Secondary Source: Sustainable Agriculture Week, Nov. 9, 1994, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy RURAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES The Heartland Center for Leadership Development in Lincoln, NE is pleased to announce the creation of a rural community development resource library in cooperation with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Architecture Library. The Collection, which is being made possible through a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, will contain high-quality rural community development resource materials funded by the Kellogg Foundation and other key sponsors of rural programs. For the first time these materials will be housed in a distinct resource library and made accessible to aid new programs in all parts of North America. The library will begin operations in early 1995. The grant also provides the Heartland Center with support to develop a training and technical assistance program for organizations that want to start or refine their own rural community materials or curricula. In addition to technical assistance, the Heartland Center expects to sponsor annual training seminars for programs that want to send representatives to Lincoln to learn more about how to develop programs for rural communities. The Heartland Center is currently collecting materials for inclusion in the resource library. Materials from your program or another you nominate may be eligible. If you have any questions or would like to nominate materials, please contact Mike Grimm or Vicki Luther at the Heartland Center, 941 "O" Street, Suite 920, Lincoln NE 68508, 1- 800-927-1115, ext. 805, mgrimm@unlinfo.unl.edu (or) vluther@nde4.nde.state.ne.us. RESOURCE GUIDE ON SUSTAINABLE AG MATERIALS The third edition of "The Showcase of Sustainable Agriculture Information and Educational Materials" is a 100-page booklet containing information about publications and educational materials useful to farmers who want to stay profitable while protecting the environment. The Showcase was compiled by members of the Sustainable Agriculture --- * Origin: [via Psychotronic BBS = Durham, NC = 919-286-4542]sustag- (1:3641/1) @PATH: 3641/1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (202) Tue 6 Dec 94 23:41 By: Pam Murray To: All Re: 03:Nov-Dec CSAS Newsletter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- @MSGID: 1:3641/223 0006b2f3 @PID GIGO+ sn 175 at psybbs vsn 0.99 pl1 @SPLIT: 12 Dec 94 13:35:18 @3641/223 9025 03/03 ++++++++++ From: CSAS001@UNLVM.UNL.EDU (Pam Murray) @Subject: Nov-Dec CSAS Newsletter Date: 6 Dec 1994 23:41:24 -0000 @Sender: daemon@bigblue.oit.unc.edu @Message-Id: <9412062003.AA29076@wolf.ces.ncsu.edu> Network (SAN), with support from the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. SAN is a consortium of people from universities, government, business and non-profit organizations dedicated to exchanging information about sustainable agriculture. SARE is a competitive grants program that provides funding for projects that promote agriculture that is environmentally sound, economically viable and sustains rural communities. (See Resources to order.) BIOTECHNOLOGY AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE: A BIBLIOGRAPHY Many crops and agricultural products have been modified using the molecular tools of biotechnology. At the same time, an increasing number of farmers are adopting sustainable cultural practices. Are these two developments compatible? Over the past decade a body of literature has accumulated addressing this question. This Special Reference Brief (SRB 94-13), prepared jointly by the Biotechnology Information Center and the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center of the USDA's National Agricultural Library, contains citations and keywords to 127 books, reports, magazine and journal articles that focus on this issue. It provides an introduction to the debate surrounding the use of biotechnology in sustainable farming systems. (See Resources to order.) RESOURCES "Pastured Poultry Manual" by Joel Salatin, $15 (video also available), PolyFace, Inc., Rt 1, Box 281, Swoope, VA 24479, 703-885-3590. (Editor's Note: The Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture has a project relating to free-ranging chickens and has worked with people interested in composting (even dead broilers), PO Box 588, Poteau, OK 74953, 918-647-9123.) "Biotechnology and Sustainable Agriculture: A Bibliography," National Agricultural Library, Fourth Floor, 10301 Baltimore Blvd., Beltsville, MD 20705-2351, 301-504-5947. Also available via: gopher.nalusda.gov. "The Showcase of Sustainable Agriculture Information and Educational Materials," $4.95 from Sustainable Agriculture Publications, 10 Hills Building, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0082. "Tap Water Blues," report by Environmental Working Group on drinking water supplies contanimated with agricultural herbicides, $43, EWG, 1718 Connecticut Ave., NW, #600, Washington, DC 20009, 202-667-6982. "The Future Use of Conservation Reserve Program Acres: A National Survey of Farm Owners and Operators," $19.50 ($15 for members), Soil and Water Conservation Society, 7515 Ankeny Road, Ankeny, IA 50021, 1-800-843- 7645, ext. 19. "Biological Control: A Natural Alternative," 26-minute video produced by USDA suitable for classroom and extension meetings, $50, National Audio Visual Center, 8700 Edgeworth Drive, Capitol Heights, MD 20743-3701, 301-763-1896. "Midwest Biological Control News," $12 annual subscription, Dept. of Entomology, U. of Wisconsin, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706. "Suppliers of Beneficial Organisms in North America," 30-page booklet includes listings for 120 different beneficial organisms under 13 different categories, free from the Department of Pesticide Regulation, Environmental Monitoring and Pest Management Branch, 1020 N Street, Room 161, Sacramento, CA 95814-5604, 916-324-4100. "Sustainable Agriculture in the American Midwest: Lessons from the Past Prospects for the Future," by Gregory McIsaac and William R. Edwards (eds.), $32.95, U. of Illinois Press, Hamden Post Office 4856, Baltimore, MD 21211, 410-516-6927. "Community Supported Agriculture on the Urban Fringe: Case Study and Survey," $5, Rodale Institute Research Center, 611 Siegfriedale Rd, Kutztown, PA 19530. "Harvest of Devastation: The Industrialization of Agriculture and its Human and Environmental Consequences," by E.G. Vallianatos, $11.50 (+ $3.50 shipping), The Apex Press, 777 United Nations Plaza, Suite 3C, New York, NY 10017. PANNA (Pesticide Action Network North America) maintains a gopher containing a database, news items, reports, lists of resources and information from other organizations dealing with pesticide and sustainable agriculture issues; host = gopher.econet.apc.org. EcoNet's Pesticide and Sustainable Ag Desk maintains a gopher containing materials from both national and international activist and NGOs; host = gopher.igc.apc.org. Paper series, "Sustainability in the Balance," includes the following: "Raising Fundamental Issues," "Expanding the Definition of Sustainable Agriculture," "What Do We Want to Sustain? Developing a Comprehensive Vision of Sustainable Agriculture," and "The Human Face of Sustainable Agriculture: Adding People," free, Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, U. of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, 408- 459-4140, rats@cats.ucsc.edu. DID YOU KNOW... Iowa currently accounts for 25% of U.S. pork production. A report by the Environmental Working Group in October stated over 14 million people, primarily in the Corn Belt, are drinking tap water contaminated with cancer causing herbicides. Supporting those findings was another report made in June at an American Water Works Association meeting which put the figure at 19 million. The latter report was made by a Kansas City engineering firm which analyzed EPA data. A national crop survey by the Conservation Technology Information Center finds that no-till planting increased by 4.2 million acres and deep-till plowing increased by 3.5 million acres last year in the U.S. EPA calls soil loss into streams and lakes the number one cause of water pollution in the U.S. According to a survey by the Soil and Water Conservation Society, farmers nationwide plan to return 63% of the acreage now in CRP to crop production. The manufacturer of BST estimates that 7% of U.S. farmers are using the hormone. A recent GAO report stated: "The use of unapproved chemicals (in food production/processing) has become a routine practice." The League of Conservation Voters gave the 1994 Congress its worst environmental ratings in 25 years. Declining hog and corn prices pushed the index of prices received by farmers to a six-year low in November. A North Carolina State U. poultry specialist found that storing aflatoxin-contaminated corn with ammonia-laden litter from poultry houses gets rid of the contamination--making it possible to use the combined litter and corn for cattle feed. COMING EVENTS Contact CSAS office for more information: Jan. 23-25 -- 1995 Conference on Sustainable Agriculture, sponsored by The Council for Agricultural and Science Technology, Washington, DC. Jan. 28 -- Nebraska Sustainable Ag. Society (NSAS) Western Area Conference, Ogallala, NE. Feb. 2-5 -- North American Farmers Direct Marketing Conference, Knoxville, TN. Feb. 14-15 -- Nebraska Vegetable Conference, Columbus, NE. Feb. 16-17 -- Sustainable Ag Directors Workshop, Lincoln, NE.