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* Michigan Organic Listserv May 13, 2010 By: Vicki Morrone and Danielle Craft CS Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems www.michiganorganic.msu.edu * *News * *USDA Seeking Applicants for Conservation Stewardship Program* Michigan agricultural producers and non-industrial private forest land owners have until June 11, 2010, to apply for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) 2010 sign-up. Producers accepted into the program receive annual payments for implementing and maintaining conservation activities on their land. All types of agricultural producers are eligible to enroll in CSP including forest land owners, specialty crop producers, livestock producers and row crop farmers. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service administers CSP and is currently accepting applications. Applications received after the June 11 cut-off date will not be considered for funding until another selection period is announced. NRCS can enroll up to 159,555 acres into the program during 2010. Producers accepted into the program will be offered 5-year contracts with maximum annual payments of $40,000. Program payments are determined by the number of acres enrolled, agricultural use of the enrolled land, conservation measures already in place and new conservation activities that will be installed. Producers can receive additional payments by implementing a resource-conserving crop rotation. The program was first offered in 2009 and 258 Michigan farmers enrolled. Michigan farmers already enrolled in CSP will receive an average of $8,480 over the life of their CSP contract CSP requires farmers and forest product producers to enroll their entire operations. Private and tribal lands are eligible to be enrolled. NRCS has a self-screening checklist to help producers determine if CSP is a good fit for their operation. The checklist is available at NRCS field offices and online at www.mi.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp.html. Landowners and producers can visit their local NRCS field office or conservation district for more information. *National Fruit and Vegetable Organic Summary Now Available* ** The USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) is now publishing the National Fruit and Vegetable Organic Summary. The report is available free every Tuesday at www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/fvworganic.pdf. The summary is easy-to-use providing market data, including wholesale and shipping point process and movement data. The report provides all available organic market data at a glance, which significantly reduces the amount of time customers spend searching for organic market data. For more information about the Market News Portal or the new National Fruit and Vegetable Organic Summary, contact Fred Teensma at (510) 637-1815 or * [log in to unmask]*. *The Small Dairy Resource Book is now available Online* Vicki H. Dunaway, evaluates the pros and cons of more than 150 resources, from the most current information in print and online to out-of-print publications that are useful for their timeless knowledge. Resources formats include books, periodicals, videos, Web sites and others on a wide range of topics related to farmstead dairy processing. Resources are broken into the following categories: - Cheesemaking - Ice cream - Diary processing - Dairy animals - Business and marketing - Butter - Other dairy foods - Food Safety - Feeds and grazing To view free online publication visit: * http://www.sare.org/publications/dairyresource.htm* If you would like to access previous postings to the Mich-Organic listserv you can copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar http://list.msu.edu/archives/mich-organic.html