Recently in Agriculture Category

The USA needs more local job training shops stocked with machine tools.

Some high schools and community colleges currently have woodworking and auto mechanic shops that are open for continuing adult education, as well as student vocational education.

But product fabrication facilities is a new idea that is making progress.  High tech approaches to sensors, controllers, photovoltaics, LED lighting, etc. could spur advancement of innovation, as well as prepare the workforce for these cutting edge jobs.

CNC equipment like mills and lathes and a variety of other advanced tools and processes including biotech systems are needed to prepare people for the current revolution in manufacturing.

These shops might be seen as public extensions of local schools, essentially turning the shops of public schools into a public library of tools.

A few variations on this concept have been developed
Men's Shed,  http://www.mensshed.org/
FabLab,   http://fab.cba.mit.edu/
TechShop,  http://techshop.ws/
100KGarages,  http://100kgarages.com/

And books like David Morris' "Neighborhood Power: The New Localism" propose similar approached to distributed technical education.

A related article is "The Case for Working With Your Hands":
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html

Note from the Australian Men's Shed Association:  "Communities are keen to provide activities, identity and meaning for vast numbers of older, unemployed, job-redundant, 'downsized', isolated, depressed and happily retired, active, creative, enthusiastic men. Men's Sheds are fast being recognized as vital, viable places to fulfill these needs and provide relaxed, happy creative spaces for men to enjoy."

This new report by the National Academies is broad, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary to see how the rapidly developing tehcnologies and masses of data can be merged to address the four key challenges ahead of us:

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  What's different is the scale of the challenges and problems facing us, as well as the collaboration in a multi-faceted world. The report is also downloadable for free.

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  Download executive summary in PDF.
  
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Sustainable homes are about making a living with your work...at home.  I grew up on a similar kind of home.  We farmed 20 acres and supported an extended family of grandparent(s), parents and six children. 

This story touches me deeply because it is about a treasure so fleeting and so powerful... and it is coming back into style after a very long hiatus.

Women always played important roles on the family farm. They kept the books, milked the cows and fed the children, often juggling another part-time job while the men worked the fields. Sometimes, they ran the farm after their husbands or fathers died.

But increasingly, women such as Stinar are turning to farming on their own. According to the 2007 U.S. Census of Agriculture released this year, more than one in every 10 U.S. farms is run by a woman. In Maryland, the number of farms in which a woman is the principal operator jumped 16 percent between 2002 and 2007. In Virginia, female-run farms also grew by 16 percent. (Source: Washington Post)

A growing number of female-focused farming organizations have popped up in Vermont, Connecticut and Maine. In Pennsylvania, membership in the Women's Agricultural Network, which is affiliated with Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, grew from 100 members in 2005 to 1,000 in 2008.

While men tend to run larger farms focused on such commodity crops as soybeans and wheat, women tend to run smaller, more specialized enterprises selling heirloom tomatoes and grass-fed beef to well-heeled, eco-conscious consumers. These smaller enterprises have gotten a boost from the popularity of farmers markets and programs in which people pay in advance to receive weekly produce baskets, as well as renewed consumer interest in buying locally.

Programs designed for small farms and urban farms include programs such as The Farm to Plate (F2P) Initiative.  They  direct the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, working in collaboration with the Sustainable Agriculture Council and other stakeholder groups, to develop a 10-year strategic plan to strengthen Vermont's farm and food sector.

Here are a few of the women's agriculture resources scattered across the US:

California farming organizations for women include:
California Women for Agriculture
www.cawomen4ag.com/

California Women for Agriculture Salinas Valley
Serving Monterey County regarding agricultural issues in the state and county, and helping with agriculture education and scholarships.
www.salinascwa.org/

Women on U.S. Farms Research Initiative
http://agwomen.aers.psu.edu
These vivid maps and reports make it easier to interpret the ways that American women are involved in farming.

Women and Sustainable Agriculture: Interviews with 14 Agents of Change
By Anna Anderson, 2004, McFarland Publishers
Farmers, researchers, and farm advocates--all the women in this book have dedicated their lives to improving the American food system.

Herstory: Women in Organic Agriculture
Summer 2002 CCOF Newsletter of California's certified organic farmers
www.ccof.org/archives.php

Changing the Way America Farms: Knowledge and Community in the Sustainable Agriculture Movement
By Neva Hassanein, 1999, University of Nebraska Press
Focusing on Wisconsin, this book explores the function and importance of social networks in the sustainable agriculture movement.

MaryJanes Farm
100 Wild Iris Lane, Moscow, ID 83843
888-750-6004;
www.maryjanesfarm.org
Talk about enterprising: here's a stylish magazine that combines home, garden, and farm tips with a catalog of organic farm products.

Women in Winegrowing Calendar
811 Jefferson Street, Napa, CA 94559
707-944-8311, www.napagrowers.org
The Napa Valley Grapegrowers have created a calendar that features 21 community and sustainable farming leaders.

Vermont Women's Agricultural Network
617 Comstock Road, Suite 5
Berlin, VT 05602
802-223-2389
www.uvm.edu/wagn

Maine Women's Agricultural Network
University of Maine Co-op Extension
24 Main Street
Lisbon Falls, Maine 04252
207-353-5550 or 1-800-287-1458
www.umaine.edu/umext/wagn

Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network
Pennsylvania State University
302 Armsby Building
University Park, PA 16802
http://wagn.cas.psu.edu

North Carolina State University has been in the forefront of sustainable agriculture at U.S. colleges.
Nancy Creamer, PhD, is director of the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), a 2,000-acre farm near Goldsboro. The research farm is a joint project of NCSU, NC, A&T University, the NC Department of Agriculture, the NC Farm Stewardship Association, and other organizations, farmers, and citizens.

Kristin Reynolds is a research assistant at the University of California Small Farm Center and one of the writers of Outstanding in Their Fields: California's Women Farmers

ATTRA is funded through the USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Service and is a project of the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT),