permaculture

["Steve Diver" <steved@ncatark.uark.edu>]

Do you or your clients sometimes wonder what funds or technical 
assistance are available from all those USDA agencies and other 
federal programs?  How can you find a phone number or a web page 
to simplify your search?  Who you gonna call? 

Announcing the availability of "Building Better Rural Places," 
a 2001 resource guide to federal programs offering assistance in 
agriculture, forestry, conservation, and rural community development 
-- available in print as well as on the web. 

Building Better Rural Places
http://www.attra.org/guide/index.htm

Building Better Rural Places:  Federal Programs for Sustainable  
Agriculture, Forestry, Conservation and Community Development
January 2001; 160 pages 

"Building Better Rural Places" provides descriptions and contact 
information for 80 federal programs -- primarily in USDA but also 
the EPA and Fish and Wildlife Service -- that offer support to 
farmers and others seeking technical assistance, information, or 
financial resources on topics like: 

*sustainable agriculture
*forestry
*entrepreneurship 
*marketing
*adding value
*conservation
*community development
*sustainable land and resource management 

Those federal programs -- located around the country as well 
as in Washington, DC -- are organized according to the following 
categories (number of programs are listed in parenthesis): 

Research, Information and New Technologies (19)
Financing Businesses and New Enterprises (17)
Management Assistance (5)
Marketing Assistance (6)
Conservation and Resource Management (12)
Community Development (9)
Additional Resources (10)
General Information Sources (3)
 
The guide will be especially helpful to farmers, land managers, 
entrepreneurs, community developers, conservationists, 
organizations, and businesses.  The guide also aims to help 
employees with USDA and other federal agencies become aware 
of and take better advantage of the enormous array of federal 
programs and resources available to support agricultural and 
forestry innnovations. 

The guide resulted from a collaboration of individuals from USDA 
agencies who are working together for sustainable rural development,
and compiled in concert with the Michael Fields Agricultural 
Institute in Wisconsin.   

USDA agencies and programs providing major support for this
publication: 

Resource Conservation and Development 
Natural Resources Conservation Service 
U.S. Forest Service 
Cooperative State Research, Education & Extension Service
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE) 

HTML and PDF web versions are available on the ATTRA web 
page, located at: 

Building Better Rural Places
http://www.attra.org/guide/index.htm

To obtain a free, printed copy of "Building Better Rural Places," 
please contact: 

Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA)
P.O. Box 3657
Fayetteville, AR 72702
800-346-9140
501-442-9842 Fax

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