ANNOUNCEMENTS NYS IPM Program Invites Nominations for 2006 "Excellence in IPM" Awards

The New York State Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program seeks nominations for its annual "Excellence in IPM Awards." Criteria

Candidates for Excellence in IPM Awards should be individuals or organizations in NYS whose work in IPM deserves special recognition. They might be awarded for developing new IPM tools; evaluating IPM methods in their operations, businesses, or organizations; encouraging demonstrations and adoption of IPM; and promoting IPM and bolstering the adoption of IPM practices. Previous IPM award winners have worked with the NYS IPM Program, commodity groups, private organizations, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and in other settings to help develop and promote the use of IPM. We seek nominations for people in agricultural IPM (fruit, vegetables, ornamentals, and livestock and field crops) and community IPM (schools, homes, landscapes, turf, and municipalities). New Yorkers involved in communicating about IPM through the media are also eligible. Deadline

Nominations must be received at the IPM Program office on or before October 27, 2006. Email submissions will not be accepted. For complete information about the NYS IPM Program nominations, go to: http://www.nysipm.cornell.edu/ SEMINARS, CONFERENCES & WORKSHOPS NYSACAA Annual Meeting  October 4-6, 2006 The New York State Association of County Agricultural Agents will be having their annual meeting at the Nassau County 4-H Camp in Riverhead, NY. For more information and a registration form, contact Kelly Reardon of CCE-Rensselaer at kr52@cornell.edu or 518-272-4210. US Agricultural Information Network Conference - Delivering Information for the New Life Sciences - October 8-11, 2006 The full program for the conference is available on the conference web site at http://usain.mannlib.cornell.edu . The plenary session on Monday, October 9 features Joan Lippincott of the Coalition for Networked Information; James Giovannoni, Head of the Tomato Genome Project, USDA/Cornell University; Michael Shamos, Director of the Universal Library Project at Carnegie Mellon University; and Fedro Zazueta, Office of Academic Technology at the University of Florida. Anton Mangstl of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations will present the closing address. Pre-conferences covering Successful Digital Repositories: from Creation to Preservation and NCBI Bioinformatics Resources will take place on Sunday, October 8. Single day and "pre-conference only" registration is available. 2007 NYS Farmers' Direct Marketing Conference: Connecting the Dots Between Local Ag, Healthy People and Healthy Communities The 2007 NYS Farmers' Direct Marketing Conference, "The Food Less Traveled: How Local Food Contributes to Healthy People and Healthy Communities," will be held at the Owego Treadway Inn in Owego, NY on January 18-20, 2007. The conference will focus on the links between local agriculture and the health and well-being of citizens and communities. This conference will bring together the agricultural industry with the health, diet and nutrition community to learn how these professions can learn from one another, support each other and benefit our communities through collaborative efforts. A full press release about the conference can be found at http://www.smallfarms.cornell.edu/pages/news/ or contact Diane Eggert at 315-475-1101 or diane99@dreamscape.com or Martha Goodsell at nyfarms@clarityconnect.com for more information GRANTS & PROPOSALS Request for Proposals in Community Integrated Pest Management -- Due October 24, 2006

The NYS IPM Program is pleased to announce a mini-grants program for Community IPM. Proposals may be submitted for either implementation or research and are due October 24th. A maximum of $5,000 per grant will be awarded. Community IPM refers to the practice of IPM in settings other than agricultural production-including, but not limited to school buildings, grounds and curriculum; structures; street trees; residential landscapes; golf courses; athletic fields; lawns; parks and rights-of-ways. For more details on how to apply contact either Jennifer Grant jag7@cornell.edu, Community IPM Coordinator, or Laura Harrington lch27@cornell.edu, Community Working Group Chair. INFORMATION New USDA Report on Small-Scale Cooperatives in the Northeast

The USDA Rural Development Office has released their latest report titled Small-Scale Grower Cooperatives in the Northeast United States: A Study of Organizational Characteristics, Manager, Member and Director Attitudes, and the Potential for Improving Regional Inter-Cooperative Collaboration, by Duncan Hilchey, Gil Gillespie, and Brian Henehan. This 35-page report features information gleaned from a series of surveys focused on examining Northeast small-scale fruit and vegetable cooperative management and organizational factors (such as organizational structure and planning, trade area and market share trends, and small-scale cooperative competitive advantages) and exploring ways in which fruit and vegetable cooperatives in the region can improve their performance and work together on common interests. The reports intended audience includes cooperative managers, directors, and members, as well as advisors who wish to assist new or established cooperatives in the Northeast or in other areas of the US where there is interest in supporting family farms. Print copies of the report are available by contacting the Community, Food, and Agriculture Program, c/o Gretchen Gilbert, gcg4@cornell.edu, 607-255-9832.