Southern SAWG Newsletter Volume 5, #11
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November 2009
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Dear Friends,
Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of
ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
~ Rumi
Apt words for the
month of November, steeped as it is in the tradition of gratitude. We at Southern SAWG take this opportunity to express our
gratitude for your support, your friendship, and your commitment. Thank you for
all that you do to help make our world healthier and more just. We also reach
out once again for your financial support of our work on behalf of family
farmers and communities.
The Southern SAWG annual
conference is not far off now, and it will feature at least a hundred ways that
we may "kiss the ground." If you haven't yet registered, it is now easier than
ever--read on to learn about our brand new online registration system!
We wish you a joyful Thanksgiving, filled with the beauty you love and the
abundance of the harvest.
--Your friends at Southern SAWG
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Chattanooga Convention Center
January 20-23, 2010
Register Online!
Southern SAWG is now
accepting online registration for the 2010 conference. In addition to
registering for the general conference, you can add on a fabulous field trip,
short course, or mini course. You can even request a vegetarian plate for the
Taste of Tennessee dinner or make a donation to Southern SAWG.
The payment process is powered by Click & Pledge--the same secure server we use
for online donations. Click here to get started.
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Support Family
Farmers and Communities
Please help Southern
SAWG as we build an ongoing renewal of hope for family farmers and
communities throughout the South, by making a contribution today. Your support
allows us to continue and expand programs such as our annual Practical Tools
and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms Conference.
With your support we can
reach our goal to raise $20,000 through our annual donor campaign this year. You
can honor your family and friends by making your donation in their names during
the holiday season while supporting Southern SAWG.
We will send them a card announcing your gift.
To
make a donation online or download a form to mail to us with your check click here.
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We Hear It All the Time...
Year after year, attendees at Southern SAWG's Practical Tools and Solutions for
Sustaining Family Farms Conference come for the practical information and go
home with so much more. Over 90 percent of past
attendees reported they learned something they would use immediately. The
nineteenth annual conference will be held January 20-23, 2010 at the Chattanooga Convention
Center in Chattanooga.
Conference info is available online.
A cross-fertilization of ideas awaits you in 2010. See you in Chattanooga!
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Your Comments Wanted on the EQIP Organic Initiative
Complete a Short Survey Today
As you may know, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the
USDA created a special Organic Initiative as a part of the Environmental
Quality Incentives Program. This initiative provides financial and technical
assistance to agriculture producers who want to improve their organic
operations or transition land to organic production.
Now that sign-up for the 2009 program is over, the Organic Farming Research
Foundation (OFRF) is collecting feedback from farmers on the EQIP Organic
Initiative to assist the NRCS in making improvements. OFRF would to hear from
all farmers, conventional and organic, and from producers who applied to
the Organic Initiative as well as those
who did not. Whether or not you applied or received a contract through the EQIP
Organic Initiative, please help us make it better by providing your feedback on
this short survey. All survey responses
will be confidential.
OFRF will use the feedback on the 2009 Organic Initiative to provide
recommendations to the NRCS to make the 2010 Initiative work better for farmers.
This survey is only the first step in gathering farmer feedback on the
initiative. OFRF will continue to facilitate growers' feedback to NRCS in order
to improve the program in the future.
The survey takes ten minutes or less to complete. In order to get data to
the NRCS in time to affect the 2010 Organic Initiative, this survey will only be available until November 10. Please fill it out
today.
To fill out the 2009 EQIP Organic
Initiative survey click here.
If you have any questions, please contact Tracy Lerman, OFRF Policy
Organizer: 831.426.6606 x 108; tracy@ofrf.org.
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Taking Advantage of Unprecedented Opportunities in Tough Economic Times
Southern SAWG is hosting two
meetings to engage organizational leaders in solutions January 20-21, 2010
Are you working for...
Safe,
equitable and reliable community food systems;
Environmentally
sound agricultural production methods;
Prosperous
family farms and rural communities?
If so, you have unprecedented opportunities:
Mainstream
media is picking up your message.
USDA is talking your talk and seeking your
engagement.
Local
communities are ready for action.
And yet...
Financial
support is severely restricted by these tough economic times.
Just when organizations
should be ramping up their activities,
many are
scaling back due to decreased funding.
Southern SAWG will
host two meetings for Southern sustainable agriculture and community food
systems leaders to address these issues on January
20-21, 2010 in Chattanooga, Tennessee,
immediately prior to the annual Southern SAWG
conference.
A 1½ day USDA/NGO leader meeting will bring USDA managers of
grant programs together with organizational leaders from the South. NGO (Non-governmental organization) leaders will learn about the goals of USDA
programs that are appropriate for their work and about bigger issues and
processes that guide federal funding to NGOs. Organizational leaders will have the opportunity to learn how to improve
the success rate of their proposals to the USDA, give feedback to USDA program
leaders, and begin a dialogue on how USDA and other federal programs can better
serve their intended audiences in the South.
This will be followed by a ½ day networking meeting for organizational leaders to share strategies for surviving in
tough economic times, and explore ways of working together to move our
agendas forward. Attendees should be prepared to discuss opportunities
for networking and collaboration, and investigate ways to share resources and
share tactics for achieving our collective goals.
Attendance at these meetings is
free, but pre-registration is required. The
1½ day USDA/NGO meeting is limited to one person from each organization. A limited number of travel stipends are
available. For more information or a
registration form, contact Julia Sampson:
jsampson@ssawg.org; 479.251.8310.
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CEFS Welcomes Will Allen as 2009
Sustainable Agriculture Lecturer
November 9, 2009
Goldsboro
and Raleigh, North Carolina
The Center for Environmental
Farming Systems (CEFS) and Burt's Bees presents Will Allen as the 2009
Sustainable Agriculture Lecturer. Allen is the founder and CEO of Growing
Power, Inc., and is well-known to many in the Southern
SAWG community. In 2008, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation named Allen a 2008 MacArthur Fellow, describing him as an urban
farmer "transforming the cultivation, production, and delivery of healthy foods
to underserved urban populations through a novel synthesis of low-cost farming
Technologies." He was also recently featured in an appearance in the movie Fresh.
Two lectures are being offered.
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Urban Community Lecture: "Big Change in Small
Spaces: Growing Food Security, Food Justice and Future Leaders"
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Sustainable Agriculture Lecture: "Steps to
Successful Urban Farming"
For more information on these two
unique conversations call 919.513.3924 or click here.
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Alabama Food Summit
2009: Food Matters
November 12-14, 2009
Birmingham, Alabama
Bringing together Alabama's
emerging leaders to envision a new food system. Features local & regional speakers and interactive
sessions on topics including health and nutrition, food policy, organic farming
and gardening, and cultural and traditional foods.
The summit will highlight local
foods and chefs, and includes Community Garden Bike and Bus Tours, and a Seed
Swap. Participants are invited to bring information on their farms or
organizations and be prepared to share ideas.
For information and to register
click here.
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Rolling the Dice with Cut Flowers
November 17-18,
2009
Memphis, Tennessee
The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers is teaming
up with Louisiana State University, Mississippi State University, the University of Arkansas,
and ATTRA to produce a cut flower program. This is an excellent opportunity to
meet other cut flower growers in the south-central states, learn from industry
experts, and catch up on the latest information in the floral industry.
The keynote speaker will be Dr. Allan Armitage, who is well
known internationally as a writer, speaker, and researcher. Other speakers
include Ko Klaver, Mark Cain, Dave Dowling, Frank Arnosky, Vicki Stamback,
Darrell Johnson, Lane Greer, Gay Smith, and Janet Bachmann.
For information and registration click here.
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Happy Thanksgiving!
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Visit Southern SAWG online at
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We
welcome your feedback and suggestions
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Newsletter
Archives
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click here.
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to browse through past issues.
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Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Inc. (Southern SAWG) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1991 to promote sustainable agriculture in the Southern United States.
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