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Educational Opportunities and Events
Online High Tunnels and Hoophouses Course
This is for Year-round Farming Success course is being offered one more time this Spring. This is the last time it is scheduled to be offered until next fall and winter.
This course is scheduled to begin on March 16th and run for 6 weeks (with 8 weeks of access to the course recordings and materials). We just opened the registration and there are currently 39 of 50 places
available. An informational trailer describing the course content and format as well as the course registration are available at
http://events.anr.msu.edu/event.cfm?folder=HoophousesOnline
Please email me directly with any questions and we hope to see you inside the course. Thanks!
Adam Montri
Hoophouse Outreach Specialist
Department of Horticulture and Center for Regional Food Systems
Michigan State University
1066 Bogue St. East Lansing, MI 48823
Flint Food Works announces series of food entrepreneur workshops
By Ashley
G. Terrell | [log in to unmask]
FLINT, MI -- Flint Food Works is hosting a series of educational workshops to help aspiring small food businesses to specialize in producing quality products and service.
The first of a series of workshops called Gears in Motion: Food Works Start-up is Thursday, Feb. 26, from 6-8 p.m at the Flint Food Works Culinary Business Incubator located inside the New Flint Farmers'
Market, 300 E. 1st St.
Food Entrepreneur Workshops
Learn to Start Your Food Based Business Right Here In The Flint Farmers' Market
Our Food Entrepreneur Workshops are specifically geared to anyone who wants to learn more about how to start and grow a food-based business in our area. You will learn business basics like accounting, marketing,
advertising and keeping track of your bottom line. Our goal is to establish a good foundation of knowledge for any up and coming entrepreneur.
The same workshop will be offered on two different days –
Location 1: Flint on Friday March 20 and in
Location 2: Novi on Saturday March 21, hosted by MSU Extension.
DAY: March 20, 2015 - Flint
March 21, 2015 – Novi
TIME: 9:00 am - 4:00 pm - the morning track is 9am - 12pm; and the afternoon track is 1pm-4pm; lunch (12pm-1pm) is included with full day registration.
LOCATION:
MARCH 20TH, 2015: MSU Extension Genesee County, 605 N. Saginaw St. Suite 1A Flint, MI 48502
MARCH 21, 2015: MSU Extension Tollgate Education Center, 28115 Meadowbrook Road, Novi, MI 48377
FEE: $35.00 Full day / $20.00 Half day; Pre-registration required
Register at Registration for Food Entrepreneur Workshops
To see upcoming workshops that build on these visit:
Upcoming Flint Food Entrepreneurial Workshop Schedule REGISTER
HERE
Winter Sowing Technique - grow your seedlings outdoors in the SNOW or COLD weather!
JuicingGardener Video Blogger, Gardening & Juicing Online Teacher, Online Marketer at JuicingGardener.com
(NEW VIDEO) Have you ever wanted to learn how to grow your own food but have no idea where to start? Well, you're going to learn about a very cool technique called Winter Sowing where you grow your seedlings
in the SNOW or cold outdoors in little recycled containers for gorgeous free seedlings in spring! Check out my home setup and workstation in my new video! ~Sheryl :)
My
Winter Sowing Setup and Workstation youtube.com
http://www.JuicingGardener.com - See my Winter Sowing Setup and Workstation up close and personal! 'Winter Sowing' is an amazing technique to plant your seeds OUTDOORS IN THE SNOW or cool weather in free
mini-containers like milk jugs or pop...
Dear Farmers,
We have created an online survey to learn about cover cropping practices and preferences of farmers. The survey is multiple-choice, voluntary, and should take between 5 and 10 minutes to complete. This is
an excellent opportunity to hear directly from you about any needs and desires for improving cover crops, whether you use them currently or not.
We enthusiastically invite you to take our survey.
https://cornell.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6qWpsn7f9BZsyjj
We gathered your email address from the NOP list of operations. Please excuse any cross-postings of this survey.
Sandra Wayman
Matt Ryan
Cornell University Sustainable Cropping Systems Lab
Beginning Farmer Land Access Program Developer
•
This part-time position will be dedicated to developing land access opportunities in Michigan.
•
Work for MIFFS-Michigan Food and Farming Systems non-profit to promote farmers in Michigan, especially farmers of color.
•
The position is part of a recently awarded, USDA funded Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Program, a three-year collaborative effort between MIFFS, MSU Center for Regional Food Systems, and
the MSU Student Organic Farm.
•
Attached, please find the job description, including application requirements and process.
•
The application deadline is March 20, 2015,
or until a suitable candidate is identified.
•
The position will begin in April 2015.
•
This information will also be posted on MIFFS website found at this link
http://www.miffs.org/news/miffs_is_hiring_a_beginning_farmer_land_access_program_developer.
Emily Beutel
Communications Specialist
Michigan Food & Farming Systems - MIFFS
Supporting the Many Faces of Farming
480 Wilson Road, Room 172
East Lansing, MI 48824
Ph: (517) 432-0712 Fx: (517) 353-7961
www.miffs.org
Employment and Internship Opportunities
Sustainable Agriculture Student Summer Internship
With this relentless winter weather that has been hitting the east coast the last two weeks and the delay in mail service, we have decided to push back the *deadline for internship and scholarship applications
to March 9
at 5pm*.
For more information on the Internship, please visit our website.
<http://www.cefs.ncsu.edu/getinvolved/internships.html>
Lisa Forehand
NCSU - Extension Associate
CEFS Extension & Outreach/ Internship Coordinator
Box 7609-NCSU
Raleigh, NC 27695
Ph: 919-513-0954
www.cefs.ncsu.edu
Development Coordinator-Homeless Garden Project
Homeless Garden Project has an opening for an experienced and dedicated Development Coordinator. We value relationship-based fundraising, and seek an individual with professional standards and excellent communication
skills. The ideal candidate is enthusiastic, outgoing and resourceful; an organized person skilled in communication, marketing, coordination, outreach, and building partnerships. See the complete job announcement at
http://homelessgardenproject.org/whatwedo/jobs.php
The Homeless Garden Project provides job training, transitional employment and support services to people who are homeless. As an important complement to this program, Homeless Garden Project operates a
vibrant community education and volunteer program that served more than 2,000 people in 2014. Our programs take place in a 3.5 acre organic farm and related enterprises.
Our mission:
In the soil of our urban farm and garden, people find the tools they need to build a home in the world.
Contact:
Darrie Ganzhorn, Executive Director
darrieg@homelessgardenproject.org
Please see completed job announcement for application
instructions.
White Violet Center for Eco-Justice, a ministry of the Sisters of Providence, has openings for our Organic Small Farm Internships starting in April 2015. Call them to send you the description via email for
more information about our program, and contact information for additional info or to apply.
Robyn Morton
Associate Director
White Violet Center
1 Sisters of Providence
St. Mary of the Woods, IN 47876
(812) 535-2932
Part-time administrator position for the Michigan Good Food Fund
The MSU Center for Regional Food Systems and Fair Food Network are coordinating this position and this search, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Closing date for applications is February
27, 2015. We hope to have the successful candidate start in the position by Mid-March, 2015. Please forward to others you may think would be interested.
http://foodsystems.msu.edu/news/mgff_administrator_posting
Seeking a farm assistant
The Martin Family Farm is a small USDA certified organic farm located in Armada Twp., MI. We grow vegetables ranging from kohlrabi to heirloom tomatoes, as well as growing in 3 coldframe greenhouses for
season extension. We have 21 acres with 10-12 in production at one time. Looking for a hard working, trustworthy person to fill a full time 30-40+ hrs per week position. Wage is $9-10 hr. depending on experience. Start date would be June 8, or 15th ,depending
on weather, and end October 31st, later end date possibility. Applicant will be responsible for 1. Machine and implement operation. 2. Detailed record keeping. 3. Pest, weed, and disease management. 4. Harvest-Wash-Storage. 5. Irrigation. 6. Soil management/cover
crops. 7. Managing others. Must have reliable transportation. Interested applicants can email Matt Martin at
[log in to unmask] .
Farmer seeks farm manager to step up..
The farmers are up their in age and would like to retire. They have a well-respected CSA that is profitable. They are not organic and don’t have any plans of becoming organic as of now. They farm about 60-70
acres of ground for the CSA and farmers markets. They are looking for someone that is willing to learn and work hard with the possibility of taking over the farm (sooner than later). In fact they are willing to begin the process over the next 12 months if
the right individual is found. With the group of students you work with this may be of interest to one of them. Preferably to one that would be able to begin this coming season.
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/mi/newsroom/releases/?cid=STELPRDB1268843
WASHINGTON, January 26, 2015 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that applications are being accepted for up to
$20 million in grants to facilitate the creation of new, innovative markets for carbon credits, providing additional revenue sources for producers and address natural resource conservation challenges. These grants are part of the Conservation Innovation Grant
(CIG) program, authorized through the 2014 Farm Bill.
“USDA has been a leader in supporting environmental market projects for water quality and greenhouse gases,” Secretary Vilsack said. “With this opportunity, we are looking to fund the next generation of projects
that will help mature these markets and bring them to scale to benefit both producers and the environment.”
For 2015, approximately half of the $20 million is available for environmental markets and conservation finance projects that engage agricultural producers. In past years, CIG has helped fund the development
of the basic infrastructure of these markets. This year, USDA, through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is seeking applications for projects that will build on these efforts by maturing and scaling markets and accelerating efforts to leverage
private capital and investment in private lands conservation. Improved quantification tools, multi-resource crediting, and projects that substantively engage corporate or financial partners are the types of activities NRCS is pursuing.
As an example, USDA, though CIG, helped fund the development of the first interstate water quality trading program in the Ohio River Basin. Administered by the Electric Power Research Institute, the program
is holding its first public auction of water quality credits, generated by farmers in the basin, in April. USDA also funded a project led by the Delta Institute that culminated in the generation and sale of nitrous oxide credits on corn fields in the Midwest.
This project demonstrated that greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced on cropland while maintaining corn yields.
USDA is also soliciting proposals for projects to stimulate natural resource improvements, including, but not limited to, improvements in water quantity, soil health, and wildlife habitat. Applications from
this funding pool may also emphasize expected benefits to historically underserved producers, veterans, and organic producers. Applications in the fields of economics and sociology as they relate to natural resources are also being welcomed.
Under CIG, Environmental Quality Incentives Program funds are used to award competitive grants to non-Federal governmental or nongovernmental organizations, Tribes, or individuals. The 2014 Farm Bill also
included language that has led to some changes in this year’s CIG funding announcement. One change eliminates the requirement that half the applicant’s match be in cash. Another expands eligibility for the 10 percent set-aside provision for historically underserved
producers.
As in prior years, NRCS will accept pre-proposals for initial review before inviting entities to submit full proposals. Pre-proposals are due Tuesday, February 24, 2015. The full announcement of program funding
is available at http://go.usa.gov/4Kvx.
To apply electronically, visit http://www.grants.gov or
contact a local NRCS office.
If you are interested please contact me
Adam J. Kantrovich, Ph.D.
Michigan State University Extension
Farm Management
12220 Fillmore Street
Suite 122
West Olive, MI 49460
616-994-4580 Fillmore Office
Postdoctoral Research Associate (Social Scientist) at Washington State University (Pullman, WA)
The postdoc will work with faculty and students associated with a large,
multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary project funded by the USDA Specialty
Crop Research Initiative (SCRI). The postdoc will assist with surveys, focus
groups, and farmer case studies related to experiences with and perceptions
of biodegradable plastic mulches, which are a potentially environmentally
and economically sustainable alternative to polyethylene mulch. The position
is a temporary, 12-month, full-time position with the ability to renew
annually, pending funding and successful review and progress. Screening of
applications will begin on March 20, 2015.
A full position description, list of required and preferred qualifications,
and application instructions can be found here:
https://www.wsujobs.com/postings/16673
For more information, please contact Jessica Goldberger (Rural Sociologist)
at
[log in to unmask] or 509-335-8540.
Jessica R. Goldberger, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Agricultural and Food Systems
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-6420
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