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FARM TO SCHOOL NEWS

Short Lunch Periods May Contribute to Obesity
CFNP Report - May 18, 2004

Most schoolchildren in the U.S. race the clock for their mid-day meal, because many public schools allow their students less than 30 minutes for lunch - time that must include getting to the cafeteria, through the serving line, and back to class. Schools in Alabama provide 20 to 28 minutes per lunch period, reported The Birmingham News in a May 3, 2004 story. Scheduling is up to the individual school, said a State Department of Education spokeswoman. At some schools the lunch hour begins as early at 10:15 a.m., and children may not be hungry at that hour if they have eaten breakfast. Hurried lunch periods can lead to poor food choices and obesity, health experts note. "When you're given limited time, you're going to go for food that is fast like pizza, chocolate chip cookies, corn and chicken nuggets," said Dr. Frank Franklin, professor of pediatrics and nutrition science at the University of Alabama - Birmingham. "Some of that stuff you can eat without even chewing it. All it is is fat and sugar." It takes 20 minutes for the brain to signal to the body that it's full, so every minute counts, Franklin emphasized. Short lunch periods can compromise a body's ability to feel satiated and a child can end up overeating or not eating enough, said Franklin . "For a state that has the second highest obesity rate in the country, allowing less than 30 minutes for lunch is ludicrous."

States Neglect Kids' Physical Education
CFNP Report - May 18, 2004

When it comes to addressing the epidemic of childhood obesity, most state legislatures are targeting junk food rather than strengthening anemic physical education programs that could help children stay fit. The federal government recommends that children exercise at least 30 minutes every day, but less than a quarter of school children in the U.S. get even 20 minutes of daily activity. Illinois is the only state that still requires students through 12 th grade to go to gym class each day. Alabama mandates daily gym class through eighth grade. But nationwide, no more than eight percent of schools provide physical education classes daily to all students. With increased pressure for more academic classes to improve performance on standardized tests, gym class often gets bumped from the school day. "When push comes to shove, things such as physical education get cut," said Charlene Burgeson, executive director of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE). However, the choice between academics and physical health is a false one, said NASPE president George Graham, a professor at Pennsylvania State University. "Students who are physically active tend to get better grades."

FARMLAND PROTECTION

Home Rule Community Preservation Act
David Haight, New York Field Manager, American Farmland Trust (518) 581-0078

Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, Chair of the Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee, and Senator Carl Marcellino, Chair of the Senate Environmental Conservation Committee, held a press conference on May 4th to announce the introduction of new legislation into both houses of the New York Legislature that would extend the authority to town governments across New York to establish local real estate transfer fees to establish "community preservation funds". The bills, S. 6949 and A. 10053, are dubbed the "Home Rule Community Preservation Act" and would extend the authority currently held by 6 towns in Suffolk County to town governments across the state to enact up to a 2% real estate transfer fee for the purposes of establishing local funds for farmland and open space conservation. The legislation does not generate new costs to the state - nor does it require that any community take any action. Rather, it respects New York's home rule tradition and gives greater decision-making power to towns across the state. The Suffolk County towns have used this authority to generate millions of dollars for protecting threatened farmland and open spaces. Speak to your state Assemblymember or Senator in support of the bills if you are interested in seeing this authority extended to your community. For further details about the legislation, see the attached 1-page memo or find the full legislation at: http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A10053 and http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=S06949&sh=t.

The Dane County Farms & Neighborhoods Initiative: Saving the Country, Saving the City
Forwarded from Joanna Green, Cornell Small Farms Program
This case study from Wisconsin is interesting because it offers economic, political and social strategies for dealing with both farmland loss and city/suburban developmentchallenges to farming that are being faced around the country. http://www.farmprofitability.org/research/dane/index.htm

NATIONAL NEWS

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear three appeals involving state laws preventing consumers from buying wine directly from out-of-state suppliers, reported DM News. Full Story, Court Docket --Excerpted from Specialty Food News May 25, 2004 electronic edition. The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, Inc., 120 Wall Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10005 - www.specialtyfood.com

The rivalry between Fresh Direct, Fairway market and Whole Foods is discussed in New York magazine. Full Story - Excerpted from Specialty Food News May 19, 2004 electronic edition. The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, Inc., 120 Wall Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10005 - www.specialtyfood.com

SUCCESSFUL ECOLABELS LINK FOOD FRESHNESS, LOCAL FAMILY FARMS
Contacts: Rich Pirog, Leopold Center, (515) 294-1854, rspirog@iastate.edu, or Laura Miller, (515) 294-5272

Farmers looking to market their locally grown products may find that what appears on the outside of the package is as critical as what they put inside. In an Internet survey conducted in November 2003, consumers from eight Midwestern states responded very positively to ecolabels that emphasized freshness and local production.
The Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the Iowa State University Business Analysis Laboratory used the Internet to show consumers four versions of ecolabels, a seal or logo indicating that a product has met a certain set of environmental and/or social standards or attributes. On the ecolabels were pictures of strawberries along with several different tag lines related to product freshness and local origins. Survey recipients were asked to choose which ecolabels would encourage them to purchase locally grown items. In addition to responding to the ecolabels, survey recipients were asked questions about how they defined "local" when buying food, which product attributes were most important when buying local, and the connection between "family farm" and other terms such as locally grown, organic, and pesticide-free.
The ecolabel that was most influential in spurring respondents to purchase local foods was "Freshness-dated, so you know when it left the farm." Rich Pirog, Leopold Center program leader in marketing and food systems research, says of the survey findings: "The responses to the tag lines support the premise from an earlier study that the use of freshness dating on locally grown products is a concept with tremendous market potential. However, freshness dating should be extended beyond stating how long a product will retain quality to include how fresh (time from harvest) the product is when it arrives at the store or point of sale."
Consumers clearly were aware of where their food currently comes from--less than 16 percent of the respondents believed that more than half of their food items came from within their state. When asked how closely the terms grown locally, pesticide-free, organic, grown in your state, product of USA, and humanely raised were related to the term "family farm," the majority of respondents (68 percent of those who viewed the ecolabels) cited grown locally as the closest match.
If price and visual appearance were the same, the survey respondents were most likely to select a locally grown or locally grown and pesticide-free meat or produce item compared to a certified organic product, regardless of where the organic item was produced. These findings indicate that the term locally grown commands a great deal of power and influence for consumers when purchasing meat or produce items. It also implies that consumers do not understand the meaning of "certified organic" as well as they do locally grown, nor do they perceive that the same sense of value applies to organic meat and produce items as to locally grown products.
"Understanding how and why consumers value locally grown products may offer a competitive advantage to farmers looking to tap into area markets," says Pirog. "It also sends a message to organic growers that locally or regionally grown organic products may be perceived as being more highly valued than organic products with no further level of differentiation."
In a second, smaller Iowa-based Internet survey, 12 to 18 percent of consumer respondents were willing to pay 30 percent or more for food products (depending on the food item) that combine the attributes of locally grown with environmental and community stewardship. This is encouraging to small and midsize farmers who want to use locally grown as a beneficial way to differentiate their foods in the marketplace. It is clear from the survey, however, that these consumer respondents want the farms making these marketing claims to be inspected and certified.
November's study was the second part of broader look at the positive role that ecolabels could play in promoting locally grown farm products. Pirog noted that consumer respondents were selected randomly from e-mail address lists owned by a survey administrator, but were not a statistically random sample of the general population. Pirog worked with the Business Analysis laboratory at Iowa State University to conduct the research. The Lab involves graduate and undergraduate students from the ISU colleges of business, education, and engineering who work in teams to solve business problems for companies.
The report "Ecolabel Value Assessment Phase 2: Consumer Perceptions of Local Food" is available at the Leopold Center's web site (www.leopold.iastate.edu), or by contacting the Center at (515) 294-3711. Results from the earlier ecolabel research "Ecolabel Value Assessment: Consumer and Food Business Perceptions of Local Foods" are available at: www.leopold.iastate.edu/pubs/staff/ecolabels/index.htm

Report Finds U.S. Taxpayers Subsidize Low Wages: Low wages not only harm workers, they devastate small business and communities as well. Policies should encourage reform.
Chuck Hassebrook, chuckh@cfra.org or 402.687.2100 x 1018.

Each Wal-Mart store costs federal taxpayers over $2,000 per employee to supplement low wage levels, according to a congressional study released by U.S. Representative George Miller. For a store with 200 employees, the report estimates taxpayers each year pay:$36,000 for free and reduced school lunches, $42,000 for housing assistance, $125,000 for low-income tax credits and deductions, $100,000 for services to at-risk students, $108,000 for health care subsidies, $9,750 for low-income energy assistance.
The significance of these findings is underscored by estimates that Wal-Mart will control over one-third of all food and drug sales in the United State by 2007. This report reflects not just one company. It reflects one of the world's most profitable and rapidly growing corporations and the emerging global economy. Simply put, major companies are seeking a competitive edge by running a race to the bottom for worker pay and benefits. It goes without saying that this is bad for workers. But it's equally bad for small business and communities.
Farmers and small business people are also working people. As wages for working people are depressed, their incomes fall too. Self-employed small retailers cannot pay themselves a middle class income for the work they do
in their own business and compete with large companies that pay poverty-level wages. Family farmers face the same problem in competing with low-wage corporate farms.
It's devastating for communities. As chain stores replace independent businesses, profits are drained out of the community. And as self-employed business people are replaced by low-wage workers, communities lose their middle class who can buy homes, put down roots, and give back.
It does not have to be that way. But if we want to take America in a better direction we must make a different set of policy choices. We must make companies pay a living wage in return for the things they expect of government. If corporations want access to American markets for goods produced outside our borders, they should be required to respect the rights of workers to organize and elevate living standards. If they want access to the special tax breaks states and the federal government provide, they should be required to pay a living wage and provide decent benefits. It does not
serve the common good to subsidize companies to create poor jobs.
Finally, we must return to the time when competition was based on efficiency and service to customers rather than economic power. We must enforce anti-trust laws, including those that prohibit the giants from using their size and power to gain unfair price advantages.
Read the Congressional report: http://edworkforce.house.gov/democrats/WALMARTREPORT.pdf

NEW YORK STATE NEWS

Milk and the Media
Alan Knight, Communications Manager, N.Y. Farm Bureau, 518-431-5631

Many of you have been concerned about the way in which newspapers, radio news accounts, and television newscasts have reported the increase in dairy prices. I thought you should know how New York Farm Bureau has responded and sought to "accent the positive." We found it---the positive---in Stewart's Shops, a 315-store chain of convenience stores in north central New York, northeastern New York, and Vermont. Folks at Stewart's took the initiative to place a sign on the glass door of their dairy cases. (You can read about it at www.nyfb.org and in the newest issue of Grassroots). The sign is most positive and "affirming" towards farmers while, at the same time, expressing empathy for consumers. Farm Bureau president John Lincoln has written to Stewart's, thanking them for their stance on this and their initiative is posting the signs for all their dairy consumers to see. We have written to the CEO of about a dozen convenience store chains and supermarket chains across the state, urging them to follow Stewart's example, as well as to the Food Industry Alliance. Please feel free to spread the idea to your local stores!
PINK CATAWBA, a blast from the past, will be coming back big-time on June 1 as Bully Hill Vineyards unveils a totally new and improved Pink Catawba that will be widely distributed. A hardy Native American (labrusca) grape variety which can produce a wide range of wines, Catawba was once a mainstay of the New York grape industry, with over a million cases produced a couple decades ago but much less in recent years. Bully Hill's Catawba commitment will give a major boost to many grape growers, and marks their first effort under a "Pride of New York" promotional grant from the Department of Agriculture & Markets. National Sales Manager Adam LaPierre says during product testing people are going "nuts" over the wine. Bully Hill (www.bullyhill.com) has a long history of going against the grain and listening to consumers rather than wine writers, with the new Pink Catawba as the latest example.—The Wine Press, May 22, 2004
First of 2004's Cheeses
Bobolink Dairy

We began cheesemaking on April 15th, so the first of the new season's cheeses are coming of age on June 14th, pursuant to the FDA's sixty-day rule for raw milk. We'll be offering them to you, our list subscribers, before they go to the general public. Because early spring grasses are best suited to soft-ripened cheeses, much of the first few weeks' releases are of that type. Also, for ten days, the cows were feasting on a bottom-land pasture, across the river from the creamery, which was full of wild garlic. For a while there, the milking parlor smelled like a Mediterranian football club locker room. However, the first test cuttings of cheese are showing an unusual cheese alchemy: the garlic redolence in the milk has morphed into, of all things, a distinct white truffle note. Hard to understand until you taste it, you'll be truly amazed. Other forms that we expect to release in June include the familiar Jean-Louis and Drumm, plus a new soft-ripened cheese called Baudilino, and the return of an old favorite, Amram, named in honor of old friend and dairy instigator David Amram.

Eight Executive Directors Survive "Boot Camp III"
CCE Newsletter May 2004

A third session of "Boot Camp for New and Interim Executive Directors" was delivered via distance learning April 28-29. This session focused on human resources and, in particular, systems, philosophy, and resources available to Cornell Cooperative Extension leaders in the human resources arena. The virtual "troop" included Jan Cohen (CCE-Otsego), Brian Gilchrist (CCE-Washington), Amy Ivy (CCE-Clinton), Linda Keech (CCE-Dutchess), Syd McEvoy (CCE-Cortland), Bev Mancuso (CCE-Genesee), Ken Schlather (CCE-Tompkins), and Nancy Welch (CCE-Hamilton). Congratulations!

COMMISSIONER PROMOTES "PRIDE OF NEW YORK SEAFOOD"
Long Island Fishermen Land Big Catch with Pride of New York Promotion
Jessica Chittenden, NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets

State Agriculture Commissioner Nathan L. Rudgers today joined representatives from the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association (LICFA) to kick-off its new campaign, "Pride of New York Seafood." The LICFA received a $50,000 promotional grant from the Department last year to promote locally-landed seafood with the Pride of New York program, the State's branding program for New York food and agricultural products. The goals of the Pride of New York Seafood campaign will be to inform the public on the benefits and importance of eating locally-landed seafood, create a partnership between commercial fishermen and restaurants, and ultimately, help create a stronger consumer awareness of the freshness and packed-at-sea quality standards of New York seafood.
In order to reach its goals, the campaign will enlist the participation of East End restaurants, retail seafood shops and wholesale fish markets. The campaign will also utilize the artwork of renowned folk-artist, Nicholas Wilton, coupled with the Pride of New York logo and the campaign's slogan, "North, South, East and West…New York's fishermen catch the best!" on all promotional materials. The campaign will feature posters, brochures and stickers for retailers, and table tent inserts and posters for restaurants.
Bonnie Brady, Executive Director of LICFA described the Pride of New York Seafood campaign as a win-win for all. "It's good for the fish, good for the fishermen, and ultimately the consumer. It will allow consumers to choose a quality product that's conservation-minded and will also help to promote fishing communities on Long Island."
New York fishermen landed 41.3 million pounds of fish and shellfish with a dockside value of $59.6 million in 2000. A recent New York Sea Grant study estimated that New York's commercial fishing industry contributed a total of $149.6 million to the State's economy and directly employed approximately 10,500 New Yorkers.
New York's seafood industry in total contributes approximately $8 billion to the State's economy annually, which includes receipts from commercial fishing, wholesale operations including the Fulton Fish Market, processors, fish markets and restaurants.
Most of New York's commercial fishing activity occurs in the coastal and ocean waters that surround Long Island. The largest commercial fishing ports are Montauk, Shinnecock and Greenport.
New York's top catch is finfish, such as flounder, tuna, cod, fluke and scup, among others. Finfish account for 17.5 million pounds or about 43 percent of the State's total catch. Squid account for 29 percent of the State's total catch with 12.2 million pounds caught, and shellfish, including clams, oysters, and lobsters, account for 28 percent of the harvest with 11.6 million pounds. The shellfish harvest, however, makes up 60 percent of the total dockside value of the commercial catch at $36 million as compared to $16 million for finfish species and $7.7 million for squid.

BITS AND PIECES
From The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade, Inc., 120 Wall Street, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10005 - www.specialtyfood.com

When choosing where to shop, most important to consumers are a clean, neat store (88%), high-quality fruits and vegetables (85%), high-quality meats (80%), low prices (79%) and courteous, friendly employees (74%), according to the Food Marketing Institute report Trends in the United States: Consumer Attitudes & the Supermarket 2004. Full Story

"Extreme Eating" is featured in New York magazine, which notes it is boom time for offal and other odd foods in New York City. Full Story

Restaurant menus are changing to reflect rising food costs for meat, poultry and dairy. In addition to price increases, local Minneapolis area restaurants are cutting portion sizes, dropping expensive entrees, and adding embellishments at a cost, reported The Star Tribune. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

USDA forecasts further increases in meat and poultry prices this year due to strong demand and reduced output. View Report

Lawsuits may be the only way to force U.S. foodmakers to produce healthier foods or curb ads that encourage over-eating, said speakers at an annual Consumer Federation of America conference on food and nutrition, reported CNN.com. Full Story

From CFNP Report - May 18, 2004
Can you eat nutritiously on $4.12 per day? The government says you can. That is the maximum benefit allotted to each person in a three-person household under the Food Stamp Program's thrifty food plan in fiscal year 2004.

Ice cream lovers face "licker shock". Retail prices for ice cream are rising rapidly this season, as a combination of factors - including natural disasters overseas, dairy shortages in the U.S. , and political unrest in Africa - drive up the price of key ingredients, including milk, vanilla, and cocoa. Price increases of up to 20 percent may freeze out the average consumer who has been eating 26 servings of ice cream a year.

RESOURCES

May is American Wetlands Month: American Wetlands Month is an opportunity for communities to conserve wetlands and help educate others about their importance. Each May, thousands of Americans celebrate the uniqueness, beauty and importance of wetlands through on-the-ground projects, activities and events. An American Wetlands Month kit is available online to assist local groups in initiating projects. The kit includes wetlands fact sheets, project ideas, case studies of projects from across the country, step-by-step information on how to coordinate specific projects, and links to informative wetland sites. For more information, visit www.iwla.org/sos/awm. --CCE News May 4, 2004

The May 2004 Smart Marketing article is "Shortcuts to Measuring Crop Profitability: Are They Misleading?" by David Conner. All Smart Marketing articles are available at: http://hortmgt.aem.cornell.edu/smart_marketing/index.htm .
Please cite Smart Marketing Series and use the Logo when you use the articles.

"Farmers and their Innovative Cover Cropping Techniques" Video Now Available. The video features 10 vegetable and berry farms in five northeastern states (MA, NH, NJ, PA, VT) that have experimented with and refined a wide variety of creative cover cropping practices. The Northeast SARE-PDP program provided funding for production of the 70-minute video, and several of the farmers in it have been recipients of SARE farmer-grower grants that helped them explore new practices. A limited number of copies are available free of charge to extension and other educators and agricultural service providers or researchers who will use it in their programs to help farmers increase or improve their use of cover crops. For more information on this video and three other SARE-funded videos, visit www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/Videos/videos.html.

The farmers market season is here ... and so is THE GRASSROOTS OPX--featuring prices and observations from local farmers markets around the country, provided by dedicated volunteers. This week we're featuring prices from 11 markets, and hope to grow that number to over 25. To check out this week's prices, or to sign up as a volunteer, click here. Don't forget to check out our latest Organic Price Index. —New Farm Newsletter May 14, 2004

We are very excited to have our new website up and running: "Planting the Future of Our Community" at www.politicsoffood.org Thanks to the dedication and pro bono work of RIT new media students we are pleased to announce its arrival. Check out our site today to learn more about the fine work we are engaged in. --Jan McDonald, Program Director, Politics of Food Program

New book announcement-- With an Ear to the Ground: Essays on Sustainable Agriculture
Since 1997, Vern Grubinger has been a regular commentator on Vermont Public Radio, where he has talked about food, farmers, and rural life. Now these radio addresses have been collected into book form by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, which now announces the release of With an Ear to the Ground: Essays on Sustainable Agriculture. The essays range from reflections on insects, zoning, school lunches, and pest management to new marketing models for farmers, organic standards, and the nonexistent sex life of potatoes. Arranged chronologically, each essay offers the reader a fresh and often funny take on the complex and interlocking themes of agricultural sustainability, whether the topic is the status of small farms, the life of John Deere, the contents of chicken nuggets, or the productiveness of Vermont's working landscape with its bounty of fresh, local food. With an Ear to the Ground is available in paperback from Northeast SARE for $10 plus $3.95 for shipping and handling. To order, call 802/656-0484 or send e-mail to sanpubs@uvm.edu. Discounts for bulk orders are available.

Broken Limbs: Apples, Agriculture, and the New American Farmer looks at the plight of apple growers in the age of globalization, and points the way to sustainable US agriculture. 57 minutes Color / Stereo, Grade Level: 7 - 12, College, Adult US Release Date: 2004 Copyright Date: 2004 ISBN: 1-59458-029-4 Produced by Jamie Howell and Guy Evans.
"Broken Limbs is a very accurate and moving description of what is happening to agriculture in America." - Fred Kirschenmann, Director, Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University, organic farmer
Wenatchee, Washington, the "Apple Capital of the World"; this pastoral valley in the heart of the Northwest prospered for nearly a century as home to the famed Washington apple. But the good times have vanished. Apple orchardists by the thousands are going out of business and thousands more await the dreaded letter from the bank, announcing the end of their livelihoods and a uniquely American way of life. After his own father receives just such a letter, filmmaker Guy Evans sets out on a journey to find out what went wrong here in this natural Garden of Eden. Over the course of filming, Evans witnesses small farmers struggling to compete against the Goliaths that populate today's global economy, only to be ultimately forced off their land. The future looks grim for the Apple Capital until Evans happens upon an entirely new breed of farmer, practitioners of a new model called "sustainable agriculture".
Broken Limbs explores these hopeful stirrings within agriculture, outlining ways in which any individual can play a role in saving America's farmers. Visit http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/broke.html for film details and reviews or to get a copy.

OPPORTUNITIES

The Animal Welfare Institute ( www.awionline.org) is a non-profit, educational organization. We have a husbandry program in which we, together with scientists and farmers, develop animal-friendly husbandry standards for raising of animals for food. We currently have standards for rabbits, ducks and pigs and are developing standards for other species. Most of the over 300 farmers who use our pig husbandry standards currently market to Niman Ranch. We are trying to identify farmers who may be raising ducks with access to water to swim and outdoor, vegetated areas, seasons permitting. Would you be able to help us determine if there are farms of commercial size in New York who meet these basic criteria? Or do you have suggestions for how we might identify such farms? Thank you in advance for your attention. ---Diane Halverson, Farm Animal Advisor, Animal Welfare Institute

Organics and Specialty Food March Ahead, Hand in Hand. Read about the organic-specialty connection in the May issue of Specialty Food Magazine. Familiarize yourself with organic terminology and learn how this growing segment can benefit consumers, farmers and the environment, as well as specialty food retailers. Click here for full story.

Culinary schools are drawing top talent straight out of high school in a nation hungry for fine dining, according to TIME. Full Story—Specialty Food News May 20, 2004

GRANTS

Evaluating the Effects of Conservation Practices on Water Quality
The Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) are requesting applications for the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) for fiscal year 2004 to develop research, education, and extension projects aimed at improving the quality of water resources in agricultural watersheds across the nation. The RFP for the competitive grants program is available at: www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/fundview.cfm?fonum=1160. The proposal deadline is July 6, 2004.

NSF Water Cycle Research Program Solicitation
The National Science Foundation invites proposals for basic research that contributes to an enhanced understanding of the water cycle and its function as a transport agent for energy and mass. This solicitation encourages investigators to integrate research and build interdisciplinary research teams to pursue topics that cannot readily be addressed by individual core programs within the National Science Foundation. The proposal deadline is July 26, 2004. More information may be found at www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04577/nsf04577.htm.

EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Grants
Funding is available through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for proposals to advance the development of dynamic global economic modeling of greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation from land-use, land-use change, and forestry activities. Additional information may be found at www.fedgrants.gov/Applicants/EPA/OGD/GAD/OAR-CPPD-04-09/listing.html. The proposal deadline is June 30, 2004.

Renewable Energy: USDA Rural Development recently announced it has $22.8 million in grant funds for farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses to purchase renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements. Applicants can request up to 25 percent of eligible project costs. The minimum grant amount is $2,500, so total project costs must be at least $10,000. Applicants can request up to $500,000 for renewable energy systems, and up to $250,000 for energy efficiency improvements. Eligible renewable energy projects include those that derive energy from biomass (including methane digesters), solar, wind, geothermal, or those in which hydrogen is derived from biomass or water using one of the listed renewable energy sources. Proposals must be sent to USDA offices in Syracuse and postmarked by July 19, 2004. To read about the program, go to USDA Rural Development's website, http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.
The Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) is available through a link on the home page. Contact Scott Collins at 315-477-6409 or Scott.Collins@ny.usda.gov if you have questions about the program. A free workshop will be held for potential applicants in the Bistro Room of the Art and Home Center at the State Fairgrounds in Syracuse at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, June 1st. The program eligibility and application requirements will be explained in more detail. NYSERDA and the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets will cosponsor the meeting and will give presentations on funding opportunities for renewable energy projects.

NYSERDA programs covered will include:
-Low interest loan program and other energy efficiency programs;
-Industrial Process and Productivity Improvement-proposals due 6/15;
-Wind Incentives - proposals accepted while funds remain;
-Innovations in Agriculture - proposals due late Summer
Programs covered by the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets include:
-Food & Ag Industry Development program - innovative approaches to producing and processing ag and food products;
-Farmland Viability program - funding to develop and implement farm business plans;
-Ag Nonpoint program - funding to plan and install conservation practices on farms, as a component of the Agricultural Environmental Management (AEM) program.
For information about NYSERDA programs or this workshop, please email questions to Agriculture@nyserda.org

SAVE THE DATE

Summer Class Schedule : The Bobolink class schedule for June, July and August is finally on the website, here: http://shop.cowsoutside.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=231