This series of energy efficiency webinars is targeted at county or regional based extension educators in the upper Midwest and beyond. It will cover six major agricultural enterprises: Livestock and Poultry, Irrigation, grain drying, greenhouses, field operations and dairy farms. Each one hour webinar will cover a different topic. Pre-registration is required. Click on the registration link for the webinars you are interested in. All webinars begin at 9:00 CDT. Participant should plan to log on 5 to 10 minutes prior to the
start time.

SARE Energy Professional Development Webinar Series is...

Source: The Circle: Native American News and Arts

_{by: Winona LaDuke and Lauren Scott}

Indigenous farmers and gardeners from the region and beyond gathered at the 9th Annual Great Lakes Indigenous Farming Conference in March to share knowledge, stories, and of course, their seeds.

More than 100 native people, organic farmers, students, and community members participated in the conference hosted by the White Earth Land Recovery Project held on the White Earth Reservation in Northern Minnesota.

"I had a Hopi Squash run up a tree last year," Frank Kutka, USDA Sustainable Agriculture representative...

Source: Iowa State University Extension

Women who own or manage farmland in Davis, Van Buren and neighboring counties are invited to participate in a free conservation discussion and field tour on Friday, April 29 from 8:30 – 3:30 p.m. This session of Women Caring for the Land is sponsored by Women, Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN) in partnership with Pathfinders RC&D, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship - Division of Soil Conservation, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The series is funded by a grant from USDA’s...

The 2012 North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (NCR-SARE) Research and Education Grant Program Call for Preproposals is now available online at http://sare.org/ncrsare

NCR-SARE’s Research and Education program supports innovators with competitive Research and Education grants. Individual grants range from $10,000 to $200,000. NCR-SARE expects to fund about 8-12 projects in the twelve-state North Central Region.

Potential applicants can contact ncrsare@umn.edu or 612-626-3113.

The deadline for Research and Education Program preproposals is 4:30pm CDT...

Dodgeville, WI - Simple Earth Hops (http://www.simpleearthhops.com/) announced today that Matt Sweeny is opening up the hopyard for a Spring activities workshop. Prepare to get your hands dirty as you participate in this hands-on workshop to show the Spring time maintenance in the hopyard including training hop bines and stringing the hop trellis. Attendance to this free ticketed event does require registration at http://hopyardspringtraining-efbevent.eventbrite.com/ . This event is limited to ONLY 40 tickets.

When: Saturday, May 21 · 11:00am - 2:00pm - CST

Where: Hopyard at Greenspirit, 4352...

Source: University of Missouri Pasture Based Dairies

COLUMBIA, Mo. - The latest in dairy farming from the farm to the international view will be told at the Missouri Dairy Grazing Conference, July 6-8, at Joplin, Mo.
The program will be in the Holiday Inn Conference Center the first and third days. On the middle day, July 7, bus tours will go to grazing dairy farms in Southwest Missouri.
The conference held every two years brings dairy producers from across the nation and the world. Primary emphasis is on Midwest grazing.

"Most all topics will apply across the country," said Tony Rickard,...

Source: Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource EconomicsC

On Monday, April 11th from 1-2:30pm, The International Food Information Council Foundation and the Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE) will host a webinar discussing the definition of "local" foods; the nutritional, economic and social tradeoffs of local versus other foods; and consumer insights regarding local foods.

Interest in where our food comes from, sparked by a desire for more healthful foods, and has spawned a newfound appreciation for local foods and communities. This webinar complements...

Source: No-Till Farmer, April 2011
By Martha Mintz, Contributing Editor

SOME DIG DEEP to identify the yield robbers on their farms. Jules Willott only
had to dig 3 inches.

After years of letting his fertilizer rep take his soil samples, the Mexico, Mo.,no-tiller decided to do the job himself. What he discovered as he dug his soil samples was a shallow compaction layer.

"There was good, loose soil for 3 inches, then a 1.5-inch layer that was hard and then good soil below that," Willott observed. "Our roots were getting through, but I think it must have slowed them down a little."...

Source: Worthington Daily Globe

WORTHINGTON — Students in Worthington High School’s Ag 10 and Floriculture classes received a challenge Monday morning — to find a way to feed a growing world population with finite resources, and do so in a manner that protects the land and sustains it for generations to come.

Sustainability is a buzz word in today’s world of agriculture, and Monday marked the first class in a three-year project to get today’s youths thinking about tomorrow’s global food and fiber needs. Rolf Mahlberg, former WHS and Minnesota West Community and Technical College ag...

Source: Vinton Today

By Pattie Upmeyer, Benton County Extension

Midwest Aronia Association will hold their 1st Annual Conference, bringing together the largest gathering of aronia pioneer, growers, and producers in the United States, on April 8th & 9th, 2011 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Featuring speakers from the US and Poland, information will be presented on the science, growing, and marketing of the aronia berry. Recent research into the nutritional and healthful value of aronia melanocarpa indicates high levels of antioxidants, prompting regional, national, and world-wide interest in cultivation...