A national Consortium for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
has gotten underway with two organizing meetings last fall, several
projects in the works and the first issue of a Consortium newsletter.
The Consortium is for all who share a commitment to the goals of
sustainable agriculture and a concern about making our public research,
extension, and education system more conducive to achieving those goals.
Participants include scientists, farmers, extension agents, advocates,
educators and agency personnel. The Consortium will be member-driven,
functioning as an umbrella to enable new collaborations and a stronger
community of interest.
Consortium task forces are forming and planning efforts to identify
research needs and gaps, improve educational systems for sustainable
agriculture, develop criteria to evaluate outcomes of research and
extension programs, influence research funding, and reform institutional
policies. Other activities will include seeking increased
representation of sustainable agriculture expertise (including
scientists, farmers and others) on advisory committees, review panels
and priority-setting bodies that help determine the relevance of
research to sustainable agriculture.
If you think you might like to join the Consortium and would like to
receive its first newsletter (8 pages plus 4 page survey), contact
Gabriel Hegyes (ghegyes@nalusda.gov) for an electronic copy, or send your
full address to
Elizabeth Bird at the Center for Rural Affairs, hn1721@handsnet.org for
a hard copy.
Sent: March 30, 1994 8:52 am PT