Volunteer Spotlight: Stephanie Chan

Stephanie tending her new garden in Brooklyn.

Stephanie was a Groundswell trainee in 2011's New Farmer Training Program. In 2011 and 2012, she served as Groundswell's Program Evaluation Assistant. We'd like to thank her for her volunteer service!

Growing up in Oceanside, NY, Stephanie Chan and her family had a small plot of land in which they raised Chinese vegetables organically. This love for growing things eventually brought her to Cornell University in 2009 as a graduate student analyzing the economics and profitability of four different cropping systems for organic vegetable production. But she didn’t lose sight of the possibility of farming on a small scale, growing and marketing the delicious Asian vegetables which she had trouble finding locally. So in 2011 she enrolled in Groundswell’s first cohort of trainees in our New Farmer Training Program.

In August of 2011 Stephanie also began working with Groundswell as a volunteer Program Evaluation Assistant. Since then she’s spent hours and hours compiling and analyzing evaluation data from our Summer Practicum and Farm Business Planning Course, and assessing their impacts on students and trainees. Stephanie’s super analytic skills and her training in business and economics have been a great resource for Groundswell. Stephanie has worked with us almost a full year, but is moving on to Brooklyn, New York where she is seeking a position in non-profit research and developing her skills in urban farming.

Thank you, Stephanie, for your important contributions to Groundswell. We wish you all the best in your new ventures!

Farmers v. Monsanto

GMO corn in Germany.

This message, from Gianni Ortiz, contains information about an upcoming gathering to show support for the 82 farmers who are taking agro-tech giant Monsanto to court in The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA), et. al. v. Monsanto. Gianni is organizing a delegation from Upstate NY to make an appearance at the event. For more information about the case, click here.

Sorry for any duplication and please share with lists and friends generously.

Hello Everyone,

The Bus will be leaving promptly at 6am Tuesday January 31st from the old Wal-Mart parking lot in Hudson. The exact address is 351 Fairview Avenue, Hudson, NY 12534. Please be there no later than 5:45 am. Those who have already confirmed are guaranteed a seat, everyone else will be first come, first sat – maximum capacity is 55 passengers. Bring anything you will need to be comfortable for the day. We will reserve space for signs, etc… The weather should be quite gorgeous with temperatures in the low 50’s. Also we are asking that those in our group wear a purple armband so that we can keep track of and support each other during the action. You can find guidelines for signage and more at www.osgata.org.

We will be gathering with occupywallstreet. They are planning on having a large demonstration with a timeline of different egregious actions committed by Monsanto over the years, a teach-in, and possibly a large banner. A big thank you the organizers of Occupy Big Food and Occupy Wall Street Food Justice for their hard work on this. I believe we will be leaving Foley Square at mid-afternoon but cannot guarantee that, so please make your plans accordingly. Departure time from NYC will be announced the morning of. We have the use of the bus up until leaving NYC at 6pm.

Washington Post features local McDonald Farm

The original article can be found here.

Ole McDonald Makes a Comeback in NY's Finger Lakes and Hangs Out a "Clean Food" Shingle 

By Associated Press 

The Washington Post          

June 22, 2011

 

Peter McDonald assigns his 9-year-old twin boys the tricky task of erecting a mesh fence in one part of the family farm, then tramps across lushly carpeted fields for a daily evaluation of his grass-chomping cows and sheep.

But first, there's ... Hello! A hundred head-bobbing turkeys interrupt their foraging for bugs and clover-leaf morsels to hurtle across the pasture to greet him.

Behind this wholesome agrarian drama with its “Old McDonald” echoes from long ago is a determined effort to crystallize the definition of grass-based livestock farming. A father of nine with a picaresque past and a famous brother in Hollywood, this 57-year-old McDonald allows his assortment of amiable animals to loiter outdoors all day over a dense mix of grasses untainted by chemical fertilizers.

Request for Proposals: Cornell's TSF Organic Agriculture Research, Teaching & Outreach

If you're a Cornell Student, Cooperative Extension educator, or organic farmer, you may be interested in this grant opportunity. The TSF (Toward Sustainability Foundation) has pledged a gift to Cornell to support organic agriculture programs, and they're putting out a request for proposals now. The deadline for submitting grants is December 15th, 2010. This is a chance to get your idea funded!

From the website:

The Department of Horticulture at Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) requests proposals for innovative research, teaching and outreach projects in organic farming and food system sustainability.  A gift from the Toward Sustainability Foundation (TSF) will provide support for successful proposals during calendar year 2011.  Short proposals are requested (10-page maximum, single spaced, including an itemized budget) from Cornell staff and students, Cooperative Extension educators, and New York organic farmers.  All funded proposals must include someone on the CALS faculty as a principal investigator or co-PI, in order for us to allocate these funds.  Projects will be funded up to a maximum $10,000 for a one-year period (2011).