Hello,

Hope to see folks at the quarterly Council on Sustainability meeting this afternoon (March 11th) and at this Saturday’s Shrink Your Footprint Fair; 1-5PM at the GNB-Voc Tech School, 1121 Ashley Blvd. in New Bedford.  Here are a few other items that might be of interest to the Food&Agriculture working group in the coming weeks:

Health, Nutrition, and Food

• The School Nutrition Bill and the Local Farm Products Bill will be voted on in the Senate today (March 11th); see also today’s Globe Article:  Support grows for limiting junk food…
• IATP Food&Society Fellows Child Nutrition Issue was recently published on the web (Feb 2010).
• Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition – Food Systems and Public Health: Linkages to Achieve Healthier Diets and Healthier Communities free access to current issue online.
• Healthy Southcoast by Design Summit in New Bedford featuring Mark Fenton – March 23rd and 24th.

Sustainable Agriculture at the Local Level

• Enhance Your Farm’s Future -One Day Farm Conference and Resource Fair – Sat. March 27th at BCAHS in Dighton.
• Building Sustainable Farms, Ranches and Communities, a guide to federal programs that provide financial and technical support for sustainable agriculture.
• Relocalizing our Foodshed Conference is next Mon/Tues in MN – might be worth watching what reports or abstracts come out of this gathering…
• The Carrot Project – Small Farm Loan Program has a March 19th deadline for loan applications.
• Slow Money’s Ideas for Change in America Invest in Local Food Systems to Save the Economy and the Planet

Educational Resources and Events

• Annual Massachusetts Agriculture in the Classroom Winter Conference – Sat. Mar 13th in Ludlow, MA.
• Saturday March 13th – Shrink Your Footprint Fair ; 1-5PM at the GNB-Voc Tech School, 1121 Ashley Blvd. in New Bedford.
• Helping You Grow Your Bounty, Trade Your Foodmiles for Foodsteps: ongoing – organic gardening, nutrient density, and sustainable agriculture workshops presented by Brix Bounty Farm – see list of upcoming events and resources.

Cheers,

Derek