New Sustainable Agriculture Team

[Rick Gibson]

Colleagues,

Last week at the annual meeting of the National Association of County 
Agricultural Agents (NACAA) a few of us got together and decided that 
the time might be right to create a Sustainable Agriculture Team, 
focus on developing some sustainable agriculture projects, figure out 
how to successfully apply for and receive grants from Western Region 
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (WSARE), and build 
unity in our programming.  This email is to let all ANR faculty know 
what is going on and to extend an invitation for you to join the fun.

Our University of Arizona track record for SARE grants recently has 
not been very good.  There have been a few applications, but WSARE 
has selected few for funding.  Now the WSARE Administrative Council, 
the group of producers and others selected to guide SARE in the 
Western Region (and who make the final decisions about which grants 
to fund), has established a set of priorities which will figure 
heavily in deciding which grants to fund.  Plus, there is rising 
interest among not only small producers but also large operations in 
moving to produce and market in a more sustainable way.  These 
opportunities we feel make it desirable for us to move forward at this time.

While we are still identifying areas of focus, there are several that 
have been suggested that seem to have good potential.  The list 
includes, but is not limited to, the following: 1) high tunnel 
vegetable production,  2) composting success in dry climates, 3) 
beginning farmer training, 4) food safety and GAP training for both 
large and small farms, 5) cover crops in arid production systems, 6) 
community and school garden projects, 7) integrating plant and animal 
production systems, 8) riparian issues not only along natural 
drainages, but also along earthen ditches, 9) water use efficiency, 
10)  foodsheds and their issues, 11) local food production systems, 
and 12) direct marketing issues.  If anyone wants to tie into one or 
more of these topics, or suggest one of their own, we would be glad 
to have you join our conversations.

In the near future, we hope to create some project teams, identify 
and connect with non-governmental organizations with similar 
interests, identify and begin working more closely with producers 
engaged in our areas of interest, and start making plans for SARE 
grant applications.

If you are interested, let me know and we will add you to the team.

Thanks for listening.

Rick Gibson
Arizona SARE Coordinator



-- 
Richard Gibson
Extension Agent, Agriculture
University of Arizona
Pinal County Cooperative Extension Office
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

820 E Cottonwood Ln, #C
Casa Grande, AZ 85122
Tel: (520) 836-5221 ext. 227
Fax: (520) 836-1750

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.cals.arizona.edu/pipermail/anr-faculty/attachments/20110815/35d0935b/attachment.htm>