In just a few short days the sustainable agriculture community in the Southern region will gather in Louisville, KY for what will certainly prove to be among the most educational and inspirational events of the year. We're looking forward to reconnecting with old friends, making new friends, and enjoying the atmosphere and environment that will be created by a gathering of so many energetic folks. We also recognize that not everyone will be able to attend, so we invite you to check back in future editions of our newsletter and on our web site for post-conference resources. Information from several of the sessions will be shared over the web as part of our ongoing initiative to promote sustainable agriculture as widely as possible.
Thank you all for your interest and dedication to sustaining agriculture and food systems in the South. Hope to see you soon!
-Your friends at Southern SAWG
Inside
This Issue:Conference Update |
We'll see you there!
January 25-28, 2007
The Galt House Hotel and Suites
Louisville, Kentucky
| Conference
Updates |
This year's conference is fast approaching and is measuring up to be the largest yet. With over 1,000 registrants already, several pre-conference events are filling up quickly -- and so is the hotel.
Standard rooms at the Galt House are booked up, but a few suites are still available at the special conference rate of $92. All the field trips are completely sold out. There are still spaces in some of the Intensive Short Courses and Community Food Systems Mini-Courses.
Preregistration for the conference is now closed, but on-site registrations will be accepted. For more conference details, visit
| Items
Wanted for Silent Auction |
Southern SAWG will again host a silent auction at our conference to help raise funds for our vital work. We are still accepting contributions of goods or services to be included in the auction. Seeds, tools, farm supplies and equipment make excellent silent auction donations. Other farm related items, such as value-added farm products, vouchers for B&B weekends, consultations, and other services are also popular.
Items can be brought to the conference or shipped if you are not attending, but we'd like to know now what donations to expect so we can properly catalog them and organize all the auction sheets. If you'd like to help Southern SAWG "have some fun and raise some funds" by donating to the silent auction, complete the donation form found at http://www.ssawg.org/conference-auction.html and submit it immediately. Thank you in advance for your donation.
Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Inc. (Southern SAWG) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 1991 to promote sustainable agriculture in the Southern United States.
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| USDA
Community Food Projects Request for Applications |
The Request for Applications (RFA) for the Community Food Projects (CFP) Competitive Grants Program was released on January 12. Initial letters of intent are due by February 13 (by email). Based on a review of these letters, some applicants will be invited to submit a full proposal, due by April 13.
Application procedures are detailed in the CFP Request for Applications, which is available at the grants.gov web site as follows:
www.grants.gov/search/search.do?oppId=12255&mode=VIEW.
Southern SAWG will host an educational session on how to apply for a USDA CFP Grant on January 28 at our annual conference in Louisville. Presenters will include USDA-CFP staff, a past CFP grantee and a past CFP grant reviewer.
More information and technical support contacts for the USDA Community Foods Projects Program are available online at: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/funding.cfm
| Premier
Farm Bill Policy Roll-out |
On Friday, January 29 Southern SAWG will host a roll-out of suggested 2007 Farm Bill policies. The event will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will take place at the conference hotel, The Galt House. Topics will include:
Farm & Food Policy Project & Declaration: Seeking Balance in US Farm and Food Policy presented by Molly Anderson, FFPP Research Coordinator,
Diversity Initiative & Policy Platform: Equity and Diversity in the Food System by Lorette Picciano, Executive Director, Rural Coalition,
Community Food Security Coalition's Legislative Priorities Reinvestment in Community Food Systems by Steph Larsen, CFSC Policy Organizer, and
National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture's New Issue Committees to Enhance Long-term Impact by members of NCSA.
This meeting is free and open to anyone who is interested in the priorities of each of these collaborations and how to become a part of them. RSVPs are encouraged. For more information or to register for the meeting, contact Lydia Villanueva, Southern SAWG Policy Coordinator at casa2@amaonline.com or 806-364-4445.
| National
Organic Action Plan Regional Dialogue Meeting |
The Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI-USA), the NCSA Organic Committee, and the National Organic Coalition has announced its regional dialogue meeting in January 2007 to begin developing a National Organic Action Plan (NOAP). The meeting will immediately follow the Southern SAWG conference in Louisville, Kentucky and will take place on Sunday January 28 from 1 to 6 pm and Monday January 29 from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm at the Galt House Hotel and Suites.
Briefly, the NOAP is a process to develop an Action Plan for the future of organic agriculture in the United States, including: production and acreage goals, the future of the organic farmer voice, keeping the USDA/NOP standards high, assuring stability for organic farmers as the industry grows, as well as national and state topics beyond the reach of the federal government such as marketing, claims and labels other than the USDA/NOP, state incentives, and more.
Pre-registration is strongly encouraged. Limited scholarships for travel and lodging expenses are available. For more information, or to register, please contact JJ Richardson at 919-542-1396 x 211, or jj@rafiusa.org.
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