Urban Agriculture Listening Sessions

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Urban Agriculture Listening Sessions – Join the Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research (WCMER) in a coordinated effort gathering stakeholders and sharing our voices in support of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) RFA development program.

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recently posted a notice that they are taking stakeholder input to help inform and set priorities for $40 million of grant funding for research, education and extension around urban agriculture, indoor agriculture and emerging agriculture. To respond to NIFA with aggregated and organized comments, the Western Center for Metropolitan Extension and Research (WCMER), National Urban Extension Leaders (NUEL), and a number of local Farm Bureau chapters located in urban counties from across the country are partnering to host four online, interactive urban agriculture listening sessions (see below for details and registration).  If you are unable to attend a listening session, you can still provide your comments and indicate your preference to join research, extension, or education grant teams via this survey (live now). 

How we will use this information: Input from the listening sessions and survey responses will be aggregated and summarized by WCMER for the purpose of providing comments to NIFA; no personally identifying information will be included.  

Background information: NIFA invests in Urban Agriculture research and education through its Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Program, AFRI Foundational Knowledge of Agriculture Production Systems, Specialty Crop Research Initiative, AFRI Small and Medium Sized Farms, Community Food Projects, and the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative. Information on these programs and how they help address urban, indoor and emerging agricultural production priorities can be found in NIFA’s website through the following address: https://nifa.usda.gov/​program/​uie-ag.Click for Urban Ag Survey

Urban Agriculture Listening Sessions: WCMER member institution Michigan State University’s National Charrette Institute has designed and will provide facilitation for the on-line listening sessions.  The dates/times and registration links for the Listening Sessions:

• Thursday, May 28 from 2-4 pm EST, 1-3 pm CST, 12-2 pm MST, 11 am-1pm PST
  Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0lfu6hrD8uHtYzm0UxDYIC3v6Dg0yUjHgW
• Thursday, May 28 from 7-9 pm EST, 6-8 pm CST, 5-7 pm MST, 4-6 pm PST
  Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUldOqrqjgrHtUuyo1zmS1KAiwyvUQFk7NF
• Friday, May 29 from 10 am-12 pm EST, 9-11 am CST, 8-10 am MST, 7- 9 am PST
  Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIocuqurD8vH9JRiHkDDl1kL1tepfCtEWXp
• Friday, May 29 from 2-4 pm EST, 1-3 pm CST, 12 pm-2 pm MST, 11 am-1 pm PST
  Registration Link: https://msu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMuf-6pqTkjHtTGkaXRLY9GR17nocRrh_bT

Project details can also be found on the WCMER website at https://metroextension.wsu.edu/urbanag/

 

• Learn more about urban agriculture from beginningfarmers.org at https://www.beginningfarmers.org/?s=Urban+Agriculture

• And find tons of other useful farming resources at https://www.beginningfarmers.org/additional-farming-resources/