The Small-Scale Poultry Flock

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Ron_Revord

Holistic Management International has given a great review of Harvey Ussery’s new book The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers

http://holisticmanagement.org/in_practice/book-review-by-ann-adams-of-the-small-scale-poultry-flock-by-harvey-ussery/

“Having dabbled in raising both meat chickens and layers, I’ve read my fair share of chicken books. Without a doubt, Harvey Ussery’s The Small-Scale Poultry Flock is the best book I’ve read about how to raise poultry in an all-natural way. …. I don’t think I’ve read such a useful farming book in a long time. ‘Chockfull’ of useful information and thoughtful commentary, this book is a must have for any poultry producer.”

̶  Ann Adams, Holistic Management International

The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers$39.95 paperback ▪ 416 pages ▪ Full Color Throughout ▪ 8 x 10 ▪ ISBN 9781603582902

http://media.chelseagreen.com/the-small-scale-poultry-flock/

Chelsea Green’s Organic Farming books are available at http://reps.chelseagreen.com/files/pdf/2012Farming.pdf


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Cultivating FoodJustice Race, Class, and Sustainability

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Ron_Revord

Popularized by such best-selling authors as Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, and Eric Schlosser, a growing food movement urges us to support sustainable agriculture by eating fresh food produced on local family farms. But many low-income neighborhoods and communities of color have been systematically deprived of access to healthy and sustainable food. These communities have been actively prevented from producing their own food and often live in “food deserts” where fast food is more common than fresh food. Cultivating FoodJustice describes their efforts to envision and create environmentally sustainable and socially just alternatives to the food system.

Bringing together insights from studies of environmental justice, sustainable agriculture, critical race theory, and food studies, Cultivating Food Justice highlights the ways race and class inequalities permeate the food system, from production to distribution to consumption. The studies offered in the book explore a: range of important issues, including agricultural and land use policies that systematically disadvantage Native American, African American, Latino/a, and Asian American farmers and farmworkers; access problems i~ both urban and rural areas; efforts to create sustainable local food systems in low-income communities of color; and future directions for the food justice movement. These diverse accounts of the relationships among food, environmentalism, justice, race, and identitywill help guide efforts to achieve a just and sustainable agriculture.

Food, Health, and the Environment Series.

Alison Hope Alkon is Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of the Pacific. Julian Agyeman is Professor and Chair of the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University.

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Tools to help boost local food economy

Posted on January 18, 2012 by admin

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Director Warren Ribley addressed the annual Illinois Specialty Growers Association conference last week in Springfield and highlighted ways the state is working to increase markets for local foods.

“More people today want to know where their food comes from. Making food grown and produced in Illinois more accessible helps Illinois residents eat locally and helps boost our economy,” said Director Ribley. “The tools we’re introducing today are a step toward building an expanded, locally-produced food supply that benefits more people in Illinois.”

For more go to http://www.ildceo.net/dceo/News/homepage_pr01122012.htm

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Posted on January 18, 2012 by admin

Interested in one of the many metrics farmers can use to evaluate sustainability?  Check out the Field to Market Fieldprint Calculator that U.S. soybean farmers think may meet the needs of some customers who want proof U.S. soy has been sustainably produced.  To read more see http://deltafarmpress.com/soybeans/online-tool-helps-show-us-soy-s-sustainability

The soybean checkoff has supported the Field to Market alliance and its efforts to update Fieldprint Calculator, which is available at www.fieldtomarket.org/fieldprint-calculator/.

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U of I business students provide roadmap for a local food hub

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Patricia

From IBC student presentationLast semester the Edible Economy Project engaged Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) to identify and recommend solutions that will help them establish a local food hub in central Illinois.  Edible Economy is a non-profit organization working to engage partners in 32 Central Illinois counties to create a modern, efficient, community-based regional food system where producers and consumers work together to foster a healthier, more self-sufficient community in which more local money goes back into local communities, and fresh, local, sustainably-raised foods are accessible to all citizens.

According to the USDA, a food hub acts as “a business or organization that is actively coordinating the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of source-identified locally grown food products from primarily small to mid-sized producers.” Benefits of food hubs include contributions to the local economy, increased access to fresh, healthy food, reduced energy consumption and improvements to the environment.

To jump start efforts the Edible Economy engaged the IBC, which is a program run by U of I students in the Business School that helps clients tap the University’s top student talent.   A team of 8 students led by Senior Manager Megan Cook, a Senior in Accountancy & Finance and Project Manager John Busch, a Junior in Finance in Agribusiness, accepted the challenge and worked up a set of recommendations that would culminate in the formation of a business cooperative to develop the hub.

The students presented their conclusions after sharing a market analysis and a business plan to the Edible Economy team on Dec 10.  Some of their recommendations include beginning by surveying Central Illinois’ 5,000 plus farmers to determine their desires and goals for a food hub and starting off with a co-op business model and switching to a limited liability corporation (LLC) model as the organization grows.  They also provided a business timeline, which recommends spending the first six months to a year in preparation and estimates that they can become fully established in six to twelve years.

To view the full analysis, you can download the presentation here.

With the roadmap provided by the IBC and a lot of enthusiasm the Edible Economy team is planning currently planning for next steps. To follow their progress and contribute your thoughts, visit the Edible Economy Project website.

Project manager John Busch was also pleased with the outcome of the semester-long project.  Says Busch, “All of our hard work, long hours and expertise were acknowledged after our presentation by Edible Economy and the mayor of Normal. The project is very relevant in today’s economy and with the right people and resources a significant impact can be achieved in Illinois’s agricultural industry.”  He also sees such exposure as a chance to publicize IBC’s work.  “It’s important to get the word out about IBC’s efforts to better the community and the organization itself.”  After completing an application process, students work for IBC first as consultants for several semesters, after which they may have the opportunity to be promoted to project managers, who are the main leaders on particular projects, and later senior managers, who oversee and do quality control on three projects.  Says Busch, “The organization succeeds on the fact that all the students involved, from the consultants to the senior managers, are talented, motivated, and outgoing individuals.”  For more information on IBC, see their website at http://www.ibc.illinois.edu/.

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Illinois Organic Growers Association Seeks Members

Posted on January 10, 2012 by admin

Don’t Miss the Illinois Organic Growers Association Business Meeting

This takes place this Thursday January 12, 2012   from 4:00-5:00 in Plaza Room F of the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Convention Center, Springfield, Illinois

 

IOGA Agenda______________

  1. Welcome and Introductions moderated by Jack Erisman
  2. 2011 Activities and Accomplishments
  3. Benefits of IOGA for Members
  4. Call for Membership and Election of Board
  5. Nomination of members
  6. Election/Decision
  7. Next Steps

And, the IOGA membership drive has begun!

If you join IOGA by the time of the annual business meeting at 4:00 PM on Thursday, January 12, you will be entered into a drawing to be reimbursed for the $75 registration fee to attend the IL Specialty Crops, Agritourism, and Organic Conference. Note that you must attend the conference to win the reimbursement.

  • Also, if you become an IOGA member and attend the annual business meeting, you can win one of three copies of the publication Crop Rotation on Organic Farms by Charles L. Mohler and Sue Ellen Johnson, editors. Note that you must become an IOGA member by the start of the business meeting and be present at the business meeting in order to win a book. You may attend the meeting in person or via conference call.

You may join online at http://illinoisorganicgrowers.org/join-ioga, or in person at the conference. Stop by our booth in the exhibitor hall.

Your membership support helps IOGA provide educational and networking support to organic growers in Illinois. Members need not be certified organic producers.

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Wes Jackson and Perennials

Posted on January 10, 2012 by admin

Wes Jackson, founder of the Land Institute (http://www.landinstitute.org/) was on campus November 30 to present a seminar “An Agriculture where Nature is the Measure”.  Brad Cosentino, a postdoctoral associate in NRES hosted him as part of PEEC’s seminar series.   Wes, pictured here to the right of Mark David in front of a Miscanthus Plot on the Bioenergy Farm, was in classic good form, dealing a full rash of wisdom and wit.  He brought samples of Kernza, a wonderful whole gran flour made from perennial intermediate wheat grass that is being selectively bread at the Land Institute, and a beautiful display of perennial grass roots.  This link to an article in Scientific American written by Jerry Glover and John Reganold includes a photo of the roots displayed and makes the case for perennial agriculture. http://www.landinstitute.org/pages/Glover-et-al-2007-Sci-Am.pdf.  During his presentation, Dr. Jackson laid out a plan for a multi-institution research effort to develop the perennial grains needed to achieve his vision and lamented the damage that narrow disciplinary training has wrought on applied scientists.  In a plea for interdisciplinarity he used the blind kitten metaphor, explaining that they will never learn to see if blind folded during their early weeks of life.   After his presentation, which ran long because he had a lot to say, he joined a small group at a reception hosted by ASAP that was held at the Bread Company. It was a treat.

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Don’t Miss the Illinois Specialty Crops, Agritourism, and Organic Conference

Posted on January 3, 2012 by admin

January 11-132012 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield.

PRE REGISTER BY JAN 3

Below are some highlights from the organic tracks at the conference:
• Keynote address by Jim Riddle, University of Minnesota and USDA National Organic Standards Board: “What is Organic and Why Should I Care?” Thursday, January 12 from 10:45 to 11:45.
• Spray Drift Issues for Specialty Crop and Organic Growers. Comprehensive look at spray drift, including remarks on the Illinois Pesticide Act by Warren Goetsch of the IL Department of Agriculture, a case study of a spray drift incident, and suggestions on how to minimize risk and recover damages. Thursday, January 12 from 1:30 to 3:30.
• 13 different 40-minute workshops on a variety of organic topics related to organic soil and fertility, fruit and berry production, vegetable production, grain production, and livestock systems.
• Annual meeting of the IL Organic Growers Association–come tell us how we can support education and networking among organic growers in Illinois. You need not be a certified organic producer to join us. Thursday, January 12 from 4:00 to 4:45.
See our web site for a full listing of organic workshops and educational sessions. See here for the full ISCAOC program.

The cost of the conference for advance registration is $75 per person; $45 for additional persons in the same group. There is an additional $15 charge for registration after January 3. Registration includes the trade show and lunch. The conference banquet on the evening of January 12 is an additional $25 ($30 at the door).

To register in advance, please complete the registration form in the conference brochure and mail it to  Illinois Specialty Crops Conference • 1701 Towanda Avenue • Bloomington, IL 61701 no later than January 3, 2012

Prices and times are as follows

Pre-Conference Workshops (Wednesday, January 11, 2012)

(Select one workshop per attendee.)

#1 – Scaling Up Local Foods: Moving Beyond Farmers Markets

# Attending _______@ $35/member*; $45/non-member (includes lunch); on-site registration $15 more per person ………………………………………………… $ ______________

#2 – Legal Issues for Specialty Crop Producers

# Attending _______@ $35/member*; $45/non-member (includes lunch); on-site registration $15 more per person ………………………………………………… $ ______________

#3 – Getting Started in Local Foods: Guidelines and Resources for New Growers

# Attending _______@ $35/member*; $45/non-member (includes lunch); on-site registration $15 more per person ………………………………………………… $ ______________

#4 – Farmers Markets: Creating Resources and Partnerships for a Healthy Community

# Attending _______@ $35/member*; $45/non-member (includes lunch); on-site registration $15 more per person ………………………………………………… $ ______________

Specialty Crops, Agritourism and Organic Conference (Thursday & Friday, January 12-13, 2012)

Registration Fee (Includes trade show, lunch, and educational sessions; on-site registration $15 more per person)

First Person Attending……….$65/member*; $75/non-member = ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… $ _____________

Additional Person(s) #_______ at $40/member*; at $45/non-member = ………………………………………………………………………………………….. $ _____________

Banquet Tickets #_______ @ $25 ($30 on-site) …………………………………Vegetarian Option (circle if preferred) #________ ………………………. $ _____________

(Dietary restrictions required in advance)

Trade Show Only Pass (Thursday – Friday, January 12-13, 2012) (for those individuals attending only the trade show activities) # Attending _______@ $10/person =

For more info contact Charlene Blary: 309.557.2107 • (fax) 309.557.3729 • cblary@ilfb.org • www.specialtygrowers.org

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Fearless Farm Finances

Posted on December 16, 2011 by admin

This book may come in a little too late to be that perfect gift for the holiday but you may consider giving them an IOU if this resource is for them. MOSES has a new publication coming out that promises to ‘demystify’ farm finances. This book was developed to “help you understand basic financial management on your farm- how to collect and use numbers in ways that will give you real information that is helpful in making farm decisions”.

http://www.mosesorganic.org/farmfinances.html

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Feeding Illinois

Posted on December 10, 2011 by admin

The holidays are a time for giving and thinking of others. That is what Feeding Illinois does all year long. According to their website 1,532,238 people, including 500,000 children, now live in poverty in Illinois and requests for emergency food aid have doubled in the past two years. The purpose of Feeding Illinois is to provide food for hungry people in Illinois, to advocate for policies that reduce hunger, and to educate the public about the vital role food banks play in addressing hunger.

Feeding Illinois’ eight member food banks work through a network of member agencies, community partners and corporate and government partners to acquire and distribute food. Food and grocery products are donated by local food manufacturers, government agencies, food drives, and Feeding America and through food recovery programs partnerships with local restaurants and grocery stores. They use donated funds to help Food banks purchase needed food. Amazingly, 95 percent of Feeding Illinoi’s budgets goes directly to feeding programs.

To figure out how you can contribute to Feeding Illinois click here http://www.feedingillinois.org/need/
Or connect directly to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank, which is our local link to this network. http://www.eifoodbank.org/

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