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*Nominations Sought for the MOSES 2011 “Organic Farmer of the Year” Award*


**

The Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES) is seeking
nominations for our 2011 Organic Farmer of the Year award. If you know an
organic farmer or farm family who are innovators, who excel in managing
their farm resources like soil, water, wildlife, and biodiversity, and who
serve as educators and shining examples in their communities and to the next
generation. Please take advantage of this opportunity to properly
acknowledge the outstanding efforts and nominate them for this award. The
award will be presented at the Organic Farming Conference to be held next
February 24-26, 2011 in La Crosse, WI.

Those who wish to nominate a farmer for the award must complete and return
the nomination form which is available by calling the MOSES office at
715-778-5775 or at the MOSES website,
www.mosesorganic.org/foy.html<http://mosesorganic.org/foy.html>.
 The deadline for submitting your nomination is September 15, 2010. To avoid
duplication of nominees, listed below are the previous recipients.

   - 2010 - John & Jane Fisher-Merritt/Food Farm
   - 2009 -Tom & Irene Frantzen/Frantzen Farm Seeds
   - 2008 - Gary, Nicholas & Rosie Zimmer/Otter Creek Organic Dairy
   - 2007 - Dave & Florence Minar Family/Cedar Summit Farm & Creamery
   - 2006 - Stan Schutte/Triple “S” Farms
   - 2005 - Carmen & Sally Fernholz/A-Frame Farms
   - 2004 - Martin & Atina Diffley/Gardens of Eagan
   - 2003 - Richard de Wilde & Linda Halley/Harmony Valley Farm


*Conservation Stewardship Program Application Period Extended to June 25,
2010*

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has announced changes to the
Conservation Stewardship Program that expand access, increase payment
limits, and promote greater environmental benefit while maintaining program
goals. NRCS also extended the current enrollment period for CSP an
additional two weeks, now closing *June 25, 2010, *when applications will be
scored, ranked, and funded.

CSP pays participants for conservation performance – the higher the
performance, the higher the payment. Producers get credit both for
conservation measures they have already implemented and for new measures
they agree to add. CSP is offered in all 50 states, the District of
Columbia, and the Pacific and Caribbean areas through continuous sign-up,
with announced cut-off dates for ranking and funding applications.

CSP is available to all producers regardless of operation size, crops
produced, or geographic location. Eligible lands include cropland,
pastureland, rangeland, non-industrial private forest land, and agricultural
land under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe.

Potential applicants are encouraged to use the CSP self-screening checklist
to determine whether CSP is suitable for their operation. The checklist,
which highlights basic information about CSP eligibility requirements,
contract obligations, and payments, and additional information about CSP,
may be obtained from the national CSP Web site at *
www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/new_csp/csp.html*.

To apply, call or visit a local USDA Service Center, Michigan NRCS offices
are listed online at *www.mi.nrcs.usda.gov/contact/Field%20Offices.html* ,
or in the telephone book under United States Government, Agriculture
Department.


*2010 Organic Food Guide*

The NOFA-NY2010 Organic Food Guide is now available online. The guide
includes valuable material such as, organic and sustainable farms that are
certified by NOFA-NY Certified Organic, LLC or are members of NOFA-NY and
either certified by other agencies or have signed onto The Farmer’s Pledge.
The guide also includes detailed listings of our generous business members.
To access this  guide visit http://www.nofany.org/directory and click on the
Organic Food Guide image on the right.

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