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The mission of the West Virginia food and Farm Coalition is to build, support and strengthen a statewide network of the many kinds of people involved in developing West Virginia's local food economies, with the intertwined goals of improving access to healthy, locally-produced food for all West Virginians and helping to viable food and farm businesses to grow. The Coalition was launched in 2010 by the West Virginia Community Development Hub with funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
We believe that as West Virginia farmers and food producers become more directly connected to West Virginia consumers, the results include healthier people, greater business opportunities, stronger communities, and a unique economy reflecting our state's proud heritage of self-sufficient food production.
The Coalition is guided by a 14-person Steering and Transition Committee which is helping to determine its future as an organization and to develop a more permanent, participatory leadership structure.
The West Virginia Community
Development Hub is a statewide non-profit organization with the mission of engaging communities and providers in an intentional, aligned and continuous system of community development.
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Greetings!
This newsletter provides a biweekly selection of news, events, resources, and ideas that are helpful to farms and food access projects in West Virginia. Whether you are a producer, consumer, nonprofit organization, educator, agency or food-related business, there may be something here to help you with your work. The information in this newsletter is compiled by the West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition, which is an initiative of the West Virginia Community Development Hub. In addition to this newsletter, we also offer updates on specific food and farm topics. To subscribe to special updates, go here and enter your email address.
West Virginia Food News
KISRA launches Growing Jobs Project
The Kanawha Institue for Social Research and Action (KISRA) is launching a new program called the Growing Jobs Project. The federally subsidized program will create nearly two dozen jobs for area fathers in need of work through the operation of an urban farm, two greenhouses, a commercial kitchen, a farmers market, and a mobile food truck. Read more here.
Planning leaders discuss urban agriculture in Charleston
The city of Charleston is looking at encouraging urban agriculture projects, including usage of city lots, rules for keeping bees and chickens, and allowing agriculture-based enterprises in the city. The Charleston Gazette reports here.
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Upcoming Events in and near West Virginia
Do you have events that you want included in our newsletter?
Please contact us!
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2013 Cover Crop Innovations Webinar Series
Select Mondays in March, 12pm-1pm
Online
March 18 - Optimizing weed suppression and nutrient use efficiency in cover crop-based no-till organic corn
March 25 - Nitrogen Management with Cover Crop Mixtures
Register and learn more here.
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Social Media Workshop
Thursday March 28, 2013 9am - 3pm
South Branch Inn
Moorefield, WV
This workshop, hosted by the Center for Economic Options, is for small business owners and farmers in Hardy, Mineral, Hampshire, and Grant Counties. The workshop will focus on Facebook, Constant Contact, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube, Linked in, and the Green Business/Green Jobs Accelerator.
Registration is free and lunch will be provided. Learn more here.
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We Are All Farmers Permaculture Workshop
March 29-30, 2013
Williamson, WV
We Are All Farmers Permaculture Institute is offering a free two-day permaculture workshop.
March 29 is a half day workshop at a reclaimed mine site and orchard (the Mingo County Orchard), and March 30 is a full day workshop. RSVP by emailing maria.arnot@sustainablewilliamson.org, and learn more here.
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Meeting to Gauge Interest in State Agri-Women Chapter
April 12, 2013 3pm
Southeast Learning Center at Jackson's Mill
Jane Lew, WV
The West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) along with the West Virginia University Extension will host a meeting of various agricultural groups to gauge interest in establishing a state chapter of the American Agri-Women national organization. This meeting is open to the public and is being held in conjunction with The WV Beef Expo.
For more information about the meeting, contact WVDA Livestock Marketing Specialist Tracy Fitzsimmons at 304-558-2210, or e-mail tfitzsimmons@wvda.us.
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Opportunities
(grants, awards, partnership ideas)
* Find a full grants calendar here, on our website! To use this calendar, scroll ahead to see what grant deadlines are coming up. Also look back to see what grants came out last year, so you can anticipate the same grants coming out in the year ahead.
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NRCS Conservation Innovation Grant
Pre-proposals Postmarked by: March 22, 2013
The Conservation Innovation Grants program is intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies while leveraging Federal investment in environmental enhancement and protection, in conjunction with agricultural production. Applications are requested from eligible governmental or non-governmental organizations or individuals for competitive consideration of grant awards for projects between one and three years in duration. Learn more here.
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Apply to be an Emerson National Hunger Fellows Host Organization
Deadline to Apply: late April, 2013
The Emerson National Hunger Fellows Program is a social justice program thattrains, inspires, and sustains leaders. The Emerson Program seeks to craft successful and mutually beneficial partnerships between Fellows and Partner Organizations while developing a new generation of hunger and poverty leaders. They are seeking host organizations that do local or state-level work. Learn more here.
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Deadline to Apply: May 1, 2013
The Fund-a-Farmer Project, a project of Food Animal Concerns Trust, awards grants of up to $1,500 for projects that help family farmers transition to pasture-based systems, improve the marketing of their humane products, or more generally to enrich the conditions in which the farm animals are raised. Grants will be made only to farmers for a project on a working, independent family farm. Learn more here.
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Food and Farm Related Online Courses
Coursera offers free online classes with high quality universities on many different topics, including those related to food and farm issues. Many people across West Virginia participated in a class through Johns Hopkins on the U.S. food system through a public health lens. These courses are coming up:
Search for more courses here.
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West Virginia Department of Agriculture
E-Newsletter
The WV Department of Agriculture puts out an informative e-newsletter filled with important events, news, and resources. Sign up for the newsletter here.
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Food for Thought
(fruitful reading, research & case studies)
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Libraries as Seed Banks
Here's how it can work: A library card gets you a packet of seeds. You then grow the fruits and vegetables, harvest the new seeds from the biggest and best, and return those seeds so the library can lend them out to others. NPR reports here.
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Healthy Food Access Portal
PolicyLink, The Food Trust, and the Reinvestment Fund have created this healthy food access web information portal to maximize the impact of the new opportunities and better support communities seeking to launch healthy food retail projects across the country. This website highlights those efforts and relevant resources to serve the community members and policymakers working to improve access to healthy food retail. Explore it here.
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This is YOUR space, YOUR newsletter and YOUR Coalition. If you have suggestions, announcements or resources you would like to share please contact us.
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If you received this email from someone else, and would like to subscribe to the West Virginia Food & Farm Coalition Newsletter, please visit this link to sign up.
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