Agriculture

Bio security, Risk Management, and Sustainable ag?

I am an FFA member who will be competeing in the Extemporanious Public speaking contest. Where i am given a topic about ag, and 30 mins to write a 5 min speech.

Aside from knowing the subject, and I’m betting you do and that you love it enough and care about our world and feeding it, you would be doing yourself best by being confident, like you were born to be on the stage. Speak as often as you can in front of groups and if you do and if you have, you know what I mean. When the audience loves you, and especially if you can get a laugh, your “golden”.
Now look at each topic and pick a point to work with. With sustainable agriculture, point out how often people confuse it with organic growing and site why they get confused. You have, in doing that, narrowed the subject down, and made it interesting and informative. Ask them “What would you say if…” as you get them involved and get them thinking.
Foreign pests, look to the newest, the emerald ash borer, a native Asian beetle that is killing ash trees in states that border Wisconsin. How about the hard hit areas with our old nemesis, the Japanese beetle. Real bad this year in places. Be on top of current events, and inform them. You will have their attention.
Take an idea that can combine topics, look at niche markets IN urban agriculture. Go out and find a crop and market and someone growing it and interview them. It is fiddle-head season in the north east. I love the little fiddle-heads, those green bean flavored fern sprouts, Everyone go to the store and try them, steamed with a bit of butter, stir fried. Compare the perils of going to the forest to gather fiddle-heads and not having a clue, to gathering mushrooms and not having a clue, and killing someone/ yourself. A little horror to captivate an audience.
The name of the game is talk about a thing the people want to hear. Be comfortable and ready. Try some of the above ideas or try something like them. Focus on an aspect, not the whole of a thing, or the audience will snore. Find aspects that connect the people with the topic. Practice in front of people and after a short while you’ll find it is natural to the point of being fun. Confidence is a winner. Try to make um laugh, it involves them, or ask them questions. Current events are a must, and do some reading on the topics daily to keep fresh, including biographies, Who was Jethro Tull (No not the group).

Sustainable Urban Agriculture at Harvest for the Hungry

Farming Forward $11.00 Farming Forward is a positive and inspiring look at sustainable farming in Minnesota. Directed by Martin Lang and Ethan Marxhausen in collaboration with the Sustainable Farming Association of MN, this new documentary paints an intimate portrait of the state’s burgeoning diversity of small family farms, from the rural to the urban, from multi-generational farms to new immigrant operations, from or…

Permaculture in Practice (DVD) $13.09 This DVD, whose aim is to inspire people to start their own permaculture projects, shows how permaculture is practiced in four very different settings: a Hampshire back garden belonging to the editors of Permaculture Magazine, including fruit trees, vegetables, bees, chickens, and ducks; a City Challenge project in Bradford close to a housing estate with 10,000 residents, tackling the problems of …

The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre! $11.74 The Backyard Homestead Put your backyard to work! Enjoy fresher, organic, better-tasting food all the time. The solution is as close as your own backyard. Grow the vegetables and fruits your family loves; keep bees; raise chickens, goats, or even a cow. The Backyard Homestead shows you how it’s done. And when the harvest is in, you’ll learn how to cook, preserve, cure, brew, or pickle the fruits o…

Breaking Through Concrete: Building an Urban Farm Revival $18.40 People have always grown food in urban spaces–on windowsills and sidewalks, and in backyards and neighborhood parks–but today, urban farmers are leading an environmental and social movement that transforms our national food system. To explore this agricultural renaissance, brothers David and Michael Hanson and urban farmer Edwin Marty document twelve successful urban farm programs, from an alter…

Tomorrow’s Garden: Design and Inspiration for a New Age of Sustainable Gardening $13.48 With a keen eye for aesthetics matched by a strong concern for the environment, garden expertStephen Orr has developed a sense of what a modern garden should be: small, visually pleasing, andresponsible. In Tomorrow’s Garden, he presents gardens in 14 American cities that have been scaledback and simplified without sacrificing beauty or innovative design. A devoted supporter of the organic…

Carrot City (Hardcover) $28.26 Carrot City is a collection of ideas, both conceptual and realized, that use design to enable sustainable food production, helping to reintroduce urban agriculture to our cities. Focusing on the need and desire to grow food within the city to…

Vital Coalitions, Vital Regions (Paperback) $64.99 Many rural regions in Europe are undergoing a dynamic transition, driven by forces of urbanisation and agricultural development, new patterns of production and consumption, and new societal demands. However, while the historical rural-urban divide is e…

Taking Root (Paperback) $16.31 Provides information on creating a garden in an urban setting, including a community garden, vertical farming, and in a high-rise apartment.

Tags: sustainable urban agriculture, sustainable urban agriculture certificate, sustainable urban agriculture grants, sustainable urban agriculture in developing countries a review, sustainable urban agriculture stocktake and opportunities

This entry was posted on Friday, February 10th, 2012 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Agriculture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.