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Michigan Organic Listserv So Much Info and So Little Time… Hot off the press Note that MSU does not endorse this any product we are just sharing inforation with you. December 2011 Today is the Last Day to Register at the Early-Bird Rate for the 9thAnnual Michigan Family Farms Conference on January 14, 2012 Register now for the ninth annual Michigan Family Farms Conference on Saturday, January 14, 2012 at Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, MI. This year’s theme is “Building Your Success with Local Products, Partnerships and Planning”, and the day-long conference is packed with 18 great educational sessions to connect family farmers with resources to build their farm’s successful future. Register and pay online today, December 16, at www.miffs.org and get the $5 early-bird discount. Today is your last chance to get this rate! The Michigan Family Farms Conference is a forum for beginning, small-scale and culturally diverse farmers to network, learn andbuild sustainable family farms. It provides a unique opportunity to connectwith other growers and great resources and learn about topics important to family farms. Sessions include: How the 2012 Farm Bill Will Affect You, Careers in Agriculture and Natural Resources, Farm Planning, Constructive Credit, Cheese Making, Growing Seedlings and Transplants, Micro Loan Programs for your Farm, Conservation Easements, Pesticide Certification and Worker ProtectionStandards, How to Market Your Products, Free Range Poultry, Bee Keeping, Business Structures and Changes in Estate Tax Laws, Wildlife Habitat, the Cottage Food Law, Social Media Marketing and Your Farm, Intro to Hops Production, and Hoophouses. See a full list of sessions, speakers and descriptions at www.miffs.org/mffc/sessions.asp. Dan Carmody, President of the Eastern Market Corporation, is this year’s keynote speaker. Eastern Market has been feeding Detroit since 1891 and has grown and evolved with the times, from the boom of the automotive industry to today’s recession. It is still offering fresh produce to Michigan families each Saturday. His presentation is titled “Healthy Food Hub Development: A Statewide Perspective and an Update on Eastern Market.” Because this is the Michigan Family Farms Conference, we also have a youth track for young farmers which will include educationaltopics like nutrition, careers in agriculture and natural resources, and financial planning for youth. This track also includes a field trip in the afternoon to Binder Park Zoo. Early-bird registration is open online until midnight on Friday, December 16 and is only $35 per person, $30 for MIFFS members and $25 for youth. You must register and pay online to get the discount. Visit www.miffs.org/mffc or contact MIFFS at (517) 432-0712 or [log in to unmask] for more information or to register, or see the attached brochure. The registration deadline is January 10, 2012. Some scholarships are available – contact Barbara Norman at 269-208-4588 for more information. If you’re interested in being a conference exhibitor, please visit www.miffs.org/mffc/exhibitors.asp for more information. Thanks to our partners and sponsors: Michigan Food& Farming Systems (MIFFS), the Farm Research Cooperative, USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA), W. K. Kellogg Foundation, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA), Michigan StateUniversity (MSU) College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, MSU Extension, Potawatomi Resource, Conservation & Development (RC&D) Council, C.S. Mott Chair for Sustainable Agriculture at MSU, MSU Product Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Morgan Composting, Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance (MOFFA), Fraleigh Law Firm, PLLC, and the Calhoun Conservation District. 2012 FARM BILL Session NOTE: At this year's Michigan Family Farms Conference, there will be a session about the Farm Bill with Senator Stabenow's staffer Kali Fox. It is the first session of the dayfrom 9 am to 10:20 pm. Please register for this conference and come out to voice your concerns about cuts to key organic programs and provisions, and other program areas in the Farm Bill. For more information please contact me at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> SAVE the DATE!!! Friday, March 2, 2012! Michigan State University Organic Reporting Session East Lansing, MI at the Kellogg Conference Center, Lincoln Room This is a day filled news and updates on research that is happening at MSU! Findings on organic production and marketing will be shared in the form of posters by students, panels by Michigan’s Organic farmers and research results presented by MSU researchers. You are all invited to join in this event for learning and discussion. Farmers will share their knowledge and perspective fromtheir participation in on-farm research, researchers will share their results and graduate students show how they did their work on posters. This year we will extend the day to include a lunch. During lunch we will select a table for discussion led by an organic farmer, on a topic of his/her choice. Note that the lunch will be at the MSU’s Brody Hall café – a university cafeteria like, we wish, all would follow. They purchase salad greens from The Student Organic Farm at MSU, recycle 70-80% of their “waste” and contribute to making compost with their biological “garbage” scraped from trays. This event occurs on the first day of MSU Ag and Natural Resource Week, Friday, March 2 from 10-4:30. The event is open to all and offers a chance to learn and share around organic agriculture and marketing. We hope you will put it on your calendar and join us. Cost is $20, which includes lunch. Late registration is $30 after Monday, February 20th. Call if more than 1 person from the farm is attending for a family rate. (Vicki [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>). Register for the meeting at http://web2.canr.msu.edu/mottgroup/. Payment can be made by check or credit card. Hope to see you there! USDA NRCS Programs Available for Participation There are several opportunities that have just been announced for Michigan’s farmers and land owners. Natural Resources Conservation Services is a national program that helps landowners conserve soil and protect the environment through programs that target key areas of risk in the environment, such as encouraging soil coverage with vegetation, keepingdomestic animals away from water sources where there is contamination risk,building habitats to nurture wildlife, grow trees to protect the soils, andprovide habitat for protected birds, wildlife and beneficial insects. Here are 4 programs that are NOW available for you to act on. I have included a short description and if you want additional information or information to sign up for the program follow the link that is included in the description. USDA Announces Ranking Dates for Three Major Conservation Initiatives<http://www.mi.nrcs.usda.gov/news/11%20NewsReleases/EQIP%203%20Initiatives%2012-9-11.html> The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced the ranking dates for the On-Farm Energy, Organic and Seasonal High Tunnel conservation initiatives. Farmers must submit a completed application in advance of the specified ranking dates to be eligible for financial assistance under these initiatives. The three initiatives offer technical and financial assistance through the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program. NRCS accepts applications for financial assistance on a continuous basis throughout the year. There will be three ranking periods for the Organic, On-Farm Energy and Seasonal High Tunnel initiatives, all ending on February 3, March 30 and June 1, 2012. At the end of a ranking period, NRCS ranks all submitted proposals for funding consideration. USDA Announces Sign-Up Period for Conservation Stewardship Program<http://www.mi.nrcs.usda.gov/news/11%20NewsReleases/CSP%20Selection%2012-12-11.html> USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service announced that the ranking period cut-off date for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is January 13, 2012. Producers interested in CSP should submit applications to their localNRCS office by the deadline so that their applications can be considered during the first ranking period of 2012. The program provides many conservation benefits including improvement of water and soilquality, wildlife habit enhancements and adoption of conservation activities that address the effects of climate change. Eligible lands include cropland, pastureland, rangeland, nonindustrial private forest land and agricultural land under the jurisdiction of an Indian tribe. USDA Offers Incentives for Bird Habitat Restoration The U.S. Department of Agriculture has financial assistance available for landowners to improve or establish specialized bird habitats. Privatelandowners in the Saginaw Bay, Western Lake Erie Basin and the Tacoosh/Whitefish watersheds are eligible for the assistance but must submit an application before Jan. 20, 2012. Funding for the initiative is provided through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and is targeted to grassland and woodland birds threatened by habitat loss. The financial assistance is available to landowners for establishing or improving grassland and young forest habitat. Bill would create Right to Farm Act exemption forDetroit The Detroit Free Press reports about how the passing of a new bill could exemptDetroit from a provision in the Right to Farm Act. This provision prevents municipalities from exercising zoning or regulatory authority over farms: State bill to amend Farm Act could create jobs in Detroit Gary Wozniak thinks theCity of Detroit is uniquely situated to lead a 21st-Century revolution in urban land use. It would dramatically expand commercial agriculture on tracts left desolate bysuburban flight and decay and could lead to the development of a vibrant industry that would employ thousands of Detroiters. "There are not other cities anywhere in the world that have the available land to pilot a project like this," said Wozniak, development officer of the SHAR Foundation, a Detroit nonprofit that connects addicts and ex-cons to work, and runs the RecoveryPark farm project. To read the whole story: http://www.freep.com/article/20111128/NEWS06/111280346/Bill-would-create-Right-Farm-Act-exemption-Detroit From the Desk of Vick Morrone Vicki Morrone Outreach Specialist for Organic Production 303 Natural Resources East Lansing MI 48824 517-353-3542/517-282-3557 (cell) 517-353-3832 fax Www.MichiganOrganic.msu.edu 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