The session will be held at the following sites, connected by WECN video conferencing: Pullman (Lighty 405), Wenatchee, Mt. Vernon, Puyallup and Prosser. You are welcome to come and go at your convenience.

We hope to see you on April 16th and look forward to receiving your proposals.

Lynne Carpenter-Boggs (BIOAg Coordinator)

Chad Kruger (Interim Director, CSNAR)

In addition to shoveling mud and debris out of barns, the students cleaned flood debris from fences, shoveled flood-deposited rocks and gravel out of fields so they can be plowed, and dug out irrigation pipes buried under two feet of mud.

Generally, the student volunteers were overwhelmed by the extent of damage they found and the years of cleanup facing local residents.  Still, they felt their few days of work were a valuable contribution.

“I am very satisfied thinking about how I’m giving help to other people, so it’s very meaningful to me,” said Yoo Tak Han, a foreign studies student from Korea.  “I can give something, some small thing, that will make some people happy, so I think it’s a good thing.”

For information on how you can help animals that survived the flooding, go ONLINE @ www.folcas.org.

The Chehalis Spring Break Clean-up was sponsored by CSANR and the Center for Civic Engagement.

By Denny Fleenor and printed in WSU Today and On Solid Ground March 12,2008

PULLMAN, Wash. – Four faculty members have been named recipients of the 2007-08 Sahlin Faculty Awards. The $3,000 awards are given out each spring by Washington State University in recognition of excellence in academic achievement.

All will be honored publicly March 28 as part of WSU Showcase, which celebrates the achievements of WSU faculty and staff.

David M. Granatstein, area extension agent and sustainable agriculture specialist at the Tree Fruit Research Extension Center in Wenatchee, has received the Sahlin Faculty Excellence Award for Outreach and Engagement.

He began his career at WSU Extension in 1993, when he became the first full-time faculty member attached to the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources. His vision and work are helping move sustainability out of the realm of argument and into constructive dialogue and application. 

Granatstein's program of applied research and outreach has focused on three main themes: building bridges to environmental stewardship, improving soil and water quality, and advancing organic agriculture in Washington.  He has created vital networks among farmers, the environmental community, consumers and policy makers. In the process, he has become an internationally recognized expert on sustainable agriculture and organic farming.

For more about the other faculty winners go to http://www.wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=7026

Bee Cha, Hmong Program Coordinator at Washington State University Extension, has been appointed by Governor Christine Gregoire to the Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs. Cha, an Outreach Educator in the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, works with Hmong farmers in production, marketing, and business management.

“It’s an honor to be part of this Board. I want to be able to serve the Hmong community and make sure people are aware of the resources and policies that will affect them,” said Cha.

Cha, based in King County, works with nearly 80 Hmong farm families in King, Snohomish and Pierce County.

Language barriers and paperwork provide a challenge to many of the farmers who grow flowers and vegetables.

“Health insurance is a top priority,” said Cha. “Hmong farmers are self-employed and they don’t yet have all the skills to go through the bureaucracy. I’m teaching them about the importance of business plans and making sure they are up to date when they report what they sell to prove their income,” Cha added.

The Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs was created to improve and insure access to Asian Pacific Americans in government, business and education.

Cha will serve on the Commission through June 2010.

WSU associate professor Marcia “Marcy” Ostrom has been named the recipient of the 2007 Western Regional Excellence in Extension Award. Ostrom is the director of the WSU Small Farms Program that she established in 2000 and a member of the Community and Rural Sociology Department.

The honor is one of five regional awards and one national award given annually by the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges. Ostrom received the award at NASULGC’s annual conference in New York City on Nov. 11.

“In seven years, Marcy has built the WSU Small Farms Program from the ground up into a model

for engaging small producers and previously underserved groups,” said Linda Kirk Fox, associate vice president and dean of WSU Extension. “She has brought together a statewide team of campus and county-based faculty, agency representatives and community partners to address issues of small farm viability and community food systems.”

Ostrom’s Small Farms Team includes bi-lingual Hmong and Latino outreach specialists who adapt educational programs for diverse cultures. Hmong refugees from Laos are a growing immigrant group that relies heavily on income from farmers markets. Latino farm owners constitute the fastest growing sector of new farmers in Washington state. For more information on the Small Farms Team, visit: http://smallfarms.wsu.edu/index.php

November 28, 2007 On Solid Ground

“Sustainable agriculture focuses on using resources efficiently,” said Catherine Perillo, clinical assistant professor of crop and soil sciences.

The goal is to meet the agricultural goals of the present without jeopardizing the environmental needs of the future, Perillo said. The certificate program is open to all WSU graduate students from any field. Eligibility for the certificate requires students meet the prerequisites of the courses needed for the certificate.

“Students really need to start learning about the impacts of industrial agriculture,” education graduate student Kristen Koenig said. “There needs to be more emphasis on how we can make it more sustainable.”

Read more>>

Adapted from an article by Daily Evergreen reporter Mike Brambley.

"We're careful to point out that the figures in the profile are a best estimate because of anomalies and inconsistencies in the available data. ... The report represents a low-end estimate of organically farmed land in the state," said WSU agriculture specialist David Granatstein, in a statement.

More information on the state's organic farming status can be found at http://csanr.wsu.edu/Organic/OrganicStats.htm .