Hello. Welcome to our expanded Farming for Credit Directory! New Farm editor Laura Sayre has included information on course offerings and hands-on experiences at more than 70 colleges and universities around the country. These represent those ag programs with the most well-developed organic and sustainable curriculums.

What Laura discovered in researching the directory was the organic and sustainable agriculture has revitalized agricultural education in this country. The most dynamic programs, attracting lots of new students, focus on organic production. They range from Michigan State University, with it's dynamic student farm and expanding organic curriculum, to smaller colleges like Sterling College in Vermont, which offers an undergraduate major in sustainable agriculture. Enjoy the directory, and tell your younger friends to check it out.

Steingraber, part 2: I also strongly recommend reading the second installment in Sandra Steingraber's keynote address from this year's Eco-Farm conference. She is scientifically rigorous and honest in discussing the impact of farm chemicals on pregancy and human development, but passionate and lyrical in her defense of life.

After undergoing amniocentesis, Steingraber imagines her amniotic fluid's frail and wonderful connection to the life around her, writing: "When I hold in my hands a tube of my own amniotic fluid, I am holding a tube full of raindrops. Amniotic fluid is also the juice of oranges I had for breakfast, the milk I poured over my cereal, the honey that I stirred into my tea. It is inside the green cells of spinach leaves and the damp flesh of apples...." See below for more.

Enjoy!
Chris Hill, Executive Editor

Stink is in the pink
Garlic fests around the country are getting farmers and consumers fired up about the pungent bulb and its opportunities.
See below for more.

A small patch of
paradise in Senegal
In the old colonial capital of Saint-Louis, Doudou Diallo's organic-by-default vegetables are in high demand.
See below for more.

Gotta love that garlic breadth
A pungent plethora of festivals celebrate the diversity--and marketability--of this culinary, medicinal and ever-popular allium. Staff writer Dan Sullivan offers growing tips, varietal advice and insights into what makes for a successful garlic fest.

Inspector's Notebook #16
Don't Bug Me
Jim Riddle outlines his three-tiered approach to pest management for keeping insects at bay: cultivating beneficial predators, creating habitat for natural enemies of pests, and nonsynthetic controls such as lures, traps and repellants.

At right: Pheromone lures and sticky traps assist in monitoring orchard pest populations.

Inspector's Notebook

ONE FARM TO ANOTHER
Taking the REALLY long view
As fall approaches, Jeff reflects on the past and future of farming on our own little patch of North America--and considers the ecological and economic value of adding perennial grain crops to the mix.

Perennial wheat

Weed Management in Organic No-Till Systems

Choosing cover crops for no-till organic soybeans
The more biomass the better for weed suppression—but you do have to be able to plant through the stuff.

At right: Rolled down rye works well.

No-till covers

Wanted: Small farm in MO for missionary family; berry/orchard farm in New England; organic rosehips for bulk tea; 3,000 waxed boxes for berries; used poultry processing equipment in IL; job on PA farm.
For sale: Vine supports for greenhouse tomatoes; 320-acre certified organic farm in IL; tractors in SD and PA; 500-gal above-ground gas tank in WI; Boer goats in IA; organic livestock feed; used chicken equipment in IA; small farms in SD, SC, PA, NY and TN; certified organic oats; Ladino clover seed.
Events: Conferences, lectures, workshops and classes in MA, OR, WA, CA, Saskatchewan and Costa Rica, on a wide variety of farm topics.
Opportunities: Organic farm apprenticeships in VA, NY; executive director, Innovative Farmers of Ohio; trial garden manager, CA; fundraiser/administrator for Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture; farm managers in NJ, PA, NM, MA, IL.

AND THOSE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW ON THE NEW FARM CLASSIFIEDS!

Reader Q&A & Commentary
QUESTIONS: How do you get USDA organic certification for lettuce prduced overseas? Do you have any thoughts on using a reciprocating spader for tillage? How do you protect small seed so it doesn't wash away? How do you install a market garden on what is now a grassy field? Would you be willing to reverse the order of postings on the Forums? COMMENTARY: Tufts U. student argues for an end to subsidies and support of conservation farming. Nepal WWOOFING group shares its hopes and dreams.

Click here for answers and opinions.

Ag Policy Perspectives:
Two issues may shape the 2007 Farm Bill
Rest assured, says agricultural analyst Daryll E. Ray: Two factors will heavily influence the shape of the farm bill: the federal deficit, and the pressure that is being put on WTO negotiators to eliminate agricultural subsidies.