permaculture

["Ecological Agriculture Projects" <eap@AGRADM.Lan.McGill.CA>]

December 16, 1996

A new sustainable agriculture information retrieval service is coming 
to the Internet!

Having trouble finding information on sustainable agriculture?
Tired of visiting empty sites on the Internet?
Wishing someone offered a full service information facility?

Pre-launch offer!!

Ecological Agriculture Projects (EAP) at McGill University is
launching a unique new sustainable agriculture information retrieval
service.  We are becoming a membership-based organization, providing a
full range of information services.  At the same time, we are making
the 'cream' of our Resource Centre collection and EAP services
available on the Internet.  

EAP is home to one of the world's largest collections of materials on
sustainable agriculture.  Founded in 1974 by Dr. Stuart Hill, now with
the University of Western Sydney, Australia, the EAP collection
consists of nearly 100,000 articles organized in vertical files, more
than 2,000 books and hundreds of journals and newsletters.  It has
been used regularly by farmers, gardeners, researchers, extension
agents,  business people and consumers to further their knowledge of
ecological and alternative farming practices.  

We're now taking the collection on-line!

Thanks to the financial support of the Canadian Farm Business
Management Council, through funding from the Canada Adaptation and
Rural Development Fund of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,  our World
Wide Web site, now in development with a March 31, 1997 launch target,
will be the most sophisticated ecological agricultural site on the
Internet.  Our Web site will include a mix of full texts and excerpts
from key documents selected from our collection, back issues of
important farm magazines and newsletters, all of EAP's writings, and
the syntheses and fact sheets prepared for our Agro-Bio and Eco-Info
services.  In addition, we will be hosting on-line conferences, to
allow members to exchange ideas and advice.  At the same time, we will
be launching another new service, providing members with our informed
commentary on sustainable agriculture news and events, to help you
assess the significance of developments to both your activities, and
sustainable agriculture.  Down the road, we're hoping to add other
services, such as on-line courses in ecological agriculture.

Part of our site will be freely accessible to all Web browsers:
general information about EAP and other organizations, information on
the site, samples of what is contained in the members-only part of the
site, and the catalogue of EAP resource centre holdings.  However,
only members will have full access to the Web site.  

*****
Other member services

On February 3, 1997 we'll be rolling out an expanded range of other
services.  By becoming a member, you will have free access to our
resource centre and receive bimonthly our informed commentary on
sustainable agriculture developments. Members also receive 25-35% off
on other services, including:
 * informed commentary service - available exclusively to members, 
   six times a year you receive our analysis of some of the sustainable
   agriculture news and events you should know about
 * information retrieval services - we find the articles and information
   you need on a specified topic
 * written syntheses - you need a summary of all the best ideas for
   solving a problem ecologically; we scour the collection for the best
   information, and write a summary for you
 * current contents service - we send you tables of contents from key
   sustainable agriculture magazines, allowing you to order copies of
   articles you want to see
 * speakers - our staff can do talks, workshops and seminars on many
   topics
 * training - we put on courses, or one of our staff may be the trainer
   you need for your program
 * policy advice - we recommend changes to government policy,
   programs and regulations to support the transition to sustainable
   agriculture.

Our membership packages start at $40 CDN/year.  Please contact us for 
more information.

Sincerely,

John Henning, Ph.D.

Director, Ecological Agriculture Projects
and Associate Professor, Agricultural Economics

P.S. Sign up soon and we'll send you a free copy of "Get a Life! how to
make a good buck, dance around the dinosaurs and save the world while
you're at it", Wayne Roberts and Susan Brandum's stimulating book on
Green Economics, a $20 value.

P.P.S. See our preliminary Web site at
http://www.agrenv.mcgill.ca/Extension/EAP.  Note that we will be
available after January 1 at www.eap.mcgill.ca.

Email: eap@agradm.lan.mcgill.ca
Mail to: Ecological Agriculture Projects
           McGill University (Macdonald Campus)
           21,111 Lakeshore
           Ste-Anne de Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9
 Phone: (514)398-7771
 Fax: (514)398-7621