Potluck News July 2012

Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group

NESAWG Potluck News July 2012

Welcome to Summer! With the Farm Bill headed over to the House and our 20th anniversary celebration later this fall, this season is already heating up.  

Potluck News is a few morsels about what is happening behind the scenes at NESAWG, and a hearty helping of news from our partners across the web.


Save the Date!

It Takes a Region 2012: This year's conference also marks our 20th anniversary and we're excited to celebrate! The Conference will begin with a pre-conference training on Sunday, October 28th, followed by the working conference on October 29th and 30th. More information about the conference, including the agenda and registration, will be available on our website. Help us build off of 20 years of progress and propell our network into its next decade!



Call for Photos

As part of our 20th Anniversary celebration at this year's It Takes a Region conference we are putting together a multimedia presentation and we want you to submitphotos to be a part of it! We are seeking historic photos that depict the last 20 years of NESAWG's work and impact.  We are looking for photos from NESAWG conferences and workshops, snapshots from the field, and any sort of image that demonstrates the dynamic nature of the Northeast regional food system. Please submit photos directly to our site with the text "NESAWG at 20" somewhere in the caption.

Network Newsbites

GrowNYC 2011 EBT Reporthas now been released. You can find it here.

Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and NOFA-NY  announce a NewTechnical Consultancy Program for beginning farmers. 

New Report on Food and Farm Labor by the Food Chain Workers Alliance: This is a must read for every good food advocate/eater out there. Check out the full report here.

Will Allen on the Colbert Report: For those of you that missed it, Will Allen of Growing Power was on the Colbert Report a few weeks ago.  Check out the interview here.
Scholarships are still available for the annual Growing Power Farm conference.

The Food & Environment Reporting Network explore how of Crop Insurance has influence the development of the modern farm. 

Doctors in Washington D.Ccan now prescribe fruits and vegetables to patients in need as part of a new pilot program.

Farm Bill Updates

NESAWG has teamed up with the New England Farmers Union Educational Foundation, Wholesome Wave, and many others to come up with the Northeast Farm Bill Agenda Priorities. You can use this document to shape your organization's approach to the 2012 Farm Bill and beyond. Dozens of organizations participated in creating this rich resource which gives voice to the specific needs of the Northeast.

Nearly every other food and farm related organization have been in high gear about the Farm Bill over the past few months.  Here is a selection of a few reports leading up to the Senate version and responses to the process so far. 
  • The Environmental Working Group have their own Farm Bill Platform and have been blogging regularly about the Farm Bill.
  • The Union of Concerned Scientists released a report called, "Ensuring the Harvest: Crop Insurance and Credit for a Healthy Farm and Food Future"
  • The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy have a "What's at Stake" series to analyze how the Farm Bill affects issues we all care about.
  • The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition released a Sustainable Agriculture Agenda and are also posting frequent blog updates about happenings on the Hill.
  • The Council of State Governments are hosting conference calls for State Legislators, Staff and Associated Personell. The next call is Tuesday, July 17th.

Over in the blogosphere, Marion Nestle has a good overview of the next stages of the Farm Bill now that the Senate has passed it. Civil Eats gives a rundown of their wins and losses, and Tom Philpott notes that it could have been worse.

The House is scheduled to pick up the Bill on July 11th. Keep calling yourrepresentatives!

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