Resources

Dial, browse ATTRA’s bilingual free research
Free research and information for farmers across the U.S. has been available from Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) since 1987. ATTRA’s 30 specialists have prepared reports on more than 150,000 topics for callers on a variety of sustainable farming topics. Because it is funded through the USDA Rural Business Cooperative Service, all ATTRA research services are free. Now available in Spanish as well as English, the one-on-one service has helped thousands of farmers, ranchers, extension agents, farm-based businesses and farm organizations via a toll-free telephone line (800-346-9140 or 800-411-3222 for Spanish) and through its Web site at http://attra.ncat.org. ATTRA, which is a project of the National Center for Appropriate Technology, also offers more than 150 free publications on a wide range of topics.

Resource on federal programs
Federal Sustainable Agriculture Program Primer, The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture. The Primer is a compilation of information on the programs and policies that the National Campaign and partner organizations have helped to develop and/or get funded over the years. It provides descriptions and access information about each program, including application deadlines and criteria for eligibility. It is available at http://www.sustainableagriculture.net/primer.php.

 

Print Publications

Organic gardening teaching manual
Teaching Organic Gardening and Farming: Resources for Instructors, University of California, Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 600 pages, 2003. This manual reflects 35 years of experience teaching organic farming and gardening to apprentices at UC Santa Cruz’s Farm and Garden Apprenticeship program. It covers practical aspects of organic farming and gardening, applied soil science, and social and environmental issues in agriculture. Units, which are designed for a three-ring binder, contain lecture outlines for instructors and students, field and laboratory demonstrations, assessment questions, and resource lists and can be used by colleges, urban and community agriculture programs, farms with internships, agriculture extension stations, school gardening programs, Peace Corps, USAID, and master gardener programs. To order, send a $45 check payable to UC Regents and your mailing address to CASFS, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA 95064, attn: Teaching Manual, or download a free PDF of the manual at http://zzyx.ucsc.edu/casfs/training/manual/index.html.

Blending ag with people
Agri-Culture: Reconnecting People, Land and Nature, by Jules Pretty, University of Essex, 280 pages, 2002. Despite increased agricultural productivity in the last century, millions of people are hungry or malnourished. Jules Pretty, director of the University of Essex’s Centre for Environment and Society, looks at examples of successful ecological agriculture and food systems throughout the world and suggests that it is time for the next agricultural revolution—blending food and agriculture systems harmoniously with people, their societies and cultures. Aimed at policy makers, scholars and farmers, the paperback edition is $24.95, available in the U.S. through Stylus Publishing, LLC, PO Box 605, Herndon, VA 20172-0605; fax: (703) 661-1501; email: stylusmail@presswarehouse.com, or in the United Kingdom through Earthscan (www.earthscan.co.uk).

Online guide to direct marketing
SAREP announces the release of a new online Guide to Educational Resources on Direct Marketing. The Web-based guide is a searchable, annotated listing of information resources on topics related to farmer direct marketing. It focuses on resources that are practical, of high quality, and relevant to a broad audience, including farmers and ranchers, Cooperative Extension personnel, state NRCS and USDA personnel, and community groups. Topics include farmers markets, community supported agriculture, farm-to-school/ selling to institutions, direct marketing livestock, selling to restaurants, and more. Resources include print materials (books, manuals, bulletins), videos and Web references. Guide listings include a brief item description directions on how to obtain it. Authors: David Chaney, Gail Feenstra, and Jeri Ohmart. Access the guide at www.sare.org/htdocs/dmrg/.

BioScience article
SAREP associate director Janet C. “Jenny” Broome is the co-author of “Rethinking the Vision for Environmental Research in US Agriculture” in the January 2004 (Vol. 54, No. 1) edition of the journal BioScience. The authors call for a new vision for environmental research in agriculture—“one that is anticipatory; promotes long-term, system-level research at multiple scales; better incorporates important interactions between the biophysical and social sciences; and provides for the proper evaluation of deployed solutions.” Co-authors are G. Philip Robertson, Elizabeth A. Chornesky, Jane R. Frankenbeger, Paul Johnson, Mark Lipson, John A. Miranowski, Elizabeth D. Owens, David Pimentel, and Lori Ann Thrupp.