FFA beyond high school

Did you know that FFA (Future Farmers of America) doesn't have to end after high school? The National FFA Organization offers many programs and scholarships as well as activities at national convention and connections to future employers for internships and full-time positions. You might also be interested in volunteering or mentoring for your local chapter. Until June 30, alumni over the age of 18 who sign up for the "FFA Beyond High School" e-newsletter will be entered into a drawing for an iPad. The e-newsletter will provide information about scholarships, internships, Collegiate FFA and alumni opportunities.  Go to http://www.ffa.org/beyondhighschool to sign up for the e-newsletter.  [Source: National FFA Organization]

You may also be interested in:

* FFA new horizons (1952-2009)

* Handbook on agricultural education in public schools (2008)

* Focus, news, agricultural education (Wisconsin Assn. of FFA, 1988-1999)

* 100 years of agricultural education: FFA in Wisconsin (1994)

* Wisconsin FFA alumni handbook (1985)

* Future Farmers of America and career education (1978)

* The FFA and you; your guide to learning (1962)

* Official manual for Future Farmers of America (1951)

* Future Farmers of America in action (1945)

* Fun and work for future farmers, FFA: a collection of games, programs, and community activities with practical ideas and suggestions for social and recreational programs for rural boys’ organizations (1934)

* The Dunn County future farmer (1930)

Upcoming events: WI Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters

"The nonprofit Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters connects people and ideas from all areas of knowledge and all walks of life to celebrate thought, culture and nature in our state and help solve our common problems."

In 2006, The Academy sponsored a state-wide public policy program on "The Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin."

Selected upcoming events:

September 29, 2009
"Green Jobs: Growing Wisconsin Employment"
Discovery World Museum, Milwaukee, WI

October 13, 2009
"The Future of Farming and Rural Life: Reconnecting with Wisconsin Values and the Lost Art of Citizenship"
Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI

November 15, 2009
"Heat Waves and High Water: Climate Change, Public Health, and the 2050 Wisconsin Landscape"
Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI

March 16, 2010
"What's Driving My Car? 2050 Biofuels and Other Sustainable Energy Sources"
Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI

May 11, 2010
"Why Third World Migrants Will Disappear from the United States by 2050"
Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI

"In Defense of Food" picked for Go Big Read

Madison area residents are invited to participate in the "Go Big Read" common book project this upcoming Fall.

The first book picked is "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" by Michael Pollan, who is scheduled to visit campus September 24-26.

Books by Michael Pollan:

• In defense of food: an eater's manifesto (also known as In defence of food: The myth of nutrition and the pleasures of eating)
• The omnivore's dilemma: a natural history of four meals
• The botany of desire: a plant's eye view of the world
• Second nature: a gardener's education
• A place of my own: the education of an amateur builder

Related books:

• America's food: What you don't know about what you eat
• Animal, vegetable, miracle: A year of food life
• Art of simple food: Notes, lessons, and recipes from a delicious revolution
• Fast food nation: the dark side of the all-American meal
• Food chains: From farmyard to shopping cart
• Food matters: A guide to conscious eating with more than 75 Recipes
• Food policy: Integrating health, environment and society
• Food politics: How the food industry influences nutrition and health
• Hope's edge: The next Diet for a Small Planet
• Real food: What to eat and why
• Righteous porkchop: Finding a life and good food beyond factory farms
• Six arguments for a greener diet: how a more plant-based diet could save your health and the environment
• Slow food nation: Why our food should be good, clean, and fair
• Slow food: the case for taste
• What to eat
• Where our food comes from: retracing Nikolay Vavilov's quest to end famine

WI Film Festival: "Farming and the Land" series

Wisconsin Film Festival
April 2-5, 2009
Madison, WI

Sub-series:
"The Cream and the Crop: Farming and the Land on Film"

• Cheese Wars (24 min. + Q&A)
  
• Earth Days (100 min. + Q&A)
  
• The Farmhouse (8 min.)
  
• Food Inc. (93 min.)
  
• The Greening of Southie (73 min. + Q&A)
  
• Tractors! International Harvester-sponsored films of the WI Historical Society (56 min.)
  
• Ladies of the Land (29 min. + Q&A)
  
• Lie of the Land (75 min.)
  
• Michael Schmidt: Organic Hero or Bioterrorist? (45 min. + Q&A)
  
• Milk in the Land: Ballad of an American Drink (75 min.)
  
• Rare Chicken Rescue (26 min. + Q&A)
  

Agriculture + state laws

Hein Online - Subject Compilations of State Laws
A directory of 18,000+ articles, books, government documents, court opinions & websites that compare state laws on hundreds of subjects.

Subjects include:

• Agricultural Cooperatives
• Agricultural Districts
• Agriculture
• Biotechnology
• Corporate Farming
• Environmental Protection
• Farm Machinery
• Farm Products
• Farmland
• Farms and Farming
• Flowers
• Food
• Grain Dealers
• Insects
• Land Use
• Organic Farming and Food
  
• Pesticides
• Plants
• Right to Farm
• Scientific Research
• Viruses
• Wetlands
• Wildlife

Wisconsin State Statutes
There's also a Subject Matter Index for the Wisconsin Statutes. Topics of interest include:

• Agricultural societies
• Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection Dept.
• Agriculture and farming
• Animals
  
• Cranberries
• Endangered species
  
• Fertilizer
• Fish and game
  
• Food regulation
  
• Forest croplands
  
• Forests, logging and trees
  
• Groundwater protection
• Insect pests
• Irrigation
• Lyme disease
• Managed forest lands
• National Forests
• National Parkways
• Natural Resources Department
• Nurseries
• Pesticides
• Plants and plant industry
• Pollution
• Rural planning
• Soil
• Soil and water conservation
• State Geologist
  
• Statistics
  
• Weeds