For those of you from my mom's hometown...
Rural Advantage 2008 3rd Crop Producer Meetings
February 11th & 25th, March 10th & 24th
Knights of Columbus Hall, Fairmont MN
Rural Advantage is hosting its annual series of 3rd Crop Producer Meetings in February and March. These informative meetings will cover a range of issues and opportunities emerging in the farm industry. This year’s topics include: 3rd crops, biomass markets, cover crops/carbon, and expanding markets for producers through ecological commodity payments. Meeting dates, topics, and times are below.
· Monday, February 11th - 3rd Crops 10 a.m. – 3:15
· Monday, February 25th – Biomass Markets 10 a.m. – 3:00
· Monday, March 10th – Cover Crops/Carbon 10 a.m. – 3:00
· Monday, March 24th – Getting Paid: Ecological Commodity Payments 10 a.m. – 3:15
3rd crops can provide multiple benefits in addition to the traditional food, fuel, and fiber. The very nature of growing some 3rd crops makes them valuable assets to the farming system. Please join us on Monday February 11th to learn more about a range of topics on 3rd crops; presentations include:
Miscanthus as a bioenergy crop
Woody agriculture
Placing perennial crops on the landscape
Establishing native grasses
Hybrid Hazelnuts
Small grains
The exploding bioeconomy is driving new markets for biomass beyond the traditional corn to ethanol and soybeans to biodiesel industries. New markets are being developed for products made from biomass. These include a host of renewable fuels, bio-products, composites & materials, chemicals, and more. Presentations on biomass markets include:
Pelleting opportunities with ag residues
Distributed energy with pyrolysis and gasification
Biomass to methanol
Alfalfa for fuel and feed
Managing healthy soils has long been a key management strategy to maintain yields in a world where pressure is being put on the agricultural system to provide ever increasing amounts of food, fiber, and fuel. This drive to produce more per acres has led to some interesting proposals for removing ag residues as a potential feedstock for renewable energy. Is this a sustainable option for maintaining healthy soils? If removing ag residues, could the use of cover crops mitigate some of the negatives? These questions as well as many more will be answered at this meeting on March 10th. Presentations that day include:
Aerial seeding rye as a cover crop
Integrating cover crops into Midwest farming systems
Cover crops and EQIP
Strategies for managing cover crops
Carbon cycling; biomass removal and bio-char
Soil conservation and biomass energy
3rd crops are known to provide multiple benefits to the farming system, yet their adoption by producers has been slow and challenging. An often repeated reason from farmers is that they do not compete economically with the traditional corn/soybean rotation. The answer is for farmers to get paid for the multiple benefits that growing 3rd crops provide to society as a whole. So in addition to getting paid for the crop grown, producers are also being compensated for things like carbon sequestered, nutrients reduced, water recharged back to the aquifer, as well as many more. This March 24th meeting will provide participants with some understanding knowledge on implementing ecological commodity payments through the following presentations:
Implementing ecological commodity payments
Water quality trading
Wildlife habitat payments
Carbon credit payments
MN Terrestrial Carbon Project
Innovations in Biorefining
All meetings are being offered free of charge by Rural Advantage and are held at the Knights of Columbus Hall located at 920 E 10th St. in Fairmont MN. Registration and coffee begin at 9:30 with presentations starting at 10:00. For a full agenda with all the meeting dates, speakers, topics, times, and locations please contact Jeff Jensen @ Rural Advantage for a brochure. 507-238-5449 or jeff@ruraladvantage.org
Jeff Jensen
Rural Advantage
1243 Lake Ave. Suite 222
Fairmont, MN 56031
507-238-5449 Fax: 507-238-4002
www.ruraladvantage.org
E-Mail: jeff@ruraladvantage.org
February 11th & 25th, March 10th & 24th
Knights of Columbus Hall, Fairmont MN
Rural Advantage is hosting its annual series of 3rd Crop Producer Meetings in February and March. These informative meetings will cover a range of issues and opportunities emerging in the farm industry. This year’s topics include: 3rd crops, biomass markets, cover crops/carbon, and expanding markets for producers through ecological commodity payments. Meeting dates, topics, and times are below.
· Monday, February 11th - 3rd Crops 10 a.m. – 3:15
· Monday, February 25th – Biomass Markets 10 a.m. – 3:00
· Monday, March 10th – Cover Crops/Carbon 10 a.m. – 3:00
· Monday, March 24th – Getting Paid: Ecological Commodity Payments 10 a.m. – 3:15
3rd crops can provide multiple benefits in addition to the traditional food, fuel, and fiber. The very nature of growing some 3rd crops makes them valuable assets to the farming system. Please join us on Monday February 11th to learn more about a range of topics on 3rd crops; presentations include:
Miscanthus as a bioenergy crop
Woody agriculture
Placing perennial crops on the landscape
Establishing native grasses
Hybrid Hazelnuts
Small grains
The exploding bioeconomy is driving new markets for biomass beyond the traditional corn to ethanol and soybeans to biodiesel industries. New markets are being developed for products made from biomass. These include a host of renewable fuels, bio-products, composites & materials, chemicals, and more. Presentations on biomass markets include:
Pelleting opportunities with ag residues
Distributed energy with pyrolysis and gasification
Biomass to methanol
Alfalfa for fuel and feed
Managing healthy soils has long been a key management strategy to maintain yields in a world where pressure is being put on the agricultural system to provide ever increasing amounts of food, fiber, and fuel. This drive to produce more per acres has led to some interesting proposals for removing ag residues as a potential feedstock for renewable energy. Is this a sustainable option for maintaining healthy soils? If removing ag residues, could the use of cover crops mitigate some of the negatives? These questions as well as many more will be answered at this meeting on March 10th. Presentations that day include:
Aerial seeding rye as a cover crop
Integrating cover crops into Midwest farming systems
Cover crops and EQIP
Strategies for managing cover crops
Carbon cycling; biomass removal and bio-char
Soil conservation and biomass energy
3rd crops are known to provide multiple benefits to the farming system, yet their adoption by producers has been slow and challenging. An often repeated reason from farmers is that they do not compete economically with the traditional corn/soybean rotation. The answer is for farmers to get paid for the multiple benefits that growing 3rd crops provide to society as a whole. So in addition to getting paid for the crop grown, producers are also being compensated for things like carbon sequestered, nutrients reduced, water recharged back to the aquifer, as well as many more. This March 24th meeting will provide participants with some understanding knowledge on implementing ecological commodity payments through the following presentations:
Implementing ecological commodity payments
Water quality trading
Wildlife habitat payments
Carbon credit payments
MN Terrestrial Carbon Project
Innovations in Biorefining
All meetings are being offered free of charge by Rural Advantage and are held at the Knights of Columbus Hall located at 920 E 10th St. in Fairmont MN. Registration and coffee begin at 9:30 with presentations starting at 10:00. For a full agenda with all the meeting dates, speakers, topics, times, and locations please contact Jeff Jensen @ Rural Advantage for a brochure. 507-238-5449 or jeff@ruraladvantage.org
Jeff Jensen
Rural Advantage
1243 Lake Ave. Suite 222
Fairmont, MN 56031
507-238-5449 Fax: 507-238-4002
www.ruraladvantage.org
E-Mail: jeff@ruraladvantage.org
1 comment:
Just found your blog, searching for info on the Fairmont meeting. My kids attended Fairmont HS and daughter Monica graduated from Carleton in 2001. She's getting her MBA in Sustainable Business in June. Any chance you know her? You have a great blog...
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