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CONTENTS (PART 2):
1. 1996 SOUTHERN SAWG ANNUAL CONFERENCE
2. SOUTHERN REGION SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE TRAINING WORKSHOP
3. SSAWG 1995 ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND 1996 PROGRAM PRIORITIES
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1996 SOUTHERN SAWG ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Fifth Annual Conference and Trade Show of the Southern
Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG) will be held in Lexington, KY
on January 19-21, 1996. Hosted by the Community Farm Alliance (CFA) of
Frankfort, KY, this event will feature workshops, a trade show, food
tasting, auction, banquet dinner, organic cotton fashion show and evening
entertainment, all at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in downtown Lexington.
The conference will present 24 workshops and roundtable discussions
on many of the keys to creating a more sustainable agriculture in the
South. Topics include sustainable production techniques, value-added
marketing, on-farm research, soil fertility management, pest & disease
control, cooperative marketing, seed saving, financial management, organic
certification, building effective organizations, fund raising for non-
profits and much more. Over half the speakers will be farmers with
hands-on experience sharing their stories of innovation and success.
In addition, two guided farm tours will give conference attendees
an opportunity to see sustainability in action. On Friday morning, January
19, we'll visit a kenaf test plot as part of CFA's Industrial Fibers
Project and discuss the ways farm communities in Marion and Bath Counties
are working to revive their local economies in the face of declining
tobacco sales. On Sunday morning, January 21, the tour will visit a farm
with organic vegetable production and present an example of marketing
initiatives in the region.
A food tasting and reception on Friday evening will showcase the
products of sustainable family farmers to consumers, retailers, and fellow
producers. Saturday evening's banquet dinner will also feature food
produced sustainably in the South. A reading by Wendell Berry and an
organic cotton fashion show will follow the meal. Contact Renee Price, 1701
Riverside Dr., Hillsborough, NC 27278; 919-732-2512 if you would like your
products featured at either event.
As in previous years, the 1996 Conference and Trade Show will offer
excellent networking opportunities for individuals and representatives of
organizations who are concerned about shaping the future of Southern
agriculture. Three hundred farmers, ranchers, environmentalists,
researchers, extension personnel, consumers, and rural advocates attended
the event last January; nearly 400 are expected in 1996.
Registration for the conference will cost $15. Farm tours cost $10
each, and the banquet dinner on Saturday evening is an additional $15.
Contact CFA, 200 Short St. #10, Berea, KY 40403; 606-986-7400 (or e-mail
to: HN1402@handsnet.org) for registration forms and further information.
Scholarships are available to help low-resource farmers attend the
event. To apply for a scholarship, contact the Southern SAWG steering
committee member from your state.
A special room rate of $45 per night is being offered to conference
participants by the Radisson Plaza Hotel. Call 800-333-3333 for room
reservations before January 4, 1996 to obtain this rate.
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SOUTHERN REGION SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE TRAINING WORKSHOP
The Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Training Consortium will
hold a regional workshop on January 18-19 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in
Lexington, KY. The purpose of the workshop will be to provide ideas and
models to help state coordinators and their teams develop and conduct
effective training programs.
In March 1993 an earlier workshop focused on building state sustainable
ag coalitions. Since that time, many states have initiated team led
efforts to enhance sustainable ag programs. This second workshop is
designed to help those teams implement their strategic plans for
sustainable agriculture training. A secondary purpose is to provide
input to the consortium leadership on training needs for agri-professionals
who provide education and technical assistance to farmers.
The workshop program will address three focus areas which are critical
to enhancing educational programs in sustainable agriculture--partnerships
in sustainability, enhancing training capacities, and sustainability
concepts. The workshop is open to any interested individual. For
registration information, phone 501-442-9824 or email to:
jiml@ncatfyv.uark.edu.
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SSAWG 1995 ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND 1996 PROGRAM PRIORITIES
The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group is made up of
approximately 50 member organizations working for more sustainable
agriculture in the 13 Southern states. Southern SAWG assists family
farmers and farm communities to prosper in a healthy environment by
bringing together organizations and individuals with a common purpose to
remove technical, institutional, and economic barriers to sustainability.
The steering committee of Southern SAWG gives oversight and
guidance to the projects of the working group based on the needs of member
organizations. In September they reviewed the work accomplished over the
past year and established priorities for 1996, detailed below. We
encourage all who are interested in more sustainable agriculture in the
South to communicate with your state steering committee member about these
priorities and to join us in our work over the next year.
During the business meeting at our annual conference in Lexington,
KY, attendees will be given a special opportunity to discuss Southern SAWG
projects and priorities in state caucuses. Everyone is welcome to join us.
Organizational Development and Capacity Building
Organizational membership in Southern SAWG (SSAWG) increased to 50
groups in 1995, and nine new people took part in leadership by serving on
the steering committee. Communication among members was enhanced through
the newsletter, periodic mailings, e-mail, phone trees, the annual
conference, and meetings. SSAWG continued to award mini-grants to member
organizations during the year, helping to build work on a state level. In
addition, SSAWG staff helped member organizations write proposals for
funding, and offered tips and guidance on development.
Continued priorities for SSAWG in 1996 will be to build the member
and leadership base, improve and fine-tune communications, and build
efficiency and self sufficiency for the working group. To build the
capacity of member organizations, SSAWG will also deepen the involvement
and leadership skills of members, and provide financial and technical
support to members.
Policy Work
The Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture has been the major focus
of policy work in 1995. SSAWG member organizations have taken a lead role
in much of the national Farm Bill and appropriations work. In addition,
the Campaign has provided a forum for educating organizations and
individuals in the South about sustainable agriculture, and has built a
much larger network and database of supporters.
For 1996, follow-up work to the Campaign will include policy work
on 1996 appropriations, the Ag Bargaining Act, and the Research Title; and
monitoring implementation of the laws, policies, and regulations gained in
1995.
Other 1995 policy work that SSAWG members and staff participated in
includes: encouraging USDA sustainable agriculture administrative reforms,
organizing national and Southern regional dialogues with IPM leaders to
establish common ground, and creating dialogue with the pesticide reduction
campaign to remove barriers to greater collaboration and support for each
other's goals. All of this work will continue in 1996.
In addition, SSAWG helped create a Southern Organic Certifiers
Caucus to assist grass-roots Southern certifiers in meeting national
accreditation by pooling their resources and information. We will continue
to support the work of this caucus in 1996.
Research and Education
Through the assistance of SSAWG efforts, farmer participation
continued to increase in the Southern SARE/ACE program and state strategic
planning process during 1995. Members of SSAWG organizations helped
develop policies for SARE and the Sustainable Agriculture Training
Consortium to help those bodies be truely serving of farmers. SSAWG
publicized and encouraged farmer & NGO grant proposals to SARE.
Also, the State of the South project issued a report called
Southern Futures in 1995 to all on the SSAWG and Southern SARE mailing
lists.
1996 goals regarding work with the SARE/ACE program and the
Training Consortium include: 1) increasing fundable grants from SSAWG
members, 2) monitoring and protecting federal funding, 3) helping to ensure
SARE policy procedures are put into place, and 4) continuing to build
communication between all groups. We also will utilize the sustainable
agriculture relevancy review for a dialogue with experiment stations on
priority setting.
Marketing Support Services
Work in 1995 included publishing news and information about
marketing in Southern Sustainable Farming, highlighting successful
marketing strategies through farmer stories, and conducting marketing
workshops at the Annual Conference. In addition, a report on successful
Southern producers and marketers of farm-based, value-added products will
be published in December 1995.
SSAWG's marketing priorities focus on supporting services that
enhance farmer-controlled marketing and help farmers increase profits
through value-added production. In 1996, marketing information will
continue to be a strong component of the newsletter and annual conference.
The SSAWG marketing committee will also begin implementing model workshops
on farm-based, value-added production.
Annual Conference
The 1995 SSAWG Annual Conference in Gulf Shores, AL drew nearly 300
farmers and agricultural supporters. Southern sustainable agricultural
products, practices, and policy were showcased through educational
workshops, panels, a farm tour, trade show, food tasting, and organic
cotton fashion show. For the 1996 Annual Conference, we will continue to
provide information on all areas of SSAWG work, delivered in a way that
encourages attendee interaction. Additional 1996 goals include using the
conference to get consumers involved in sustainable ag, and reducing the
net cost by increasing conference income while still keeping it affordable
to farmers.
Publications
Five issues of the SSAWG newsletter, Southern Sustainable Farming,
were published in 1995 and mailed to over 5,000 farmers, researchers,
educators, and others in the sustainable ag community. This newsletter has
allowed members of SSAWG organizations to learn about one another, and keep
better informed about the successes and support for sustainable ag in the
South.
1996 goals for SSF include publishing five more issues, mailing to
all our constituents, posting to several electronic nets, and increasing
the usefulness of the content. In addition, we will work towards financial
self-sufficiency through advertising and sales.
Volume I of the farmer story booklet, Farming More Sustainably in
the South, sold out during 1995 and was reprinted. Volume II will be
published in December 1995. Both the booklets and the farmers involved
will be promoted to a wider audience in 1996.
For 1996, a comprehensive marketing plan will be created and
carried out for all SSAWG publications to better reach the people who need
the information and to increase self-sufficiency for these projects.
Sent: November 17, 1995 7:45 pm PST Item: R00HIFk