| E-mail News Bulletin #14 |
November 2006 |
SCOAR is a collaboration of producers
and scientists, whose mission is to plan and promote research
and information exchange for understanding and improving organic
agricultural systems.
Higher Education News
Molly Jahn appointed Dean of Univ.
of Wisconsin—Madison Ag College
Edited from a Univ. of Wisconsin press release written
by Dennis Chaptman
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Molly
Jahn, a Cornell University expert in plant breeding, gene
discovery and genetic mapping of agricultural plants,
has been named the new dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Jahn, most
recently a professor of plant breeding and genetics and
plant biology at Cornell, says she looks forward to the
opportunity to assume leadership of the college, which
has 2,200 undergraduates, 1,000 graduate students, 270
faculty members and a budget of more than $150 million.
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| Molly
M. Jahn—courtesy of UW Madison |
“This is an incredible opportunity to
lead a world-class agricultural
college in a state in which agriculture and life sciences
are so central to the economy and to the future,” Jahn
says.
Jahn has focused her research on breeding new vegetable varieties
for use around the world and on gene discovery in crop plants
– notably peppers and the cucumber family – with
a focus on economically important plant traits. Jahn directs
the Public Seed Initiative and the Organic Seed Partnership,
an outreach activity based on an alliance of public-sector
researchers, seed companies and non-profit groups interested
in improving the use of public plant varieties and crop genetic
diversity.
The Organic Seed Partnership also includes land grant colleges
established in 1890 and was recently awarded the largest competitive
grant in the history of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
organic agriculture programs.
Jahn was also funded for three years by the Organic Farming
Research Foundation to breed an open-pollinated vegetable
variety in organic systems through her work with the Public
Seed Initiative. The result is the 'King of the North' pepper
variety, which has resistance to cucumber mosaic virus, a
disease in the Northeast that impacts fruit quality and taste.
A report on this project will be available from OFRF in 2007.
Funding Opportunities
Eisenhower Fellowship for international
travel
available for farmer/rancher—due
Nov. 17
Edited from the Eisenhower Fellowship website
Eisenhower Fellowships will select two individuals, one for
2007 and one for 2008, to travel abroad to discuss with small
and commercial farmers, farm organizations, companies, national
government representatives, and university researchers one
of the priority areas identified (energy, trade, water in
agriculture, or food safety and security). The successful
candidates will be farmers or ranchers with excellent networking
avenues, demonstrated leadership experience, U.S. citizenship,
and a commitment to at least 15-20 years of further active
leadership in the field of agriculture. The Fellowship covers
all international and domestic travel, hotel accommodations,
and meals for Fellow and spouse.
For more information and to download applications please
visit:
www.eisenhowerfellowships.org
or contact Julia Ransom at phone 215-546-1738 ext. 28 or 1-800-275-1333,
email jransom@eisenhowerfellowships.org
Deadline for completed applications is November
17, 2006
Western Region SARE farmer-rancher
and "professional + producer" grants deadline approaches
Edited from a UC Davis press release written by Lyra Halprin
Farmers, ranchers and agricultural professionals are eligible
for funding from the USDA's Western Region Sustainable Agriculture
Research and Education (SARE) program. Grant recipients are
eligible for up to $15,000 as individuals and for $30,000
for groups of three or more working together on a project,
according to Western SARE representatives at UC Davis.
"We want to alert growers and ranchers in the Western
United States that December 6 is the deadline
for these very useful grants," said David Chaney, education
coordinator for the University of California's Sustainable
Agriculture Research and Education Program and the Western
Region SARE representative.
December 6 is also the deadline for "Professional
+ Producer" grant proposals. Under those grants, agricultural
professionals such as UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) educators
or Natural Resources Conservation Service employees coordinate
the projects with farmers or ranchers serving an advisory
role. The same funding levels apply, depending on the number
of producers involved.
Calls for proposals are available on the Web at http://wsare.usu.edu
or by calling the Western SARE office at Utah State University,
(435) 797-2257.
OFRF Releases New Request for Proposals
The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) is resuming
its grants program after taking time off from its regular
grantmaking schedule to evaluate the impact of its grants
on organic agriculture.
The deadline for proposals is December
15, 2006.
In reinstating the grants program, OFRF is releasing an open
request for proposals in all subject areas, but particularly
encourages proposals in the following topic areas:
- organic livestock systems;
- economic constraints and opportunities relevant to the
viability of small- and medium-scale organic farms and ranches;
- projects that investigate the interactions between components
of organic systems and that take a systems-management (rather
than an input-substitution) approach to solving production
problems.
OFRF encourages organic farmers and ranchers to apply for
a grant. Many producers find that working with a small group,
or with an extension educator or university-based researcher,
can make it easier to design and carry out a research project.
OFRF encourages applications from such partnerships, and will
try to link interested farmers with research partners.
Projects must involve farmers in both design and implementation
and take place on working organic farms whenever possible.
For more details, please refer to the updated request for
proposals on the OFRF website at http://www.ofrf.org/research/application.html.
Or contact Jane Sooby, technical program coordinator, at
831-426-6606, email jane@ofrf.org
OFRF's report on the impact of their grants program, Investing
in Organic Knowledge: Impacts of the First 13 Years of the
Organic Farming Research Foundation's Grantmaking Program,
is on the web at http://www.ofrf.org/publications/investing.html.
Integrated Organic Program releases
Request for Applications
USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension
Service has released the Request for Applications for the
Integrated Organic Program (IOP). IOP is a competitive grants
program for organic research, extension and education. This
funding cycle, CSREES has identified six priority areas, and
will accept conference proposals. Please see the RFA for details.
Note the tight turnaround time: proposals are due December
18, 2006. All proposals MUST be submitted electronically
through the grants.gov website.
For more details, refer to the RFA online at http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/fundview.cfm?fonum=1141
.
Job Opportunities
Farm manager position still open at
Cal Poly organic farm!
Last call for applicants--interviews begin soon! The Cal Poly
Organic Farm is now recruiting a new Farm Manager starting
in 2007. The Farm Manager is responsible for the overall management
of Cal Poly Organic Farm (CPOF), including supervision of
employees, students, interns, and visitors. The Farm Manager
will be responsible for developing and maintaining connections
with students, faculty, administration, local community and
the organic farming industry. Financial management of the
CPOF will be a critical function for this position. For a
full job description, please visit www.calpoly.edu/~sarc/staff.htm
or the Cal Poly Corporation website at: http://cpfoundation.org/humanresources/job_display.asp?job=20161210
In the Literature
Organic Center releases report on
soil quality in organic agriculture
Edited from an Organic Center press release
The Organic Center released a report in October 2006 proposing
a new method to quickly and cost-effectively track changes
in soil quality brought about by the transition to organic
farming.
Alan Franzluebbers, Ph.D. and Richard Haney, Ph.D., two leading
soil scientists working for the Agricultural Research Service,
the research arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, wrote
the Organic Center’s Critical
Issue Report (CIR 2006.2), “Assessing Soil Quality in
Organic Agriculture.”
The full report is available for free at
http://www.organic-center.org/science.environment.php.
The report explains why better tools are needed to manage
the transition of soils when farming methods change from chemical-based
to organic. The proposed minimum-data-set (MDS) approach for
assessing soil quality is
composed of routine chemical and biological assays that can
be carried out in most soil testing laboratories for a collective
cost of less than $100 per sample.
In 2007, the Organic Center plans to begin a national survey
of soil quality on conventional, transitional and organic
acreage. The Center’s project will apply, test and refine
the MDS approach, and integrate the measures into
an index of soil quality.
For more information, visit the Organic Center's website
at
http://www.organic-center.org/
New book published on "developing
and extending sustainable agriculture"
A new book edited by a well-known team of sustainable agriculture
scholars has been published. Developing and extending sustainable
agriculture: a new social contract gathers chapters written
by researchers from around the country who take up issues
ranging from the "evolution of an ecological conscience"
to managed grazing. Contributors include Rhonda Janke, John
Ikerd, Jerry DeWitt, and Frederick Kirschenmann. Edited by
Charles Francis, Raymond Poincelot, and George Bird, the book
is published by Haworth Press. It can be ordered from the
publisher's website (price: $49.95 soft cover), and a 34-page
excerpt downloaded for free, at http://www.haworthpress.com/store/product.asp?sku=5709
New Yale book on agroecology and food
security in the Americas
A new publication, based largely on a 2004 symposium at the
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences on “Food
Sovereignty, Conservation, and Social Movements for Sustainable
Agriculture in the Americas,” is now available online
for free. Chapters take up issues such as market access for
small-scale producers, the regional food sovereignty movement,
agroecological production in the Americas, and impacts on
growers of regional free trade agreements. To download a copy,
please go to http://environment.yale.edu/
doc/2670/agroecology_and_the_struggle_for_food/ Print
copies in both English and Spanish can also be ordered for
$32 US at http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?o=14506IIED&n=2&l=9&k=agroeco
(English) or
http://www.iied.org/pubs/display.php?n=1&l=9&k=agroeco
(Spanish).
Research Findings
Forthcoming article presents new paradigm
for managing nutrients in agroecosystems
Drinkwater, L.E., and S.S. Snapp. 2007. Nutrients in agroecosystems:
rethinking the management paradigm. Advances in Agronomy.
92:163-186.
This paper reviews the recent history of nutrient management
in agriculture and champions a new approach that "seeks
to optimize organic and mineral reservoirs with longer mean
residence times [than soluble nutrients] that can be accessed
through microbially and plant-mediated processes" (from
the abstract). The authors emphasize using plant diversity
and plant-microbial interactions to restore system-wide nutrient
cycling and reduce nutrient losses.
Meetings
6th Annual Iowa Organic Conference
November 20, 2006, Ames, Iowa.
A full day of sessions on topics ranging from transitioning
to organic farming to the marketing outlook for organic field
crops will be presented at Iowa State along with an organic
trade show. Vendor set-up and reception will be held on Sunday,
November 19. Registration is $95, which includes the conference,
lunch, and entry to the trade show.
For more information, go to http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/organic06/home.html
Organic dairy production workshops
in Vermont
November 28 and 30, 2006, Middlebury
and Randolph Center, Vermont.
The Northeast Organic Farming Association—Vermont (NOFA-VT)'s
Dairy Technical Assistance Program is presenting two organic
dairy production workshops in November. The first workshop
is November 28 at the American Legion Hall in Middlebury,
and the second workshop is on November 30 at Vermont Technical
College in Randolph. The workshops will run from 9:30 AM to
3PM with an additional evening session from 3:30PM to 7PM
that will be geared towards industry professionals that work
directly with organic dairy farmers.
A flyer for the daytime programs is online at http://www.organicmilk.org/OrganicDairyWorkshop.pdf.pdf
and a flyer for the evening programs is at http://www.organicmilk.org/organicdairyworkshopindustry.pdf.pdf
If you have any questions, please contact Erin Ramsay at
the NOFA-VT office at 434-4122 or email eramsay@bsad.uvm.edu.
5th Annual Sustainable Agriculture
Pest Control Advisor Conference
December 1-2, 2006, San Luis Obispo, California.
This continuing education program features information on
organic certification and non-toxic gopher control, along
with numerous other issues facing PCA's in California. Please
see http://www.ccof.org/pcaconference.php
for details on the conference program and registration, or
contact Ellen Farmer at 831-423-2263 Ext. 31 or ellen@ccof.org.
Sponsored by California Certified Organic Growers.
Montana Organic Association's 4th
Annual Conference
December 1-3, 2006, Missoula, Montana.
Keynote speakers include Stephen Jones, director of Washington
State University's wheat breeding program, which has a significant
organic component; Kathryn Beagel of Ceres Organic Harvest;
Jeffrey Smith, author of the book Seeds of Deception, which
documents the health risks of genetically modified food; and
local farmer Bob Quinn of Kamut International. OFRF's technical
program coordinator Jane Sooby will also present during sessions
on locating funding for your farm and on conducting on-farm
research trials.
For conference schedule and registration, please contact
Lise Rousseau, conference coordinator, at phone 406-871-0019
or email conference@montanaorganicassociation.org
This is the 14th in a series of occasional
bulletins providing selected information on organic research
programs, positions, funding, and reports, as well as news
about SCOAR itself. These reports are sent via email to registered
SCOAR participants.
Your suggestions and feedback are welcomed. Send comments
and items to include in this bulletin to jane@ofrf.org
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