NCEC is committed to supporting local farmers and growers in the Newaygo Region. As part of our Healthy Habitats focus, sustainable and regenerative agriculture is key to clean water, a robust pollinator population, and healthy humans.
A new local network of farmers and growers committed to sustainable agriculture practices has begun! In its earliest stages, this collaboration had its first meeting in March. Attendees came from a variety of experiences: a seasoned grower on a 150-year-old farm, another with a decade of silvopasture and rotational grazing animal production, a compost and manure business; small CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farms, and friends and allies of farmers and growers.
The group’s initial goals were to share knowledge and resources and educate the public about healthy, locally-grown foods.
An April meeting is in the works to take the next steps in creating a robust and effective collaboration.
Interested Farmers, Growers and Producers can contact NCEC to be placed on a list serve for future meetings and information: email sally.w@nc-ec.org.
Please take this short survey to let us know what you grow!
“Farm & Forest Education Day” – Friday, April 5, 8:30 – 2pm, Stone Lodge in back of Trillium Springs, 4465 W 48th St, Fremont, 49412
The Newaygo Conservation District and the Newaygo Farm Bureau are offering a free program for farmers & growers. It will include lunch and an optional tour of Kropscott Farm Environmental Center. The program qualifies as MAEAP Phase 1 educational session.
A wide variety of presenters and topics will be included. Conservation District programs and updates will be provided by Tanner Fowler (MAEAP Technician), Allissa Conley (Produce Safety Technician) and Kelly Bishop (District Conservationist).
Rod Denning, District Forester, will discuss the various Forestry Programs available. He will also provide updates on the health of our local forests, which are undergoing stress due to a variety of invasive infestations.
Grazing Management will be presented by Kable Thurlow, a Beef and Grazing Educator at MSU, and “Making the Most of Your Manure” will be handled by Tess Van Gorder, a Farm Bureau Conservation & Regulatory Specialist.
NCEC will introduce themselves to the local Farmer, Grower & Producer community and provide updates on their activities of interest. NCEC members will discuss the initiation of a “Farm to Stable” Network, whose mission is to engage small scale farmers & growers in a community led collaboration to identify and meet their needs toward sustainable practices.
More information can be found here: Farmer Education Day Info
Registration is requested to help plan for lunch, but walk-ins are also welcomed. To register click here:
Farmer Education Day Registration. Or you can contact Jennifer Marfio: jmarfio@ctyfb.com, 231-796-1119, or scan the QR Code.
Farming With Climate Change: A Virtual Discussion for Farmers & their Allies with Larry Dyer,
Thursday, April 4, 7pm EST
As Earth’s climate changes, farmers are facing increasingly unpredictable weather conditions and more frequent extreme weather events.
Farmers will need to gather resources, create support networks and develop strategies to manage under new climatic conditions.
Regenerative farming practices can potentially ameliorate environmental impacts and make farming systems more resilient to extreme and variable weather.
Regenerative practices also have the potential to sequester carbon and transform agriculture from one of the greatest emitters of carbon into one of the solutions to long-term climate change.
Prior to the class, we will share a link for the film “Kiss the Ground”, which explores many regenerative practices through conversations with farmers who are using them.
Participants should view the film at their convenience. We recommend viewing the film shortly before the discussion forum so points of the film will be fresh in your mind.
The group will convene for the virtual forum made of farmers, and those of us who support them, to discuss farming practices that will make them more resilient to climate change.
Click Here to Register – Free: https://www.ncmclifelonglearning.com/event-5523948
***This material is funded in partnership by USDA, Risk Management Agency*** under award number RMA23CPT0013619
Address: 490 Quarterline St, Newaygo, MI 49337
Email buzz@nc-ec.org
A cloud of road dust blanketed the car behind me from my excited acceleration as I passed the Newaygo Prairie Nature Sanctuary. Ignition time was in less than an hour. This was my very first burn.
“Vernal Pools are like our Coral Reefs of the Forest,” states Katie, Vice Chair and Program Manager of the Newaygo County Environmental Coalition (NCEC). “They are small, important wetlands that appear in spring and dry up during the fall. They are ideal breeding grounds for a variety of amphibians and invertebrates that would be vulnerable to lake or stream fish; the fairy shrimp, wood frogs, spotted and blue-spotted salamanders can only breed in Vernal pools. They even travel back to their birth Vernal pool to spawn.”
As humans, it makes sense that we often think of the Earth from our own point of view. We imagine it as a place with trees and meadows and houses and highways. We think of cities as places for people, roads as ways to get from one place to another. But this is only our experience, and there are about a billion others.