7, 2009 For more info, see:http://www.thecarrotproject.org/

 

POTLUCK NEWS: JANUARY 2009

 

*******************

 

Happy New Year from the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG)! 

  

Do you have a winter event you want included in Potluck?  Post it to the NEFOOD.org events calendar and we'll make sure to include it: http://www.nefood.org/events

 

*******************

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Is a new food policy on Obama's list?

 

NEWS:

Year of the hungry

Dairy compact revival?

'Cow Tax' uproar underscores greenhouse-gas divide

Winter Farmers' market keeps Mainers eating local

2008: A look back at Maryland's farm troubles, triumphs

MA residents sow seeds for local farm committees

 

EVENTS:

1/5: Soil Mineral Nutrition Seminar, Barre, MA

1/16: Connect Locally: Food, Farms and Community, Frederick, MD

1/17: NOFA/Mass Annual Winter Conference, Worcester, MA

2/4: PASA's 18th Annual Farming for the Future Conference, State College, PA

2/6: NESAWG's Annual Meeting and Resource Harvest, State College, PA

2/14-15: NOFA Vermont's 27th Annual Winter Conference, Randolph, VT

 

OPPORTUNITIES:

Multiple openings, Slow Food USA, Brooklyn, NY

Deputy Director, Center for Whole Communities, Fayston, VT

Farm Program Coordinator, Green Chimneys, Brewster, NY

Plant Education Coordinator, Food Bank For New York City, New York, NY

Multiple Job Openings, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA

Multiple Job Openings, Community Food Resource Center, New York, NY

New York State Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program

Grow New York's Enterprise Program

Pennsylvania GAP/GHP Cost Sharing Program

 

 

*******************

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

*******************

Is a New Food Policy on Obama's List?

(New York Times) - From the moment it was clear that Barack Obama was going to be president, people who have dedicated their lives to changing how America eats thought they had found their St. Nicholas. It wasn't long before the letters to Santa began piling up. Ruth Reichl, the editor of Gourmet magazine, wants a new high-profile White House chef who cooks delicious local food. Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the United States, wants policies requiring better treatment for farm animals. Parents want better public-school lunches. Consumer groups are dreaming of a new, stronger food safety system. Nutrition reformers want prisoners to be fed less soy. And a farmer in Maine is asking the president-elect to plow under an acre of White House lawn for an organic vegetable garden. Although Mr. Obama has proposed changes in the nation's farm and rural policies and emphasizes the connection between diet and health, there is nothing to indicate he has a special interest in a radical makeover of the way food is grown and sold. Still, the dream endures. To advocates who have watched scattered calls for changes in food policy gather political and popular momentum, Mr. Obama looks like their kind of president. Full article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/24/dining/24food.html

 

 

*******************

NEWS

*******************

2009: Year of the Hungry

(The Independent - UK) - One billion people will go hungry around the globe next year for the first time in human history, as the international financial crisis deepens. The shocking landmark will be passed - despite a second record worldwide harvest in a row - because people are becoming too destitute to buy the food that is produced.  Decades of progress in reducing hunger are being abruptly reversed, dealing a devastating blow to a pledge by world leaders eight years ago to cut it in half by 2015. Rich countries have failed to provide promised money to boost agriculture in the Third World; the financial crisis is starving developing countries of credit and driving their people into greater poverty, and food aid to the starving is expected to begin drying up next month. Full article here http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/year-of-the-hungry-1000000000-afflicted-1213843.html

 

Dairy Compact Revival?

(Lancaster Farming) - With the prospect of farm milk prices sinking to as low as $14 per hundredweight by spring, major dairy cooperatives and agriculture commissioners of eight Northeastern states are scrambling to put together a package of options to put before members of the region's Congressional delegation when they get down to business in Washington in early January. One idea to help dairy producers that is sure to spark interest and controversy is to revive the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact that the six New England states put together and operated between 1997 and 2001. The Compact imposed a premium on Class I (fluid) milk sales in the region that was distributed back to farmers by a regional commission composed of farmers, processors and consumer representatives. The Compact enjoyed broad support among political leaders and the general public, but it attracted heavy fire from dairy interests elsewhere in the U.S. and failed to win reauthorization in Washington. Adoption of the Compact was laborious process that wound through state legislatures, governors' office, Congress, the U.S. Justice Department and finally the Clinton White House. Any initiative by two or more states to establish a pricing mechanism for any commodity requires approval by Congress. When representatives of the seven major dairy cooperatives met with agriculture commissioners of Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania earlier this month it was agreed that a revival of the Compact must include New York and Pennsylvania along with the New England states because of the increasingly regionalized nature of assembly, processing and distribution of milk supplies in the Northeast. Full article here: http://www.lancasterfarming.com/node/1629

 

'Cow Tax' uproar underscores greenhouse-gas divide

(Wall Street Journal) - Is the Environmental Protection Agency preparing to slap a "cow tax" on bovines for their contribution to global warming? The agency says no. But in recent weeks, farmers and livestock ranchers have flooded the EPA with letters warning of catastrophic consequences if such a tax was imposed. "If President-elect [Barack] Obama tries to include farmers in some kind of livestock assessment based on greenhouse-gas emissions, I want my Iowans to know that I'm going to stand beside the producers and fight," Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) said this week. Full article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122913405823603643.html

 

Winter Farmers' Market keeps city dwellers eating local

(MaineToday.com) - Monument Square may be covered in snow, but that hasn't stopped a trio of farmers from showing up every other week to deliver Maine-grown and raised food to us urbanites. On Christmas Eve, there was quite a line of people waiting to fill their baskets and shopping bags with holiday eats at this Winter Farmers' Market. I was psyched to restock my supplies of potatoes, carrots and beets, which were all running dangerously low. Full article here: http://www.mainetoday.com/blogs/inasnap/037583.html

 

A look at MARYLAND farm troubles, triumphs

(Baltimore Sun) - There will be a corn crop next year and farmers will continue plowing their fields, milking their cows, feeding their chickens and selling their goods at market. But I won't be around to report on it. The newspaper is ending this weekly farm column. As I look back over a long career, I think about the respect I developed for farmers. They work hard and work smart or they don't survive. They are part of the largest industry in the state. They feed us at a fraction of the cost of food in other nations while constantly battling the uncontrollable threats of Mother Nature. As a reporter, I sought to point out the contributions of agriculture to our economy and to our way of life. I tried to give farmers a louder voice at the bargaining table of government. As I scan through a pile of farm story clippings, here are some things that stand out. Full article here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-ha.farm28dec28,0,1538546.story

 

MASSACHUSETTS residents sow seeds for local farm committees

(The Beacon) - Just a few decades ago, much of this town was still open land and working farms dotted the landscape. But most of the farmland has disappeared, replaced by commercial and residential development. Now, a growing number of Acton residents hope that an agricultural commission will help preserve the remaining farms in town. "I would definitely like an agricultural commission to come about," said Hart Millett, one of about a dozen residents who attended a Dec. 18 meeting at the Acton Memorial Library to discuss the possibility of forming such a commission in Acton. "I like to see farmers prosper and be welcome." Millett said that much of the farmland where he grew up in Maine and in Acton, his home since 1981, was paved over to make way for residential and commercial development. Agricultural commissions are local bodies that advocate for local agricultural interests at a town level. The commissions are usually comprised of three, five or seven members, the majority of whom are involved with agriculture in some way. Such commissions exist in 117 communities in Massachusetts, including Boxborough, and 40 more are considering forming their own, said Cheryl Lekstrom, a contractor for the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources who helps communities organize agricultural commissions. Full article here: http://www.wickedlocal.com/acton/news/x1647206096/Residents-sow-seeds-for-farm-committee

 

 

*******************

EVENTS 

******************* 

1/5

Soil Mineral Nutrition Seminar, Barre, MA

Learn a biological approach to farming that has helped many vastly improve yields, significantly decrease disease and insect pressure, and noticeably improve the taste and nutritional content of crops. Presented by Arden Andersen - an agronomist, osteopathic physician, and international leader in the field of biological farming. Learn a range of diagnostic techniques for discerning which components of the biological system are scarce or excessive and how to shift management choices accordingly to optimize conditions for crop growth. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/seminar-or-soil-mineral 

 

1/16

Connect Locally: Food, Farms and Community, Frederick, MD

Future Harvest - A Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture is holding its 10th Annual Conference in Frederick, MD on January 16th and 17th, 2009. Keynote speaker Nina Planck, author of Real Food, will talk about the cultural and nutritional significance of traditional foods. Pre-conference sessions and workshops will cover agritourism, soil fertility, farm to institution programs, healthy food, sustainable grass-based systems, farm profitability, sustainable fruit and vegetable production and affordable grain production. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:5982

 

1/17

Annual NOFA/Mass Winter Conference, Worcester, MA

Keynote Speech and all day workshop by Eliot Coleman.  Over 35 other workshops on crops, gardening, livestock, farm management, organic land care, sustainable life-styles, homesteading and more! For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/22nd-annual-nofamass-winter

 

2/5-7

PASA's 18th Annual Farming for the Future Conference, State College, PA

PASA's FFF Conference brings together farmers, consumers, business people, experts, beginners and others involved in the sustainable agriculture community. With 13 Pre-Conference Tracks and over 80 Friday and Saturday workshops, you don't want to miss this educational and enjoyable opportunity. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:5993

 

2/6

NESAWG's Annual Meeting and Resource Harvest, State College, PA

NESAWG is pleased to be organizing its annual gathering this year in conjunction with PASA's Farming for the Future Conference.  Please stay tuned to the NEFOOD list and NEFOOD.org for more information. 

 

2/14-15

NOFA Vermont's 27th Annual Winter Conference, Randolph, VT

Grow It Here: Innovations toward Local Food Sovereignty, NOFA Vermont's 27th Annual NOFA Vermont Winter Conference will be held February 14-15, 2009 at the Vermont Technical College in Randolph. With over 1,000 farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, educators, and community members expected, this conference marks the preeminent annual gathering of Vermont's local food movement to share in two days of workshops and conversations focused on growing a vibrant, healthy, and safe local food system. For more info, see:  http://www.nefood.org/events/grow-it-here-nofa-vermonts

 

 

*******************

OPPORTUNITIES

******************* 

Multiple openings, Slow Food USA, Brooklyn, NY

Slow Food USA is seeking applications for four new positions in its New York headquarters.  Applications for all openings are due by January 16^th.  For more info, follow the link to the complete job description. Director of Slow Food Nation: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/322350-159/c  Youth Programs Coordinator: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/322351-193/c  Director of Communications: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/322349-156/c  Director of Development: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/322348-123/c

 

Deputy Director, Center for Whole Communities, Fayston, VT

Center for Whole Communities (Whole Communities) is a vibrant and rapidly growing organization transcending the environmental and social change arenas. Our alumni are from 44 states and more than 400 different communities and organizations. We support and encourage these leaders in their efforts to innovate and build deep collaborations across the divides of politics, specialization, race, class and privilege. We are seeking a highly motivated individual to serve as our Deputy Director, responsible for supervising our staff, managing day to day operations and overseeing our programs. This is a new position. Our Deputy Director will work closely with the Executive Director to provide leadership, creative vision and focus in implementing our theories of change and unique programs. Last day to apply: January 4, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/320129-55

 

Farm Program Coordinator, Green Chimneys, Brewster, NY

Responsible for successful trips to various destinations with animals and our children. Responsible for the farm related public programs, i.e. farm tours, visits from large and small groups, volunteers, international guests etc. Professional or personal experience working with children, preferably in public setting. Last day to apply: January 17, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/319016-308  

 

Plant Education Coordinator, Food Bank for New York City, New York, NY

The purpose of this position is to oversee the daily operation of and development of a gardening based nutrition education program including recruitment, training and formalization of the gardening/farming lessons. Working within a fast-paced environment, this position requires an individual with strong interest in nutrition and food poverty issues, the experience and willingness to work with diverse audiences and the ability to collaborate with partner schools and community based organizations. Last day to apply: January 20, 2009 For more info, see http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/319576-0

 

Multiple openings, Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston, MA

The Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England, and one of the largest food banks in the country, distributing more than 25 million pounds of food annually to a network of more than 600 member hunger-relief agencies. For more info, see: http://www.gbfb.org/aboutUs/CurrentOpenings.cfm

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, THE FOOD TRUST, PHILADELPHIA, PA

The Food Trust is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization improving the supply of affordable food and good nutrition in the mid-Atlantic region. The mission of The Food Trust is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food. For more info, see: http://www.thefoodtrust.org/php/about/jobs.php  

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, FOODCHANGE, NEW YORK, NY

FoodChange (formerly known as the Community Food Resource Center) is dedicated to helping low-income New Yorkers gain and maintain access to nutritious food, income support and decent housing. For more info, see: http://www.foodchange.org/employment/employment.html  

 

New York State Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program

The New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee invites Soil and Water Conservation Districts or groups of Districts acting jointly to submit proposals for funding under the Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program. Program funds are available for nonpoint source abatement and control projects that plan (AEM Tier III) or implement (AEM Tier IV) Agricultural Best Management Practices on New York State farms.

Due date: January 5, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/RFPS.html

 

Grow New York's Enterprise Program

The Grow NY Enterprise Program is a joint Governor's initiative of the Governor's Office for Small Cities (GOSC), Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and the Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM), which dedicates $3 million annually to increasing the demand for and expanding the use of New York's agriculture and forest products. Under the Grow NY Enterprise Program, funds are provided to eligible communities for the following purposes: To make loans for production agriculture and agribusiness development and expansion for an identified eligible activity which will result in the creation of permanent private sector job opportunities, principally for low-and moderate-income persons; or To construct publicly owned facilities or infrastructure which are necessary to accommodate production agriculture and agribusiness development and expansion that will result in the creation of permanent private sector job opportunities, principally for low-and moderate-income persons. For more info, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/GNYRFP.html

 

Pennsylvania GAP/GHP Cost Sharing Program

Any business or individual located in Pennsylvania that successfully completes one initial USDA Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) or one initial USDA Good Handling Practices (GHP) audit is eligible to apply. Qualified applicants may receive up to a maximum of $400 per year to cover the costs of one successful initial USDA GAP or GHP audit. Due date: January 15, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agriculture/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=143713

 

    

 +*~*+~*~!~+*~+*~+*~+~++*~*+~*~!~+*~+*~+*~+~++*~*+~*~!~+*~+*~+*~+~++*~*+~

 

Potluck is a monthly e-newsletter sponsored by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) and is supported in part by the Lawson Valentine Foundation and the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation.  It is distributed via NEFOOD-L, the listserv for sustainable food systems in the Northeast generously hosted by Tufts University.  In case you know of someone who you think would be interested in receiving Potluck, please invite them to subscribe to NEFOOD-L by going here: https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/info/nefood  

 

* * * * * * *

 

Roger Doiron, NEFOOD Listserve administrator, roger@nesawg.org

POTLUCK NEWS: DECEMBER 2008

 

*******************

 

Potluck News is the monthly e-newsletter of the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG)

 

What title best describes you: CSA farmer, farm-to-school advocate, farmland conservationist, local & regional eater, community gardener, ag. policy wonk, dairy farmer, something else?  There's strength in numbers!  Why not bring some people like yourself together using a virtual group on NEFOOD.org?  A virtual group can be a group of people organized around a common issue or in a common geographic area and can allow for deeper discussion and interaction than a typical listserv or a Yahoo Group. Starting a virtual group is easy.  All you need to do is go here: http://www.nefood.org/groups and click on "add a group."  Please contact me (Roger Doiron) if I can be of assistance in getting your group started.   

  

Do you have an event you want included in Potluck?  Post it to the NEFOOD.org events calendar and we'll make sure to include it: http://www.nefood.org/events

 

*******************

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Beyond secretary of agriculture

 

NEWS:

Obama names agriculture transition team

In Maryland, focus on poultry industry pollution

Young farmers in Massachusetts planting the seeds of a renaissance

Maine Dairy: the good news, the bad news

Seeds of change in Baltimore's cafeterias

Federal conservationist gives Rhode Island top marks

 

EVENTS:

12/4: The Young Farmers Conference: Pocantico Hills, NY

12/4: Pennsylvania Certified Organic Annual Meeting, State College, PA

12/13: Landings workshop, Harlemville, NY

12/20: Holiday and Winter Farmers' Markets, Dover, NH

1/16: Connect Locally: Food, Farms and Community, Frederick, MD

1/17: Annual NOFA/Mass Winter Conference, Worcester, MA

2/4: PASA's 18th Annual Farming for the Future Conference, State College, PA

 

ACT NOW:

12/23: USDA "Access to Pasture" comment period deadline

 

OPPORTUNITIES:

Deputy Director, Center for Whole Communities, Fayston, VT

Farm Program Coordinator, Green Chimneys, Brewster, NY

Plant Education Coordinator, Food Bank For New York City, New York, NY

Multiple Job Openings, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA

Multiple Job Openings, Community Food Resource Center, New York, NY

Northeast SARE Farmer Grant

SARE Outreach Educational Sponsorship Program

New York State Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program

Grow New York's Enterprise Program

Pennsylvania GAP/GHP Cost Sharing Program

 

 

*******************

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

*******************

Beyond secretary of agriculture

(Steph Larson blogging at Grist.org) - In a recent post, I discussed likely candidates for secretary of agriculture in the Obama administration and encouraged you to voice your support or dislike of the names being floated to Obama's transition team. You can have an impact: in large numbers, voices of the people are very powerful. Please continue to make your opinions known on the candidates for secretary of agriculture under consideration. (Note: Since the original post, Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reported yesterday that Tom Vilsack is no longer in the running; in addition to the candidates listed, Lancaster Farming has said that Dennis Wolff, Pennsylvania's Secretary of Agriculture, who waged a battle against milk labels, has been approached by Obama's transition team.) While the secretary of agriculture sets the tone of the entire department, it is the programs within USDA that can go far to push forward or inhibit sustainability. These programs are run by administrators, chiefs, regional directors, and deputy under secretaries, and they mostly answer to under secretaries. We need (and can get) awesome people in these positions. Many bloggers and email list-serv members have been suggesting sustainable agriculture leaders as possible secretaries of agriculture (see this wiki list or this post on La Vida Locavore), and those lists might be a good place to find candidates for one of the positions I outline below, as they have a better chance of being appointed to non-secretary posts. Full blog post here: http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/11/24/17849/316

 

 

*******************

NEWS

*******************

Obama names agriculture transition team

(Sustainable Agriculture Coalition) - Early this week the headquarters of President-elect Obama's Transition Team announced the members of the Agriculture Transition Team: Agriculture Transition Team Co-chairs: Carole Jett - most recently served as deputy chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) at USDA where she also served as the agency's Farm Bill Coordinator. Jett was the point person for implementation of the 2002 Farm Bill Conservation Title and was previously on staff for the House Agricultural Committee. Bart Chilton - formerly deputy chief of staff for Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and staffer for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Most recently, Chilton was a commissioner for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2007. Agriculture Transition Team Members: Douglas Jake Caldwell - Director of Agriculture, Trade, and Energy at the Center for American Progress.  Formerly Trade and Environment project manager for the National Wildlife Federation David Lazarus - former legislative assistant to Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) Mary McNeil - Director of Native American Programs at USDA during the Clinton administration; member of Nebraska's Winnebago tribe. Karen Stuck - recently retired from her post as Assistant Administrator for International Affairs at USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Michael Taylor - research professor of health policy at the George Washington University; former Deputy Commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration; former Acting Undersecretary for Food Safety at USDA and administrator at FSIS; and Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto. Dallas Tonsager - member of the Farm Credit Administration Board, former Executive Director of the South Dakota Value-Added Agriculture Development Center; USDA State Rural Development Director in South Dakota and past president of the South Dakota Farmers Union. Christopher Wood - Chief Operating Officer at Trout Unlimited, Senior Policy and Communications Advisor to Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck during the Clinton Administration.

 

In Maryland, focus on poultry industry pollution

(New York Times) - Standing before a two-story-tall pile of chicken manure, Lee Richardson pondered how times had changed. "When I left school and started working the land, this stuff was seen as farmer's gold," said Mr. Richardson, 38, a fifth-generation chicken grower, explaining that the waste was an ideal fertilizer for the region's sandy soil. "Now, it's too much of a good thing." How to handle the 650 million pounds of chicken manure produced in the state each year has sparked a fierce debate between environmentalists and the state's powerful poultry industry. State officials hope to bring Maryland in line with most other states next month by enacting new rules for where, how and how long chicken farmers can spread the manure on their fields or store it in outdoor piles. "We don't let hog or dairy farms spread their waste unregulated, and we wouldn't let a town of 25,000 people dump human manure untreated on open lands," said Gerald W. Winegrad, a public policy professor at the University of Maryland who is a former state senator. "So why should we allow a farm with 150,000 chickens do it?" Full article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/us/29poultry.html

 

Young MASSACHUSETTS farmers planting the seeds of a renaissance

(Boston Globe) - If there are ghosts that walk the Raymond home - if they roam the rooms of this 18th-century farmhouse in Wrentham, or its barn and fields - perhaps they approve of the change that has come to its acres. In rows of earth, tucked back from the busy hum of South Street, the 29-year-old great-great-granddaughter of a Union soldier who purchased the land when he returned from the Civil War has revived a family legacy. Christy Raymond is turning the soil again. The Raymond land has seen asparagus and apple trees, gardens large and small, and horses over the course of five generations. But in the past year, starting with a quarter-acre vegetable field, Raymond has turned more than 3 acres of the property where her grandmother lives into an organic farm, renaming it White Barn. She is part of what Doug Petersen, the state's commissioner of agricultural resources, described as a resurgence of the young farmer and a revitalized relationship between growers and buyers. While his office does not keep statistics on the ages of farmers, Petersen said he sees young faces at farmers' association meetings in unprecedented numb1ers. "The average farmer on the larger farm is in their late 50s," he said. "I grew up in the 1960s with the ethic of getting back to the land. These kids look like some of my cohorts from back then." Eighty percent of the state's farmers, including Raymond, now sell directly to their customers at farmers markets and roadside stands, Petersen said, while a decade ago, it was 20 percent. "It feels to me like the beginning of an agricultural renaissance in Massachusetts." Full article here: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/27/young_farmers_planting_the_seeds_of_a_renaissance/

 

Dairy: the good news, the bad news

(Bangor Daily News) - The national dairy industry has been transformed over the past 20 years: Mega-dairies with tens of thousands of cows ship milk from California to Florida, while the processing side of the industry has consolidated and specialized, leaving farmers with fewer and fewer options. Here in Maine, however, experts say that small family farms remain the backbone of the industry. "Maine's dairy industry is well positioned to serve the consumers of Maine because we still have in-state manufacturing options: fluid plants and a great increase in specialty and artisan niche cheese, butter, ice cream and other dairy product processing," said Julie Marie Bickford, executive director of the Maine Dairy Industry Association. "Maine's dairy farms are diverse -- in size, in location, and in production style. Maine still produces almost the same amount of milk as Maine people consume in all dairy products, a unique equilibrium that is envied by other states and regions." But there are deep concerns among farmers and dairy leaders about the shrinking processing market -- one company now controls 40 percent of all U.S. milk -- and how that affects the prices Maine farmers receive. It is this consolidated control, dairy leaders say, that results in Maine farmers getting about $1.01 from each gallon of milk while consumers pay higher and higher prices. Full article here: http://www.bangornews.com/detail/94161.html

 

Seeds of change IN BALTIMORE's SCHOOL CAFETERIA

(Baltimore Sun) - Driving on U.S. 40, shoving along with the traffic past strip malls, gas stations and drive-through restaurants, there's no apparent reason to give Nuwood Road, landmarked by an auto supply store, a second glance. But if one did turn in and hang a quick right, he or she would see what could soon become the linchpin for bringing wholesome eating to Baltimore City schools. Tony Geraci, the system's new food service director, plans to turn the 33 surprisingly rural acres in Baltimore County into an organic farm where schoolchildren will learn about healthy food and sustainable living, by digging in the dirt, planting seeds and watching fruits and vegetables come to life. It's to be called Fresh Start Farm, because, as Geraci says, Baltimore, with its disheartening poverty and obesity rates, needs a fresh start. "If you walk through Baltimore and see the trash, that's [the remnants of] what our kids eat," the former chef says, speaking of the chip bags, soda bottles and fast food containers that litter city streets. "This is what these kids know. But they'll see this farm and see that they can have their own little plant on their stoop at home. And that even in some burned-out neighborhood in the city, they can have a garden that will support life." Full article here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-to.farm24nov24,0,1678647.story

 

Federal conservationist gives Rhode Island top marks

(Providence Journal) - Raised on a 5,000-acre ranch in the Blackfeet Nation in Montana and spending much of her career in the West, conservationist Roylene Rides at the Door was concerned when the Department of Agriculture assigned her to lead its 30-person office in Rhode Island three years ago. She expected to find a state covered in blacktop and she feared losing her connection to the land. Now, as she prepares to move on to another post, as conservationist in Washington state, Rides at the Door, 39, says she has been pleasantly surprised by Rhode Island and its people. She says Rhode Island is a national leader in land conservation and in supporting local farming. She was amazed to see 450 people at a Save the Bay meeting. Back in Montana, she said, an environmental group would be lucky to attract 30 people. Last summer at the dedication of a new fish ladder at the Rising Sun Mill in Providence, which her federal agency helped pay for, more than 100 people, including much of the state's congressional delegation, were in attendance. She says she has not seen such political and popular support for conservation in many other states. Full article here: http://www.projo.com/news/content/Roylene_rides_at_the_door_12-01-08_RPCD52M_v12.34bd199.html

 

 

*******************

EVENTS 

 

******************* 

12/4

Pennsylvania Certified Organic Annual Meeting, State College, PA

Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PCO) is a USDA-accredited organic certifying agency that educates and certifies growers, processors and handlers of organic crops, wild crops, livestock and livestock products in Pennsylvania and adjoining states. For more info, see: http://www.paorganic.org/event.htm

 

12/4-5

The Young Farmers Conference: Reviving the Culture of Agriculture, Pocantico Hills, NY

Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture presents a program especially for young and new farmers. The Young Farmers Conference will be a space to network with peers and learn from leaders in the field, helping to ensure that the next generation of farmers is equipped for the work ahead. Workshops during the conference will cover topics on four tracks: Getting Started; General Skills; Policy, the Farm Bill, and Global Agricultural Issues; The Farmer-Chef Relationship. Keynote speakers and other activities are also scheduled. For more info, see: http://www.stonebarnscenter.org/sb_calendar/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=2013

 

12/13

Landings workshop, Harlemville, NY

This workshop is geared towards non-farming agricultural landowners and farmers looking for land.The goal of the workshop is to help build an understanding between these two groups. Both need to be clear about their perspectives, needs, and goals in order to build successful land tenure relationships. The workshop will cover concrete steps and present models for how to build sustainable relationships as well as offer advice from landowners and farmers who have successfully forged long-term relationships. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:5938

 

12/20

Holiday and Winter Farmers' Markets, Dover, NH

Set Your Table with Local Food. Join us for the second annual Holiday Farmers' Markets on Saturday, November 22nd and Saturday, December 20th from 9am - 2pm at the Atlantic Culinary Academy in Dover, NH. Buy local foods directly from area farmers & food producers, stock up on local foods for the winter, purchase locally grown and locally made gift foods, and shop for your holiday table. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/holiday-and-winter-farmers-1

 

1/16

Connect Locally: Food, Farms and Community, Frederick, MD

Future Harvest - A Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture is holding its 10th Annual Conference in Frederick, MD on January 16th and 17th, 2009. Keynote speaker Nina Planck, author of Real Food, will talk about the cultural and nutritional significance of traditional foods. Pre-conference sessions and workshops will cover agritourism, soil fertility, farm to institution programs, healthy food, sustainable grass-based systems, farm profitability, sustainable fruit and vegetable production and affordable grain production. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:5982

 

1/17

Annual NOFA/Mass Winter Conference, Worcester, MA

Keynote Speech and all day workshop by Eliot Coleman.  Over 35 other workshops on crops, gardening, livestock, farm management, organic land care, sustainable life-styles, homesteading and more! For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/22nd-annual-nofamass-winter

 

2/4

PASA's 18th Annual Farming for the Future Conference, State College, PA

PASA's FFF Conference brings together farmers, consumers, business people, experts, beginners and others involved in the sustainable agriculture community. With 13 Pre-Conference Tracks and over 80 Friday and Saturday workshops, you don't want to miss this educational and enjoyable opportunity. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:5993

 

 

*******************

ACT NOW

*******************

12/23

USDA "Access to Pasture" comment period deadline

On Thursday, October 24, 2008, USDA produced its long-awaited Proposed "Access to Pasture" Rule. This proposed Rule has a 60-day comment period - comments must be received by December 23, 2008. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:6144

 

 

*******************

OPPORTUNITIES

******************* 

Deputy Director, Center for Whole Communities, Fayston, VT

Center for Whole Communities (Whole Communities) is a vibrant and rapidly growing organization transcending the environmental and social change arenas. Our alumni are from 44 states and more than 400 different communities and organizations. We support and encourage these leaders in their efforts to innovate and build deep collaborations across the divides of politics, specialization, race, class and privilege. We are seeking a highly motivated individual to serve as our Deputy Director, responsible for supervising our staff, managing day to day operations and overseeing our programs. This is a new position. Our Deputy Director will work closely with the Executive Director to provide leadership, creative vision and focus in implementing our theories of change and unique programs. Last day to apply: January 4, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/320129-55

 

Farm Program Coordinator, Green Chimneys, Brewster, NY

Responsible for successful trips to various destinations with animals and our children. Responsible for the farm related public programs, i.e. farm tours, visits from large and small groups, volunteers, international guests etc. Professional or personal experience working with children, preferably in public setting. Last day to apply: January 17, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/319016-308  

 

Plant Education Coordinator, Food Bank for New York City, New York, NY

The purpose of this position is to oversee the daily operation of and development of a gardening based nutrition education program including recruitment, training and formalization of the gardening/farming lessons. Working within a fast-paced environment, this position requires an individual with strong interest in nutrition and food poverty issues, the experience and willingness to work with diverse audiences and the ability to collaborate with partner schools and community based organizations. Last day to apply: January 20, 2009 For more info, see http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/319576-0

 

Multiple openings, Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston, MA

The Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England, and one of the largest food banks in the country, distributing more than 25 million pounds of food annually to a network of more than 600 member hunger-relief agencies. For more info, see: http://www.gbfb.org/aboutUs/CurrentOpenings.cfm

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, THE FOOD TRUST, PHILADELPHIA, PA

The Food Trust is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization improving the supply of affordable food and good nutrition in the mid-Atlantic region. The mission of The Food Trust is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food. For more info, see: http://www.thefoodtrust.org/php/about/jobs.php  

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, FOODCHANGE, NEW YORK, NY

FoodChange (formerly known as the Community Food Resource Center) is dedicated to helping low-income New Yorkers gain and maintain access to nutritious food, income support and decent housing. For more info, see: http://www.foodchange.org/employment/employment.html  

 

Northeast SARE Farmer Grant

The goal of the Farmer Grant program is to develop, refine, and demonstrate new sustainable techniques and to explore innovative ideas developed by farmers across the region. To apply, you must be a farmer in the Northeast SARE region, made up of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Due date: December 16, 2008 For more info, see: http://www.uvm.edu/~nesare/FGinfo.html

 

SARE Outreach Educational Sponsorship Program

SARE Educational Sponsorships provide financial support for educational events that advance SARE grantees or project results to beginning, minority, underserved and/or commodity producers and/or the extension and educational professionals that serve them. Sponsorships are available in the amount of $500-$5000. Sponsorships are available to organizations or individuals providing educational services to farmers, ranchers, or agricultural professionals. Rolling applications are accepted on a quarterly schedule with the following deadlines: December 15, April 15, July 15, October 15. For more info, see: http://www.sare.org/events/support.html

  

New York State Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program

The New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee invites Soil and Water Conservation Districts or groups of Districts acting jointly to submit proposals for funding under the Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program. Program funds are available for nonpoint source abatement and control projects that plan (AEM Tier III) or implement (AEM Tier IV) Agricultural Best Management Practices on New York State farms.

Due date: January 5, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/RFPS.html

 

Grow New York's Enterprise Program

The Grow NY Enterprise Program is a joint Governor's initiative of the Governor's Office for Small Cities (GOSC), Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and the Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM), which dedicates $3 million annually to increasing the demand for and expanding the use of New York's agriculture and forest products. Under the Grow NY Enterprise Program, funds are provided to eligible communities for the following purposes: To make loans for production agriculture and agribusiness development and expansion for an identified eligible activity which will result in the creation of permanent private sector job opportunities, principally for low-and moderate-income persons; or To construct publicly owned facilities or infrastructure which are necessary to accommodate production agriculture and agribusiness development and expansion that will result in the creation of permanent private sector job opportunities, principally for low-and moderate-income persons. For more info, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/GNYRFP.html

 

Pennsylvania GAP/GHP Cost Sharing Program

Any business or individual located in Pennsylvania that successfully completes one initial USDA Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) or one initial USDA Good Handling Practices (GHP) audit is eligible to apply. Qualified applicants may receive up to a maximum of $400 per year to cover the costs of one successful initial USDA GAP or GHP audit. Due date: January 15, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agriculture/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=143713

 

    

 +*~*+~*~!~+*~+*~+*~+~++*~*+~*~!~+*~+*~+*~+~++*~*+~*~!~+*~+*~+*~+~++*~*+~

 

Potluck is a monthly e-newsletter sponsored by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) and is supported in part by the Lawson Valentine Foundation and the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation.  It is distributed via NEFOOD-L, the listserv for sustainable food systems in the Northeast generously hosted by Tufts University.  In case you know of someone who you think would be interested in receiving Potluck, please invite them to subscribe to NEFOOD-L by going here: https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/info/nefood  

 

* * * * * * *

 

Roger Doiron, NEFOOD Listserve administrator, roger@nesawg.org

POTLUCK NEWS: DECEMBER 2008

 

*******************

 

Potluck News is the monthly e-newsletter of the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG)

 

What title best describes you: CSA farmer, farm-to-school advocate, farmland conservationist, local & regional eater, community gardener, ag. policy wonk, dairy farmer, something else?  There's strength in numbers!  Why not bring some people like yourself together using a virtual group on NEFOOD.org?  A virtual group can be a group of people organized around a common issue or in a common geographic area and can allow for deeper discussion and interaction than a typical listserv or a Yahoo Group. Starting a virtual group is easy.  All you need to do is go here: http://www.nefood.org/groups and click on "add a group."  Please contact me (Roger Doiron) if I can be of assistance in getting your group started.   

  

Do you have an event you want included in Potluck?  Post it to the NEFOOD.org events calendar and we'll make sure to include it: http://www.nefood.org/events

 

*******************

 

FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

Beyond secretary of agriculture

 

NEWS:

Obama names agriculture transition team

In Maryland, focus on poultry industry pollution

Young farmers in Massachusetts planting the seeds of a renaissance

Maine Dairy: the good news, the bad news

Seeds of change in Baltimore's cafeterias

Federal conservationist gives Rhode Island top marks

 

EVENTS:

12/4: The Young Farmers Conference: Pocantico Hills, NY

12/4: Pennsylvania Certified Organic Annual Meeting, State College, PA

12/13: Landings workshop, Harlemville, NY

12/20: Holiday and Winter Farmers' Markets, Dover, NH

1/16: Connect Locally: Food, Farms and Community, Frederick, MD

1/17: Annual NOFA/Mass Winter Conference, Worcester, MA

2/4: PASA's 18th Annual Farming for the Future Conference, State College, PA

 

ACT NOW:

12/23: USDA "Access to Pasture" comment period deadline

 

OPPORTUNITIES:

Deputy Director, Center for Whole Communities, Fayston, VT

Farm Program Coordinator, Green Chimneys, Brewster, NY

Plant Education Coordinator, Food Bank For New York City, New York, NY

Multiple Job Openings, The Food Trust, Philadelphia, PA

Multiple Job Openings, Community Food Resource Center, New York, NY

Northeast SARE Farmer Grant

SARE Outreach Educational Sponsorship Program

New York State Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program

Grow New York's Enterprise Program

Pennsylvania GAP/GHP Cost Sharing Program

 

 

*******************

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

*******************

Beyond secretary of agriculture

(Steph Larson blogging at Grist.org) - In a recent post, I discussed likely candidates for secretary of agriculture in the Obama administration and encouraged you to voice your support or dislike of the names being floated to Obama's transition team. You can have an impact: in large numbers, voices of the people are very powerful. Please continue to make your opinions known on the candidates for secretary of agriculture under consideration. (Note: Since the original post, Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reported yesterday that Tom Vilsack is no longer in the running; in addition to the candidates listed, Lancaster Farming has said that Dennis Wolff, Pennsylvania's Secretary of Agriculture, who waged a battle against milk labels, has been approached by Obama's transition team.) While the secretary of agriculture sets the tone of the entire department, it is the programs within USDA that can go far to push forward or inhibit sustainability. These programs are run by administrators, chiefs, regional directors, and deputy under secretaries, and they mostly answer to under secretaries. We need (and can get) awesome people in these positions. Many bloggers and email list-serv members have been suggesting sustainable agriculture leaders as possible secretaries of agriculture (see this wiki list or this post on La Vida Locavore), and those lists might be a good place to find candidates for one of the positions I outline below, as they have a better chance of being appointed to non-secretary posts. Full blog post here: http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/11/24/17849/316

 

 

*******************

NEWS

*******************

Obama names agriculture transition team

(Sustainable Agriculture Coalition) - Early this week the headquarters of President-elect Obama's Transition Team announced the members of the Agriculture Transition Team: Agriculture Transition Team Co-chairs: Carole Jett - most recently served as deputy chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) at USDA where she also served as the agency's Farm Bill Coordinator. Jett was the point person for implementation of the 2002 Farm Bill Conservation Title and was previously on staff for the House Agricultural Committee. Bart Chilton - formerly deputy chief of staff for Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and staffer for Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Most recently, Chilton was a commissioner for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2007. Agriculture Transition Team Members: Douglas Jake Caldwell - Director of Agriculture, Trade, and Energy at the Center for American Progress.  Formerly Trade and Environment project manager for the National Wildlife Federation David Lazarus - former legislative assistant to Senator Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) Mary McNeil - Director of Native American Programs at USDA during the Clinton administration; member of Nebraska's Winnebago tribe. Karen Stuck - recently retired from her post as Assistant Administrator for International Affairs at USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Michael Taylor - research professor of health policy at the George Washington University; former Deputy Commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration; former Acting Undersecretary for Food Safety at USDA and administrator at FSIS; and Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto. Dallas Tonsager - member of the Farm Credit Administration Board, former Executive Director of the South Dakota Value-Added Agriculture Development Center; USDA State Rural Development Director in South Dakota and past president of the South Dakota Farmers Union. Christopher Wood - Chief Operating Officer at Trout Unlimited, Senior Policy and Communications Advisor to Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck during the Clinton Administration.

 

In Maryland, focus on poultry industry pollution

(New York Times) - Standing before a two-story-tall pile of chicken manure, Lee Richardson pondered how times had changed. "When I left school and started working the land, this stuff was seen as farmer's gold," said Mr. Richardson, 38, a fifth-generation chicken grower, explaining that the waste was an ideal fertilizer for the region's sandy soil. "Now, it's too much of a good thing." How to handle the 650 million pounds of chicken manure produced in the state each year has sparked a fierce debate between environmentalists and the state's powerful poultry industry. State officials hope to bring Maryland in line with most other states next month by enacting new rules for where, how and how long chicken farmers can spread the manure on their fields or store it in outdoor piles. "We don't let hog or dairy farms spread their waste unregulated, and we wouldn't let a town of 25,000 people dump human manure untreated on open lands," said Gerald W. Winegrad, a public policy professor at the University of Maryland who is a former state senator. "So why should we allow a farm with 150,000 chickens do it?" Full article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/us/29poultry.html

 

Young MASSACHUSETTS farmers planting the seeds of a renaissance

(Boston Globe) - If there are ghosts that walk the Raymond home - if they roam the rooms of this 18th-century farmhouse in Wrentham, or its barn and fields - perhaps they approve of the change that has come to its acres. In rows of earth, tucked back from the busy hum of South Street, the 29-year-old great-great-granddaughter of a Union soldier who purchased the land when he returned from the Civil War has revived a family legacy. Christy Raymond is turning the soil again. The Raymond land has seen asparagus and apple trees, gardens large and small, and horses over the course of five generations. But in the past year, starting with a quarter-acre vegetable field, Raymond has turned more than 3 acres of the property where her grandmother lives into an organic farm, renaming it White Barn. She is part of what Doug Petersen, the state's commissioner of agricultural resources, described as a resurgence of the young farmer and a revitalized relationship between growers and buyers. While his office does not keep statistics on the ages of farmers, Petersen said he sees young faces at farmers' association meetings in unprecedented numb1ers. "The average farmer on the larger farm is in their late 50s," he said. "I grew up in the 1960s with the ethic of getting back to the land. These kids look like some of my cohorts from back then." Eighty percent of the state's farmers, including Raymond, now sell directly to their customers at farmers markets and roadside stands, Petersen said, while a decade ago, it was 20 percent. "It feels to me like the beginning of an agricultural renaissance in Massachusetts." Full article here: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/27/young_farmers_planting_the_seeds_of_a_renaissance/

 

Dairy: the good news, the bad news

(Bangor Daily News) - The national dairy industry has been transformed over the past 20 years: Mega-dairies with tens of thousands of cows ship milk from California to Florida, while the processing side of the industry has consolidated and specialized, leaving farmers with fewer and fewer options. Here in Maine, however, experts say that small family farms remain the backbone of the industry. "Maine's dairy industry is well positioned to serve the consumers of Maine because we still have in-state manufacturing options: fluid plants and a great increase in specialty and artisan niche cheese, butter, ice cream and other dairy product processing," said Julie Marie Bickford, executive director of the Maine Dairy Industry Association. "Maine's dairy farms are diverse -- in size, in location, and in production style. Maine still produces almost the same amount of milk as Maine people consume in all dairy products, a unique equilibrium that is envied by other states and regions." But there are deep concerns among farmers and dairy leaders about the shrinking processing market -- one company now controls 40 percent of all U.S. milk -- and how that affects the prices Maine farmers receive. It is this consolidated control, dairy leaders say, that results in Maine farmers getting about $1.01 from each gallon of milk while consumers pay higher and higher prices. Full article here: http://www.bangornews.com/detail/94161.html

 

Seeds of change IN BALTIMORE's SCHOOL CAFETERIA

(Baltimore Sun) - Driving on U.S. 40, shoving along with the traffic past strip malls, gas stations and drive-through restaurants, there's no apparent reason to give Nuwood Road, landmarked by an auto supply store, a second glance. But if one did turn in and hang a quick right, he or she would see what could soon become the linchpin for bringing wholesome eating to Baltimore City schools. Tony Geraci, the system's new food service director, plans to turn the 33 surprisingly rural acres in Baltimore County into an organic farm where schoolchildren will learn about healthy food and sustainable living, by digging in the dirt, planting seeds and watching fruits and vegetables come to life. It's to be called Fresh Start Farm, because, as Geraci says, Baltimore, with its disheartening poverty and obesity rates, needs a fresh start. "If you walk through Baltimore and see the trash, that's [the remnants of] what our kids eat," the former chef says, speaking of the chip bags, soda bottles and fast food containers that litter city streets. "This is what these kids know. But they'll see this farm and see that they can have their own little plant on their stoop at home. And that even in some burned-out neighborhood in the city, they can have a garden that will support life." Full article here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-to.farm24nov24,0,1678647.story

 

Federal conservationist gives Rhode Island top marks

(Providence Journal) - Raised on a 5,000-acre ranch in the Blackfeet Nation in Montana and spending much of her career in the West, conservationist Roylene Rides at the Door was concerned when the Department of Agriculture assigned her to lead its 30-person office in Rhode Island three years ago. She expected to find a state covered in blacktop and she feared losing her connection to the land. Now, as she prepares to move on to another post, as conservationist in Washington state, Rides at the Door, 39, says she has been pleasantly surprised by Rhode Island and its people. She says Rhode Island is a national leader in land conservation and in supporting local farming. She was amazed to see 450 people at a Save the Bay meeting. Back in Montana, she said, an environmental group would be lucky to attract 30 people. Last summer at the dedication of a new fish ladder at the Rising Sun Mill in Providence, which her federal agency helped pay for, more than 100 people, including much of the state's congressional delegation, were in attendance. She says she has not seen such political and popular support for conservation in many other states. Full article here: http://www.projo.com/news/content/Roylene_rides_at_the_door_12-01-08_RPCD52M_v12.34bd199.html

 

 

*******************

EVENTS 

 

******************* 

12/4

Pennsylvania Certified Organic Annual Meeting, State College, PA

Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PCO) is a USDA-accredited organic certifying agency that educates and certifies growers, processors and handlers of organic crops, wild crops, livestock and livestock products in Pennsylvania and adjoining states. For more info, see: http://www.paorganic.org/event.htm

 

12/4-5

The Young Farmers Conference: Reviving the Culture of Agriculture, Pocantico Hills, NY

Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture presents a program especially for young and new farmers. The Young Farmers Conference will be a space to network with peers and learn from leaders in the field, helping to ensure that the next generation of farmers is equipped for the work ahead. Workshops during the conference will cover topics on four tracks: Getting Started; General Skills; Policy, the Farm Bill, and Global Agricultural Issues; The Farmer-Chef Relationship. Keynote speakers and other activities are also scheduled. For more info, see: http://www.stonebarnscenter.org/sb_calendar/eventdetail.aspx?EventID=2013

 

12/13

Landings workshop, Harlemville, NY

This workshop is geared towards non-farming agricultural landowners and farmers looking for land.The goal of the workshop is to help build an understanding between these two groups. Both need to be clear about their perspectives, needs, and goals in order to build successful land tenure relationships. The workshop will cover concrete steps and present models for how to build sustainable relationships as well as offer advice from landowners and farmers who have successfully forged long-term relationships. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:5938

 

12/20

Holiday and Winter Farmers' Markets, Dover, NH

Set Your Table with Local Food. Join us for the second annual Holiday Farmers' Markets on Saturday, November 22nd and Saturday, December 20th from 9am - 2pm at the Atlantic Culinary Academy in Dover, NH. Buy local foods directly from area farmers & food producers, stock up on local foods for the winter, purchase locally grown and locally made gift foods, and shop for your holiday table. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/holiday-and-winter-farmers-1

 

1/16

Connect Locally: Food, Farms and Community, Frederick, MD

Future Harvest - A Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture is holding its 10th Annual Conference in Frederick, MD on January 16th and 17th, 2009. Keynote speaker Nina Planck, author of Real Food, will talk about the cultural and nutritional significance of traditional foods. Pre-conference sessions and workshops will cover agritourism, soil fertility, farm to institution programs, healthy food, sustainable grass-based systems, farm profitability, sustainable fruit and vegetable production and affordable grain production. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:5982

 

1/17

Annual NOFA/Mass Winter Conference, Worcester, MA

Keynote Speech and all day workshop by Eliot Coleman.  Over 35 other workshops on crops, gardening, livestock, farm management, organic land care, sustainable life-styles, homesteading and more! For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/22nd-annual-nofamass-winter

 

2/4

PASA's 18th Annual Farming for the Future Conference, State College, PA

PASA's FFF Conference brings together farmers, consumers, business people, experts, beginners and others involved in the sustainable agriculture community. With 13 Pre-Conference Tracks and over 80 Friday and Saturday workshops, you don't want to miss this educational and enjoyable opportunity. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:5993

 

 

*******************

ACT NOW

*******************

12/23

USDA "Access to Pasture" comment period deadline

On Thursday, October 24, 2008, USDA produced its long-awaited Proposed "Access to Pasture" Rule. This proposed Rule has a 60-day comment period - comments must be received by December 23, 2008. For more info, see: http://www.nefood.org/events/2044592:Event:6144

 

 

*******************

OPPORTUNITIES

******************* 

Deputy Director, Center for Whole Communities, Fayston, VT

Center for Whole Communities (Whole Communities) is a vibrant and rapidly growing organization transcending the environmental and social change arenas. Our alumni are from 44 states and more than 400 different communities and organizations. We support and encourage these leaders in their efforts to innovate and build deep collaborations across the divides of politics, specialization, race, class and privilege. We are seeking a highly motivated individual to serve as our Deputy Director, responsible for supervising our staff, managing day to day operations and overseeing our programs. This is a new position. Our Deputy Director will work closely with the Executive Director to provide leadership, creative vision and focus in implementing our theories of change and unique programs. Last day to apply: January 4, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/320129-55

 

Farm Program Coordinator, Green Chimneys, Brewster, NY

Responsible for successful trips to various destinations with animals and our children. Responsible for the farm related public programs, i.e. farm tours, visits from large and small groups, volunteers, international guests etc. Professional or personal experience working with children, preferably in public setting. Last day to apply: January 17, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/319016-308  

 

Plant Education Coordinator, Food Bank for New York City, New York, NY

The purpose of this position is to oversee the daily operation of and development of a gardening based nutrition education program including recruitment, training and formalization of the gardening/farming lessons. Working within a fast-paced environment, this position requires an individual with strong interest in nutrition and food poverty issues, the experience and willingness to work with diverse audiences and the ability to collaborate with partner schools and community based organizations. Last day to apply: January 20, 2009 For more info, see http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/319576-0

 

Multiple openings, Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston, MA

The Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England, and one of the largest food banks in the country, distributing more than 25 million pounds of food annually to a network of more than 600 member hunger-relief agencies. For more info, see: http://www.gbfb.org/aboutUs/CurrentOpenings.cfm

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, THE FOOD TRUST, PHILADELPHIA, PA

The Food Trust is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization improving the supply of affordable food and good nutrition in the mid-Atlantic region. The mission of The Food Trust is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food. For more info, see: http://www.thefoodtrust.org/php/about/jobs.php  

 

MULTIPLE JOB OPENINGS, FOODCHANGE, NEW YORK, NY

FoodChange (formerly known as the Community Food Resource Center) is dedicated to helping low-income New Yorkers gain and maintain access to nutritious food, income support and decent housing. For more info, see: http://www.foodchange.org/employment/employment.html  

 

Northeast SARE Farmer Grant

The goal of the Farmer Grant program is to develop, refine, and demonstrate new sustainable techniques and to explore innovative ideas developed by farmers across the region. To apply, you must be a farmer in the Northeast SARE region, made up of Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Due date: December 16, 2008 For more info, see: http://www.uvm.edu/~nesare/FGinfo.html

 

SARE Outreach Educational Sponsorship Program

SARE Educational Sponsorships provide financial support for educational events that advance SARE grantees or project results to beginning, minority, underserved and/or commodity producers and/or the extension and educational professionals that serve them. Sponsorships are available in the amount of $500-$5000. Sponsorships are available to organizations or individuals providing educational services to farmers, ranchers, or agricultural professionals. Rolling applications are accepted on a quarterly schedule with the following deadlines: December 15, April 15, July 15, October 15. For more info, see: http://www.sare.org/events/support.html

  

New York State Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program

The New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee invites Soil and Water Conservation Districts or groups of Districts acting jointly to submit proposals for funding under the Agricultural Nonpoint Source Abatement and Control Program. Program funds are available for nonpoint source abatement and control projects that plan (AEM Tier III) or implement (AEM Tier IV) Agricultural Best Management Practices on New York State farms.

Due date: January 5, 2009  For more info, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/RFPS.html

 

Grow New York's Enterprise Program

The Grow NY Enterprise Program is a joint Governor's initiative of the Governor's Office for Small Cities (GOSC), Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and the Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM), which dedicates $3 million annually to increasing the demand for and expanding the use of New York's agriculture and forest products. Under the Grow NY Enterprise Program, funds are provided to eligible communities for the following purposes: To make loans for production agriculture and agribusiness development and expansion for an identified eligible activity which will result in the creation of permanent private sector job opportunities, principally for low-and moderate-income persons; or To construct publicly owned facilities or infrastructure which are necessary to accommodate production agriculture and agribusiness development and expansion that will result in the creation of permanent private sector job opportunities, principally for low-and moderate-income persons. For more info, see: http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/GNYRFP.html

 

Pennsylvania GAP/GHP Cost Sharing Program

Any business or individual located in Pennsylvania that successfully completes one initial USDA Good Agriculture Practices (GAP) or one initial USDA Good Handling Practices (GHP) audit is eligible to apply. Qualified applicants may receive up to a maximum of $400 per year to cover the costs of one successful initial USDA GAP or GHP audit. Due date: January 15, 2009 For more info, see: http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agriculture/cwp/view.asp?a=3&q=143713

 

    

 +*~*+~*~!~+*~+*~+*~+~++*~*+~*~!~+*~+*~+*~+~++*~*+~*~!~+*~+*~+*~+~++*~*+~

 

Potluck is a monthly e-newsletter sponsored by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) and is supported in part by the Lawson Valentine Foundation and the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation.  It is distributed via NEFOOD-L, the listserv for sustainable food systems in the Northeast generously hosted by Tufts University.  In case you know of someone who you think would be interested in receiving Potluck, please invite them to subscribe to NEFOOD-L by going here: https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/info/nefood  

 

* * * * * * *

 

Roger Doiron, NEFOOD Listserve administrator, roger@nesawg.org