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Fruit and Vegetable Crop Update

Growing degree days since April 1: 3326 GDD at Springfield (Average (11 year average 3311) (From the Illinois State Water Survey Degree-Day Calculator) 4 inch soil temp:60.6°F (10 am 4-inch soil temperature under bare soil) (From the Illinois State Water Survey Illinois Climate Network)

Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Advisory Committee and Available Resources from USDA I just returned from a two-day meeting of the USDA Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Advisory Committee in Austin, Texas. Working as a Local Food Systems and Small Farms Educator and throughout my many years of working with farmers, I was pretty familiar with USDA programs.  Serving on this committee has increased my awareness of the scope of available resources across the agency.  Sure, there are areas of contention and where there seems to be a disconnect between those in Washington and those in the field, but from my perspective the USDA is sincerely committed to supporting beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. To learn more about the wide range of resources and services provided by USDA, check out two excellent sources - Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/knowyourfarmer?navid=KNOWYOURFARMER and Start2Farm at http://www.start2farm.gov/

Organic 101: Connecting farmers and producers to USDA resources Consumer demand for organic products continues to grow across the country, representing a $35 billion dollar industry in 2013. To meet this demand, USDA has initiated a number of new and expanded efforts to connect organic farmers and businesses with the resources they need to ensure the continued growth of the organic sector domestically and abroad. Click here for details.

Farmer Grant Writing Workshop
Existing and prospective farmers are invited to participate in a grant writing workshop on October 1from 6:00 – 9:00 pm (registration 5:30-6:00 pm) at the University of Illinois Extension, 700 S. Airport Drive, Springfield (Sangamon County) to learn about the basics of grant writing as well as specifics on grants available through the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Farmer Rancher Grant Program and the Illinois Department of Agriculture. To register click here or contact Deborah Cavanaugh-Grant at 217-782-4617.

Source: University of Illinois at Urbana


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Women In Agriculture Conference

Video: Women In Agriculture Conference

There was a lot for producers to take in at this year's Women in Ag event. We kicked things off by sitting down with the event's coordinator Jessica Groskopf to learn more about what Women in Ag has to offer.