In this Issue:
VEGETABLE NEWS
BERRY NEWS
APPLE NEWS
“Greenbook 2007” Highlights Innovative Demonstration Farm Projects
| Vol 4 No. 11 | August 24, 2007 |
“Greenbook 2007” Highlights Innovative Demonstration Farm Projects
The annual edition of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) Greenbook is off the press. Published for 18 years, the Greenbook highlights the results of innovative demonstration projects that test new approaches to marketing and raising crops and livestock. The demonstration projects are funded by the MDA’s Sustainable Agriculture On-Farm Demonstration Grant program, which targets farming practices that rely more on renewable resources, enhancing the environment, and increasing profitability.
Greenbook 2007: Hands of Change highlights 16 Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grant projects in four major topic areas: alternative markets and specialty crops; fruits and vegetables; cropping systems and soil fertility; and livestock. Among this year’s projects are strategies for successful strawberry production, composting bedded pack barns for dairy cows and hybrid willow’s potential as a biomass energy alternative.
This year the MDA will award up to $150,000 in Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grants to help farmers, researchers, and educators implement new sustainable farming systems. The Minnesota legislature increased the funding amount by an additional $80,000.
The grants are available for three-year projects that benefit the environment, increase farm net profits through cost reduction or enhanced marketing, and improve the farm family quality of life. The request for proposals (RFP) will be available on the MDA web site in early September. If you have questions about the Grant Program, call Jeanne Ciborowski at 651-201-6217.
For a free copy of Greenbook 2007, call 651-201-6012. Greenbook 2007 is also available on the MDA’s web site: www.mda.state.mn.us/protecting/sustainable/greenbook.htm
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Co-Editors: Bill Hutchison (hutch002@umn.edu), Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Jeanne Ciborowski, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Ag. Resources Management and Development Division, and Suzanne Wold-Burkness (woldx018@umn.edu), Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota
The Newsletter is published weekly from May through August, cooperatively, by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and the University of Minnesota (U of MN). Reports are posted on the U of MN and MDA web sites on Fridays. If you have suggestions and/or comments, please send your contributions by 4 p.m., Wednesday to Jeanne Ciborowski, 651-201-6217, jeanne.ciborowski@state.mn.us , MDA, 625 Robert St. North, St. Paul, MN 55155. You can access the Newsletter at the U of MN web site in htm format at: www.vegedge.umn.edu/MNFruit&VegNews/mnindex.htm and at the MDA web site in pdf format at: www.mda.state.mn.us/plants/pestmanagement/ipm/ipmnews.htm
Partial funding for this publication is provided through partnership agreements with the Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (MFVGA) and the United States Department of Agriculture – Risk Management Agency (RMA). These institutions are equal opportunity providers.
DISCLAIMER
Reference to products in this publication is not intended to be an endorsement to the exclusion of others which may have similar uses. Any person using products listed in this publication assumes full responsibility for their use in accordance with current manufacturer directions.
Last Revised July, 2007 by woldx018@umn.edu
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