In our Weekly Harvest newsletter, NCAT experts glean news that is relevant to sustainable agriculture from sources around the country for the ATTRA – National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service website. In addition to keeping you abreast of the news, Weekly Harvest offers a roundup of grants and other funding opportunities as well as a calendar of events around the country.

Each issue also features one of ATTRA’s more than 300 sustainable-agriculture publications, ATTRA webinars, a Question of the Week, and “Ask a Sustainable Agriculture Expert,” your chance to submit a question to our staff online.

Hablamos espanol. Our Spanish-language email newsletter, Cosecha Mensual, offers many of the same features each month.

And six times each year, ATTRAnews brings you up to date on the latest developments in sustainable agriculture, what’s happening at the USDA and with Sustainable Agriculture Working Groups around the country. ATTRAnews features events and opportunities in sustainable agriculture, information on funding and financing, and it keeps you current on programs and policies such as Farm Bill implementations as well as production practices and the National Organic Standards.

What if every community—even those in food deserts—could increase their food security by producing their own healthy food? NCAT believes they can. And through our Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training (SIFT) program, we are setting out to show them how. NCAT is developing a working, sustainably managed, demonstration farm on five acres at our Butte, Montana, headquarters. This farm will serve as the backdrop for an intensive, hands-on training program that will teach farmers and future farmers, urban food producers, community leaders, and citizens how to commercially produce high-value, nutrient-rich food on small parcels of land.

And our email newsletter, SIFT news, can keep you up-to-date on the lessons learned as we develop this news sustainable-agriculture venture.

It’s easy to sign up for any of NCAT’s newsletters with one visit to www.thedatabank.com/dpg/427/personal2.asp?formid=signup. And while you’re at it, be sure to check out ATTRA’s more than 300 publications (most of which are free to download), databases, webinars, and other resources at www.attra.ncat.org.

Since 1976, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) has been helping people by championing small-scale, local and sustainable solutions to reduce poverty, promote healthy communities and protect natural resources. In partnership with businesses, organizations, individuals and agricultural producers, NCAT is working to advance solutions that will ensure the next generation inherits a world that has clean air and water, energy production that is efficient and renewable, and healthy foods grown with sustainable practices. More information about its programs and services is available at www.ncat.org or by calling 1-800-ASK-NCAT.

{Heirloom} TomatoFest 2012

Thursday, July 19, 2012

5:00pm until 7:00pm

Join us for the 2012 {Heirloom} TomatoFest!

• Sampling of over 20 Heirloom Tomato Varieties
• Local Chef Demonstrations
• Tomato Artwork from Local Artists (proceeds to benefit our work in Global Water Issues)
• Introducing the Need More Acres “Farm School”
• Live Music, Drinks, Great Local Food!

 The {Heirloom} TomatoFest is hosted by Community Farmers Market, HOME Cafe’ & Marketplace, Reid’s Livery Winery and more to come.

Anthony Flaccavento, conference keynote and founder of Appalachian Sustainable Development (ASD) sells his produce at the Abingdon Farmers Market in Abingdon, Va.

The Floyd County Chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and M.A.C.E.D. (Mountain Association for Community and Economic Development) have worked together for the last several years to offer a full day of presentations on sustainable agricultural and energy topics. This year the event is scheduled for April 14^th from 9am to 4pm at the Jenny Wiley Convention Center in Prestonsburg, KY. The keynote speaker will be Anthony Flaccavento.

Each session is 50 minutes and there are four scheduled in the day plus lunch and keynote—it’s a full day. The hard part is choosing which sessions to pick. Here are the sessions and presenters.

GENERAL AGRICULTURE

- Intro to Low-Cost Organic Gardening (Michael Bomford, Kentucky State University): All about the basics of growing organically while saving money

- DIY Season Extension (Michael Bomford, Kentucky Sate University): Build your own greenhouse, high tunnel, or low tunnel and grow vegetables year-round

- Organic Soil Building and Composting (Sean Clark, Berea College): Generate rich, fertile soils and make your own compost from local materials

- Seed Saving and Heirlooms (Bill Best, Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center): Save your own seeds and learn about heirloom varieties from a nationally-known master

- Perennials: Plants, Value-Adding, and Polyculture (Kirk Pomper, Kentucky State University): Overview of shrubs, trees, canes, and other plants that can be grown in “stacked systems” and provide high-value produce

MARKET-BASED

- Farmer’s Markets in Central Appalachia (Savanna Lyons, WV Food & Farm Coalition; Keith Hackworth, Floyd County Extension): Examples of successful farmer’s markets in southern WV and overview of KY requirements

- Innovative Marketing Channels (Anthony Flaccavento, Rural Scale): A regional marketing pioneer describes ways to get products to markets that are new, expanding, and profitable

- Small Farm Financials and Funding Options (Martin Richards, Community Farm Alliance) How to start with basic financial planning and record keeping, also grants and cost-share opportunities

- Food Preservation, Value-Adding, and Community Facilities (Greg Golden, Jackson County Food Center; Brian Geier, Sour Power): Hear examples of community food processing facilities that enable up-to-code production of value-added products

ENERGY, EFFICIENCY, AND FORESTRY

- Solar Applications for East KY (Danny Tolson, Alternative Energies KY): Local solar panel manufacturing and installation company talks about opportunities for solar power in the hills and hollers

- Strip Mine Reforestation and Bioenergy (Nathan Hall, Green Forests Work): How strip mined lands in Appalachia can be converted back to native hardwood forests while also providing feedstocks for distributed renewable energy

- Energy Efficiency for Low Income Families + How$mart (Chris Woolery, Mountain Association for Community and Economic Development): Home weatherization, saving money and energy, and tapping into new incentive programs

Contact the Floyd County chapter of KFTC for more information at 606-263-4982 or kristi@kftc.org.

Image from SKY Farmers Market, Bowling Green, KY

Farmers markets tend to be less expensive than grocery stores, according to a study conducted last year in communities with populations less than 250,000 across Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Farmers market shoppers saved 22%, on average, compared with equivalent produce purchased at regional supermarkets.

Organic produce wasn’t always available, but where it was, it cost 16% less than at a supermarket, on average.

Small town markets offered the biggest savings to consumers. Farmers market prices in larger urban centers tended to be closer to grocery store prices.

The study’s findings counter growing criticism that farmers markets are unaffordable for working people, seniors on fixed incomes and the poor. Farmers bring home a larger share of the food dollar when people shop at farmers markets, and at most markets in the Southeast, consumers can stretch that food dollar a little further, too.

Rainwater Catchment from a High Tunnel for Irrigation Use from Iowa State University Extension on Vimeo.

Several Kentucky farms have already received funding from the NRCS EQIP program to put up high tunnels this year. I’ve been getting some questions about systems to collect rain water from tunnels. A 7-page factsheet (pdf) released by Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture describes just such a system.

The NRCS is still accepting applications for its Organic and High Tunnel cost-share programs through June 1st.

Position

• Maintain regular communication via print, web, and social media with CFA’s membership regarding the work of the organization and enhance the quality of the communication systems where possible;
• Identify and analyze agricultural issues that affect Kentucky’s family farmers and local food consumers;
• Collaborate with CFA’s staff team, our members, and our allies to develop and implement both issue and fundraising campaigns;
• Design and execute workshops;
• Develop relationships with nonprofit organizations, businesses, community leaders, institutions, policy makers, and the media that advance the mission and goals of CFA;
• Develop relationships with individuals in both rural and urban communities that result in the recruitment of additional CFA members and the development of new CFA leaders;
• Report regularly to the Executive Director;
• Assist staff team with additional duties including, but not limited to, preparing for the annual membership meeting and fundraising events, mass mailings and office cleaning.

• Must have earned a bachelor’s degree, preferably in a relevant field (i.e. political or other social science, conflict resolution, agriculture, environmental or other life science);
• Must be able to commit to working for CFA for at least one year;
• Must have strong analytical skills;
• Must possess excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Must be able to self-organize and multi-task;
• Must be able to conduct thorough and unbiased research;
• Must be comfortable with the suite of Microsoft Office applications: Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and Publisher.  Additionally, the applicant will be expected to use “Web 2.0” applications such as Facebook, WordPress, and online database management systems.
• Preferred: Two years of experience in rural community organizing or experience as a volunteer or paid staff working in a grassroots community-based nonprofit organization

• Committed to the values inherent in community organizing and leadership development;
• Committed to advancing diversity;
• Able to perform in a variety of environments and diverse social settings.  The applicant should be able to transition fluidly and comfortably from an urban setting, to a farm, and then to legislative meeting, all within the same week (maybe even the same day!);
• Able to initiate contact with persons not known, in person and by phone;
• Able to occasionally travel throughout the state and accommodate a work schedule that will include occasional evening and weekend commitments;
• Must have reliable transportation and a mobile phone;
• Able to take the initiative; be self-motivated; work independently as well as in a team; work well under pressure; be a creative thinker and; be a good problem solver;
• Open and honest – must enjoy working with people!

Hemp and flax have a lot in common, but only flax can be grown legally in Kentucky.

By Michael Bomford

Hemp and flax have a lot in common.  Both have a long history in Kentucky, but neither is grown in the Commonwealth today. Both can be used to make fiber for fabric and paper. Both are potential bioenergy crops. Both have seeds rich in nutritious fatty acids. Both are low-input crops, well-suited to organic production.

The key difference is that flax farming is legal in Kentucky; hemp farming is not. Perhaps because the federal government doesn’t allow hemp production, calls for its return are newsworthy. Agriculture Commissioner James Comer coasted to victory after calling for industrial hemp production in the Commonwealth. Two weeks ago, Kentucky’s House Agriculture and Small Business Committee held a hearing on two bills that would change state law to allow hemp production.

The General Assembly is unlikely to pass either bill in 2012, and even if it did, the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA’s) interpretation of federal law would also have to change before Kentucky farms can grow hemp legally again. Hemp is Cannabis sativa, the same species as marijuana, but it contains just trace amounts of the psychoactive chemical found in the narcotic. Smoking it won’t make you high. Hemp production has been allowed under North Dakota state law since 1999, but the federal DEA has rejected all applications for permits to grow it commercially there, or in any of the other states that have followed North Dakota’s lead. While North Dakota farmers wait to be allowed to grow hemp, they lead the country in flax production.

Kentucky place names remind us of the historical importance of both hemp and flax in the Commonwealth. Hemp Ridge is near Shelbyville. Flax Branch is a stream in Floyd County, Flax Creek is in Lincoln County, and Flax Patch is in Knox County.

Cutting hemp near Lexington, Kentucky. Click image for source.

Hatchling flax in Kentucky. Click image for source.

In 1775, when hemp was first planted in Kentucky, most settlers already had a patch of flax to supply household needs. For almost a century, Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region was the center of the US hemp industry, which existed mainly to make fiber for ropes, sails, and paper. Flax continued to be widely grown throughout the state, too: By 1850, Kentucky grew about half of the nation’s hemp, and about a quarter of its flax. Farmers often grew the two crops in rotation, since both could be harvested and processed with the same equipment. Flax made a finer fiber, used for clothing; while hemp made a courser fiber, suitable for rope. Except in wartime, hemp prices were often below the cost of production, yet the crop’s ability to combat weeds made it a worthwhile addition to a rotation.

Kentucky’s hemp and flax industries both went into rapid decline in the late 1800s, due to competition from cheaper imported fibers like jute, manila, and sisal; falling costs of domestic cotton production; and the replacement of sailing ships with steamboats. By 1860, Missouri had replaced Kentucky as the nation’s largest hemp producer. Both hemp and flax had almost completely disappeared from the nation’s farms by the late 1940s. The last legal commercial hemp crop was harvested in Wisconsin in 1957. The DEA has prevented hemp from returning legally since then, but flax has made something of a come-back in the Dakotas, Montana, and Minnesota.

Canadian hemp is used to make organic hemp products for the US market, which are certified organic by the USDA.

Most of the hemp sold in the US today comes from Canada, where farmers have been allowed to grow the crop since 1998. Canada also grows more than twice as much flax as the USA. Canadian farmers are not making a lot of money from either crop: Net returns are in the neighborhood of $100 per acre. Most of the income from both hemp and flax production today comes from selling the nutritious seeds, which are rich in Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. The useful fiber portion of the crop often goes unsold because fiber processors are few and far between, and transporting bulky straw is expensive. The economics look a little better for organic production, with substantial premiums available for organically-grown hemp and flax seeds and fibers.

Markets for hemp and flax have been volatile in recent years, with many growers losing money on both crops. Canadian hemp growers were hard hit in 1999, when a California processor contracted to purchase 40% of the hemp crop, then went bankrupt. It took seven years for the industry to recover, then acreage crashed again in 2007, due to a lack of fiber processors. Canadian flax growers were also hurt by a 2009 scandal that closed the European market to Canadian flax, after it was found to be contaminated with a genetically modified variety that had not been released for commercial production. Recent years have seen substantial declines in flax acreage on both sides of the border, as farmers dedicate more land to corn and soybeans, which generate far greater returns.

Lack of hemp processing facilities contributed to crashes in Canada's nascent hemp industry in 1999 and 2007. Although growing hemp is legal in Canada, Canadian farmers planted more than twenty-five times as much land to flax in 2010. Source: Health Canada (click image for original report).

A 1998 study by a University of Kentucky team of economists projected net returns of $120-$340 per acre for hemp production in Kentucky. It didn’t consider flax production, but the Canadian experience suggests that flax could offer similar returns. The authors note that Kentucky-based processing facilities would be needed for farmers to realize profits in the higher end of their projected range. Commissioner Comer wants these to be placed in economically-depressed areas of the state that used to depend on tobacco production. If there really is potential for a low-input, multi-use fiber and oilseed crop, like hemp, then why not experiment with flax? Processing facilities could be built for flax in the near term, and used for hemp, too, should it ever become legal again. The Canadian experience suggests that hemp may not live up to its advocates’ hype, but Kentucky doesn’t have to wait  for the federal DEA to change its tune to re-introduce a similar once-prominent crop… flax.

4th Annual Heirloom Seed Sale

  In-Feed, a program of Faith Feeds will host its 4th Annual Heirloom Seed Sale where community members are invited to browse more than 90 varieties of heirloom and organic seeds.

The varieties of seeds available at the sale will not be found in a typical seed catalog. They include popular types, such as Black Krim tomato, Moonglow tomato, Romanian Rainbow bell pepper, Gold of Bacau beans, Rosa Bianca eggplant and Amish Deertongue lettuce. Some seeds were grown locally by Faith Feeds or their community partners and include varieties like New Big Dwarf tomato, Belarus Orange tomato and Stickless Wonder beans.

Bob McKinley and other experienced gardeners will be available the day of the sale to answer questions about the seeds, including how and where to grow each variety, how much sun they require and how to transform the resulting crops into a tasty and healthy meal.

Carolyn Gilles from The Wholesome Chef will be onsite to discuss recipes and cooking methods.

The seed catalog can be found at www.faithfeedslex.org