> hi interested in starting an organic vegatable farm and am=20
> looking for some basic nuts and bolts info, to read, any help=20
> would be greatly appreciated..thanks..lee
>=20
Eric,
I can recommend several publications to get you started. As you wade=20
through these and come up with more specific questions, feel free to get=20
back to me. Also, be sure to check the various organic certifying=20
agencies (state or regional). I can point you to some of them if you want.
The first three publications are/were funded by the USDA SARE program,=20
either directly, or through grants. =20
1) The Sustainable Agriculture Network, in cooperation with the Northeast=
=20
Organic Farming Association, published *The Real Dirt: Farmers tell=20
about Organic and Low-Input Practices in the Northeast* in 1994. It is=20
full of nuts and bolts information, although some is applicable to the=20
Northeast (USA) specifically. It is available for $13.95 from:
Please send your check, or purchase order to:
Sustainable Agriculture Publications, Hills Building, Room 12,=20
University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405-0082
Bulk discounts are available. Contact Merideth Simpson for information abou=
t
bulk discounts at (802) 656-0471 (calls only for information about bulk
discounts, please), or msimpson@moose.uvm.edu
2) The Sustainable Agriculture Network also publishes
*Sustainable Agriculture Directory of Expertise*, last updated January
1996. It includes over 700 individuals and organizations with expertise
in sustainable agriculture, all of whom have agreed to be contacted to
pick their brains. I searched it using the word *organic* and got 287
hits (=3D entries in the book that have the word organic).
The Sustainable Agriculture Directory of Expertise is also available from
the University of Vermont (see above).
3) Sustainable Practices for Vegetable Production in the South
By Dr. Mary M. Peet
North Carolina State University
Much of this book is on the Web at
http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/cals/sustainable/peet/
from which I quote the following:
Acknowledgements: The text on which this information is based,
'Sustainable Practices for Vegetable Production in the South' was
developed using funding from a LISA (later SARE/ACE) grant in 1991 to Dr.
Mary Peet. (=A9 1995. All rights Reserved.) This book has just been
published by Focus, P.O. Box 369, Newburyport MA 01950-1469. Contact Ron
Pullins, Voice: (508) 462-7288 or Focus Publishing to order a copy. The
cost is $28.95 plus $4.50 shipping. Specific citations to over 250
references are given in the book version but not in the HTML version of
this document.=20
4) Some other World Wide Web Resources (there are many more!) :
http://www.rain.org/~sals/my.html (Sal's Home page -- West)
http://login.dknet.dk/~ifoam96/ (IFOAM)
http://www.midnet.com/midnet/organic/ =20
Search the sanet-mg archives at http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/san/
5) For a good listing of other resources, you should see the bibliography=
=20
recently published by the Alternative Farming Systems Information Center=20
(AFSIC) -- also funded in part by the SARE program: =20
Organic Production: Recent Publications and Current Information=20
Sources. SRB 96-07 (Special Reference Briefs Series)
Although most AFSIC publications are available on the WWW, this one is=20
not yet posted there. You might find other information of interest=20
there, however, so I'll just add my general file on AFSIC publications:
Alternative Farming Systems Information Center
This and other similar publications (See the List of Information Products=
=20
at any of these sites) are available free of charge from:
WWW: http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/AgrEnv/AltFarm
or http://www.nal.usda.gov
=20
select Answers to Your Questions
select Alternative Farming Systems Information Center
Gopher gopher.nal.usda.gov
select NAL Information Centers
select Alternative Farming Systems Information Center
Orders for publications can be made by e-mail: afsic@nal.usda.gov
Phone : (301) 504-6559
FAX : (301) 504-6409
Snail-mail:
Alternative Farming Systems Information Center
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Boulevard
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
Hope this gets you started. Best of luck! If anyone wants more informatio=
n=20
about the SARE program, just ask.
Andy Clark, Ph.D.
SAN Coordinator
c/o AFSIC, Room 304
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Ave.
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
PH: 301-504-6425
FAX: 301-504-6409
san@nal.usda.gov