SARE-FL

Sustainable Agriculture Education Association:

Cultivating Sustainable Agriculture Education: Growing a Collaborative Legacy

Call for Abstracts

Due: May 31, 11:59pm

Conference: August 4-5, University of Kentucky, Lexington

This theme of this conference represents key issues pertinent to sustainable agricultural educators in our current landscape of social change : 1) Applying critical and innovative strategies to promoting comprehensive and transformative knowledge of the complexities of our agro‐food systems from farm‐to‐table; 2) Rigorously developing the means by which to achieve sustainability in agriculture through authentic educational experiences that are located across the food system: schools, universities, farms, and communities. Session topics will be filled in with topics provided by conference participants through this call for abstracts. Please submit a 250 word abstract through one of the below conference formats: Panel Presentation, Paper Presentation, Roundtable Discussion, Poster. Abstracts can be submitted in a word document to: submit.saea2011@gmail.com. See the attached flyer for more information.

 

Farmers Market Directory Update

Due: June 15

Attention Farmers Market Managers: Now's the time to update your listing in the 2011 USDA National Farmers Market Directory! You can do it here. For additional information, please contact Velma Lakins at velma.lakins@ams.usda.gov.

 

Urban Farming Workshop (attached flyer)

June 15, 2011, 9am – 3pm

Workshop will be held at the Orange County Extension Education Center. Sustainable living means producing and marketing food closer to our local communities. The Urban Farming Work-shop series presents information that will help individuals and businesses successfully grow and market food products in Central Florida. Pre-registration required -$15 per person includes lunch and program materials!

 

Sound Soil Management

June 20, 2011; 8:30am-1:00pm

Turkey Hill Farm- Tallahassee, FL

A free workshop at Tallahassee's Turkey Hill Farm 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 20 will tackle one of the most significant challenges many Florida farmers face—sound soil management. Farmer Herman Holley, UF/IFAS vegetable specialists Danielle Treadwell and Monica Ozores-Hampton, and FOG outreach staff will lead this soil management workshop that will provide farm-proven, research-supported practical advice for specialty crop farmers in the region. Farmers who participate will benefit from host farmers' experiences and insights, the most up-to-date soil management research, and the wisdom and experiences of participating farmers. Topics will include cover cropping, on-farm composting, crop rotation, fertility management, and potentially others.

 

Small Farms Press Packet Released

Conference: July 15-17, 2011; Kissimmee, FL

See attached for a press release, an overview of the conference and history, this year's conference activities and events, a calendar of events, and registration information.

 

Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development

Papers will be posted starting in June. Papers will address small and mid scale food value chain development. Various papers include: Food Value Chains: An Introduction; Using a Supply Chain Analysis to Assess the Sustainability of Farm-to-Institution Programs; Informal and Formal Mechanisms of Coordination in Hybrid Food Value Chain; Acting Collectively to Dev3elop Mid-Scale Food Value Chains, and many more. Find out more information here: http://www.agdevjournal.com/. Open call submissions: JAFSCD accepts manuscripts at any time on any topics related to agriculture and food systems-based community development. See the JAFSCD page on core themes for a sample of the topics.

 

Funding Opportunities:

 

Organic Transitions Program RFA Released

Due: June 30

The overall goal of ORG is to support the development and implementation of research, extension and higher education programs to improve the competitiveness of organic livestock and crop producers, as well as those who are adopting organic practices. In FY 2011, ORG will focus on environmental services provided by organic farming systems that support soil conservation and contribute to climate change mitigation. Practices and systems to be addressed include those associated with organic crops, organic animal production (including dairy), and organic systems integrating plant and animal production. Detail can be found here: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do?&mode=VIEW&oppId=96474

 

Currently Open:

*Find out more information regarding these grants at: http://nifa.usda.gov/funding/rfa_list.html

Supplemental and Alternative Crops- Due 5/31

Biomass Research and Development Initiative- Due 5/31

National Needs Graduate Fellowships- Due 6/1

Foundational Program, AFRI- Due 6/3

FP: Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment, AFRI- Due 6/3

RREA- National Focus Funds Projects- Due 6/6

FP: Plant Health and Production and Plant Products, AFRI- Due 6/8

Rural Youth Development- Due 6/10

New Technologies for Ag Extension- Due 6/17

Methyl Bromide Transitions- Due 6/22

Farm Business Management and Benchmarking- Due 6/27

Food Safety, ICGP- Due 6/27

Organic Transitions Program- Due 6/30

Rural Health and Safety Education- Due 7/1

Rangeland Research Program- Due 7/6

Water Quality, ICGP- Due 7/15

Biomass Research and Development Initiative- Due 10/4

 

Additional Opportunity through Department of Education:

More information here: http://www2.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index.html

Small, Rural School Achievement Program- Due 6/30

 

 

Kelly Monaghan

kmon913@ufl.edu

Program Assistant

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education-Florida (SARE)

University of Florida

3031 Mc Carty Hall D

PO Box 110310

Gainesville, FL 32611-0310

352.273.3508

352.392.8196 Fax