Monday, October 9, 2017

Weekly Events & Opportunities in Sustainable Farming & Foods!


Connecting Health Insurance and Ag Viability

Tuesday, October 10 at 9:00 am CDT. Health, access to care and health insurance affect the vitality of agricultural enterprises and farm and ranch families, according to results from a national research project funded by the USDA. Designed for Extension, tax, loan, health and other agricultural advisors, this webinar will provide an overview of the research findings and introduce some practical tools educators and advisors can use to help farmers and ranchers make informed decisions for their businesses and households.https://www.hirednag.net/webinars

Interseeding, Precision Planting and Management of Cover Crops in a Corn and Soybean Rotation

October 10
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This free, one-hour webinar is presented by the USDA NRCS Soil Health Division. At the conclusion of this webinar participants will be able to develop a prescription for interseeding cover crops, understand the potential benefits of the practice, and describe situations where it will have the most potential for success.

Urban Soil Quality

Wednesday, October 11 at 11:00 am CDT
​. ​
What are the contamination risks to be aware of when growing in urban soil? How should you test for soil contaminants? How do you interpret the test results? What treatment and management options exist? Which of those are practical? If you're interested in the answers to any of these questions, tune in to this webinar.

Building a Cold Frame

October 11. Omaha. This hands-on class will teach you to build a cold frame and how to use it for season extension in your garden. Instructors: Rebecca Reagan and Shannon Gennardo. More Info.

Creative Animal Tour: Sustainable living & a tiny house

October 12. 5:00 pm. UNL's  Hardin Hall. Contact,  Elyse Watson, elyse.watson@unl.edu. The School of Natural Resources is hosting the Creative Animal Foundation U.S. Tour. The event is free and open to the public. Guests can meet Stephanie Arne, host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, and wildlife artist Tim Davison as they bring their sustainability message to the university and the Lincoln community. creativeanimal.org 

#CommunityFood: Investing in the Future

October 12. Online. This "Investing in the Future" webinar from the National Good Food Netword, the second of a four-part #CommunityFood series based on the findings of the report, will feature two organizations doing extraordinary work with youth. Dig into the nuts and bolts of how these organizations are teaching and inspiring the people they work with, uncover the best practices and lessons learned along the way, and share helpful resources.https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1809487562180323586

Postharvest Handling

October 12
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The Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative has developed a series of food safety webinars designed to help Native American farmers, ranchers, and food producers to begin to understand the importance of food safety and what is necessary to reach compliance under the FSMA. This webinar will discuss standard operating procedures and the importance of maintaining strict controls on biological, chemical, and physical food-safety risks on the farm and in the packing and shipping areas of the business. It will discuss general packing-area maintenance and principles of sanitary design and controls.


Opportunities



Diversified Crop Survey

NCAT, as part of a USDA NIFA grant, is conducting along with our partners is conducting a survey concerning  how crop insurance is used by and could be improved for for organic, diversified, and specialty crop growers. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ncatcropinsurance

Help Wanted

Grain Place Foods, an organic grain handling facility located in Marquette, NE is looking for a qualified person to fill our Compliance position. The ideal candidate will have experience in topics such as FSMA, HAACP/HARPC, USDA organic standards, GMP or some other related compliance background. Generous benefits offered include medical, dental, life, IRA and more. Please drop off or send resumes and salary requirements to: Grain Place Foods, 1904 N Hwy 14, Marquette, NE 68854. 402-854-3195 phone

Health Insurance in Agriculture Survey

How does health insurance affect farmers and ranchers? Help influence rural health policy in upcoming survey. Farmers and ranchers: How does health insurance affect you? Help influence rural health policy by participating in an upcoming USDA funded survey. Your responses will help researchers understand how health-insurance policy affects farmers’ and ranchers’ decisions to invest, expand, and grow their enterprises. Selected participants received a letter about the survey in February. If you would like to participate follow this link:  https://survey.uvm.edu/index.php/132344?lang=en

Resource Available

Rural Food Business Toolkit - this resource was designed by the Center for Rural Affairs alongside a USDA Rural Development project in northeast Nebraska which provided in person instruction and support. The toolkit provides resources to growers, processors and food business owners to help them succeed. It can be found and downloaded here: http://www.cfra.org/rural-food-business-toolkit.




Upcoming

Organic Seed Production Part 6: Seed Contracting, Economics and Policy

Tuesday, October 17 at 1:00 pm CDT. Register for the 2017 Organic Seed Production Webinar Series at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2788257417038326785For the second year in a row, the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) and the Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA) are presenting a series of six webinars on organic seed production. The webinars cover everything from planting to harvest, to the economics of seed production. The series is part of an organic seed internship program organized by OSA and MESA, but the free webinars are open to everyone. Advance registration is required--registering just once will allow you to attend all the webinars.

Community-based Pollinator Conservation in Cities

October 18. Online. This free, one-hour webinar is part of The Ohio State University's Bee Lab series. No registration is required. https://u.osu.edu/beelab/courses/

Value Added Producer Grant Program Webinar

October 18. Online. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and USDA Rural Development are teaming up to host a two-hour webinar on the current cycle of the Value Added Producer Grant Program (VAPG), to help farmers and ranchers learn more about the program and whether it is a good fit for their value-addd enterprise dreams. No pre-registration required. https://cc.readytalk.com/registration/#/?meeting=m1fj1734cy34&campaign=ncig7iyyfr72

Composting and Compost Use Webinar Series: Equipment

Friday, October 20 at 1:00 pm CDT. Location: https://extension.zoom.us/j/258134834. Please join us for the fifth webinar in our Composting and Compost Use series. In this webinar, the presenter will provide an introduction (including description, pros and cons, and cost) to equipment useful for processing and handling feedstocks, building piles, monitoring piles, turning and aerating piles, watering piles, screening and bagging compost, and more. There is no charge for this webinar, but registration is required.

Mother Earth News Fair

October 21-22
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Topeka, Kansas
​. 
This sustainable-lifestyle event offers more than 150 workshops over the course of the weekend. Keynote speakers include Dan Chiras, Joel Salatin, and Howard Garrett. Also look for regional and national vendors and demonstrations.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Weekly Events & Opportunities in Sustainable Farming & Foods!


Federal Funding & Financing for Farmers

May 23. Online. Learn more about the USDA loan, grant, cost-share, conservation, and insurance programs that are available to sustainable farmers in this free, one-hour webinar from Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT). NSAC's Ferd Hoefner will discuss the many programs offered by the USDA that help farmers succeed. https://www.anymeeting.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=ED50DC8988493D

Online Introduction to Holistic Management® Whole Farm/Ranch Planning

May 23 – June 27. Online. In this online course from HMI, participants will learn how to effectively manage a farm or ranch through the principles and practices of Holistic Management —a nationally recognized whole farm/ranch planning process. Learn not only how to manage your farm/ranch for the triple bottom line (social, environmental, and financial sustainability) and more effectively manage resources, but also how to help others with that process.This course is seven weeks long, and participants should plan on about two to four hours each week to participate in the webinars and complete the assignments. Scholarships are available. https://holisticmanagement.org/training-programs/onlineintro/

Water Quality Targeting Success Stories: Achieving Cleaner Water Through Farm Conservation Watershed Projects

May 24, 11:30am – 1:00pm. Online. Join American Farmland Trust and World Resources Institute on May 24th from 12:30PM – 2:00PM EST for a launch event— via live webinar stream of the event –as we roll-out new research that features six case studies of projects that documented water quality improvements due to watershed-scale adoption of farm conservation practices. For more information on the report, “Water Quality Targeting Success Stories: Achieving Cleaner Water Through Farm Conservation Watershed Projects,” please click here: https://www.farmland.org/initiatives/water-quality-targeting-success-stories

Poultry Exemptions Revisited

May 25. Online. In this free, one-hour Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar, USDA Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) staff will be on hand to respond to some of the more challenging questions regarding the federal poultry processing exemptions (Public Law 90-492). NMPAN has gathered questions from producers ahead of time regarding issues such as where you can market your poultry, can you cut-up and further process your poultry, what category do producers or groups of producers fall under, what kind of records should be kept, are there any facility requirements expected, and more. http://articles.extension.org/pages/33477/nmpan-webinars


Opportunities


Survey Assistance

My name is Steph I am putting together a survey for ranchers across the nation. It will explore some of ranchers' grassland management practices and some of the ideas that go behind them. Having said that, before I send it out, I need to make sure that my concepts make sense and are truly measuring what I set out to measure. I would guess that it takes 10-15 minutes to fill out (and reads better from a computer than a phone). I very much appreciate your help and if you want more detail into what I am doing, please give me a call (402-926-6732)! Steph Kennedy

Internship Opportunity

If you know of someone looking for an internship opportunity involving both produce and livestock. please have them call me or text me on my cell phone 308-754-8370.  This internship would involve experiences on a few local farms approximately 50% of hours would be paid and 50% considered educational. Andrew Hollister

Health Insurance in Agriculture Survey

How does health insurance affect farmers and ranchers? Help influence rural health policy in upcoming survey. Farmers and ranchers: How does health insurance affect you? Help influence rural health policy by participating in an upcoming USDA funded survey. Your responses will help researchers understand how health-insurance policy affects farmers’ and ranchers’ decisions to invest, expand, and grow their enterprises. Selected participants received a letter about the survey in February. If you would like to participate follow this link:  https://survey.uvm.edu/index.php/132344?lang=en

Resource Available

Rural Food Business Toolkit - this resource was designed by the Center for Rural Affairs alongside a USDA Rural Development project in northeast Nebraska which provided in person instruction and support. The toolkit provides resources to growers, processors and food business owners to help them succeed. It can be found and downloaded here: http://www.cfra.org/rural-food-business-toolkit.




Upcoming
Grazing Cover Crops Field Day

May 30. Sioux Center, Iowa. Topics will include grazing rye and hairy vetch, baling rye, growing cover crops for seed, and water quality. http://practicalfarmers.org/news-events/newsroom/news-release-archive/25149/

Using Fire and Grazing to Maintain Productive and Ecologically Resilient Grasslands

June 1. Online. This free, one-hour webinar is presented by USDA NRCS Science and Technology. The webinar will provide training on the value of biological diversity and ecological resilience and discuss how fire and grazing can be used to sustain resilience, wildlife habitat, pollinator communities, and other important ecosystem components. Examples will be given of how ranchers might incorporate some important principles into existing management systems and evaluate the success of their management from a conservation standpoint. http://www.conservationwebinars.net/webinars/using-fire-and-grazing-to-maintain-productive-and-ecologically-resilient-grasslands

Monday, May 15, 2017

Weekly Events & Opportunities in Sustainable Farming & Foods!


Bee Lab Webinar: Setting up Your Extracting Line – What's Needed

May 17. Online. The Ohio State University Bee Lab's monthly webinars are free, and no registration is required. This session features Jim Tew, Extension Specialist, Alabama Cooperative Extension Service. https://u.osu.edu/beelab/courses/

Market News Organic Reporting Webinar

May 18. Online. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) invites you to a live, interactive webinar on Organic Reporting within multiple Market News divisions. Learn about how Specialty Crops, Dairy, Livestock, Poultry & Seed, and Cotton & Tobacco Market News programs provide you with free access to market information about organic products. https://www.ams.usda.gov/event/specialty-crops-market-news-organic-reporting

Fascination of Plants Day

May 18.  4:00 pm–6:00 pm. UNL's City Campus, at the Beadle Center. The Beadle Center Atrium is located at 1901 Vine Street. Contact, Rebecca Roston, 402-472-2936rroston@unl.edu. Fascination of Plants Day is to get as many people as possible around the world fascinated by plants and enthused about the importance of plant science for agriculture, in sustainability producing food, as well as for horticulture, forestry, and all of the non-food products such as paper, timber, chemicals, energy, and pharmaceuticals. The role of plants in environmental conservation is our key message. https://go.unl.edu/plantsday

Understanding the GMO Debate

Thursday, May 18 at 1:00 pm CDT. Registration is currently open, and seats are limited. Participants will gain access to course materials on May 11th after registering and paying the $10 fee at: https://extension.catalog.instructure.com/courses/ext-gmo
Let’s dive into the GMO Debate, a world full of conflicting viewpoints, misinformation, scare tactics, overwhelming scientific facts, and where even our dog’s opinion matters. The objective of this course is to bring an informative and neutral discussion to the main GMO topics: Traditional Plant Breeding versus GMOs, Food Safety, Pesticide Use in Agriculture, GMO Impacts on the Environment, and the Most Current Scientific Review of GMOs. Participants will gain practical knowledge on the GMO topic, which will aid in education and conversations with clientele. The course will include materials provided in the online course as well as live weekly discussions using the Zoom.us webinar tool.


Opportunities


Survey Assistance

My name is Steph I am putting together a survey for ranchers across the nation. It will explore some of ranchers' grassland management practices and some of the ideas that go behind them. Having said that, before I send it out, I need to make sure that my concepts make sense and are truly measuring what I set out to measure. I would guess that it takes 10-15 minutes to fill out (and reads better from a computer than a phone). I very much appreciate your help and if you want more detail into what I am doing, please give me a call (402-926-6732)! Steph Kennedy

Internship Opportunity

If you know of someone looking for an internship opportunity involving both produce and livestock. please have them call me or text me on my cell phone 308-754-8370.  This internship would involve experiences on a few local farms approximately 50% of hours would be paid and 50% considered educational. Andrew Hollister, Hollister Farms 

Health Insurance in Agriculture Survey

How does health insurance affect farmers and ranchers? Help influence rural health policy in upcoming survey. Farmers and ranchers: How does health insurance affect you? Help influence rural health policy by participating in an upcoming USDA funded survey. Your responses will help researchers understand how health-insurance policy affects farmers’ and ranchers’ decisions to invest, expand, and grow their enterprises. Selected participants received a letter about the survey in February. If you would like to participate follow this link:  https://survey.uvm.edu/index.php/132344?lang=en 

Resource Available

Rural Food Business Toolkit - this resource was designed by the Center for Rural Affairs alongside a USDA Rural Development project in northeast Nebraska which provided in person instruction and support. The toolkit provides resources to growers, processors and food business owners to help them succeed. It can be found and downloaded here: http://www.cfra.org/rural-food-business-toolkit.




Upcoming

Federal Funding & Financing for Farmers

May 23. Online. Learn more about the USDA loan, grant, cost-share, conservation, and insurance programs that are available to sustainable farmers in this free, one-hour webinar from Food Animal Concerns Trust (FACT). NSAC's Ferd Hoefner will discuss the many programs offered by the USDA that help farmers succeed. https://www.anymeeting.com/AccountManager/RegEv.aspx?PIID=ED50DC8988493D

Online Introduction to Holistic Management® Whole Farm/Ranch Planning

May 23 – June 27. Online. In this online course from HMI, participants will learn how to effectively manage a farm or ranch through the principles and practices of Holistic Management —a nationally recognized whole farm/ranch planning process. Learn not only how to manage your farm/ranch for the triple bottom line (social, environmental, and financial sustainability) and more effectively manage resources, but also how to help others with that process.This course is seven weeks long, and participants should plan on about two to four hours each week to participate in the webinars and complete the assignments. Scholarships are available. https://holisticmanagement.org/training-programs/onlineintro/

Poultry Exemptions Revisited

May 25. Online. In this free, one-hour Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network webinar, USDA Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) staff will be on hand to respond to some of the more challenging questions regarding the federal poultry processing exemptions (Public Law 90-492). NMPAN has gathered questions from producers ahead of time regarding issues such as where you can market your poultry, can you cut-up and further process your poultry, what category do producers or groups of producers fall under, what kind of records should be kept, are there any facility requirements expected, and more. http://articles.extension.org/pages/33477/nmpan-webinars