- Dakota Resource Council (DRC). Scroll down on this page to find out about South Agassiz Resource Council (SARC), the local chapter of DRC. SARC is a local political-action group that has sponsored initiatives on greening the new Fargo public library, on 20/20 alternative energy in Fargo, and on local foods. Contact Terry Schaunaman, terry@drcinfo.com, for more information about South Agassiz Resource Council. He is the local organizer and can tell you how to join.
- Immigrant Development Center. This groups mission is to help immigrants develop economic and business skills and to restore entrepreneurial talent and energy in the Fargo-Moorhead area.
- Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Assoication.
The Lake Superior Sustainable Farming Association supports the development and enhancement of sustainable farming systems through innovation, demonstration, education, and farmer-to-farmer networking.
- Minnesota Farmer's Market Association. They say, "In March of 1998, twenty farmers' market members from fifteen established Minnesota farmers' markets throughout Minnesota gathered to discuss issues that were important to local markets. It was decided that we would benefit from establishing a formal network or organization that could represent Minnesota farmers' markets as a focused voice and assist in growing and establishing local farmers' markets."
- Minnesota Grown. The Minnesota Grown Program is a statewide partnership between the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and Minnesotans who grow or raise specialty crops and livestock.
- My Sister's Farm. This is a local buyers/producers group that meets monthly. After joining this group, you can put in orders for local foods monthly, attend meetings, and pick up food. Noreen Thomas organizes purchasing. Products are seasonal.
- North Dakota Farmers' Market Guide. Part of the North Dakota Department of Agriculture Website. Also see Pride of Dakota for list of North Dakota producers.
- North Dakota Organic Farming. This site provides help and information for producers, consumers, industry and others interested in North Dakota Organic Agriculture.
- Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society. This is a group of people, mostly local producers, many of whom are certified organic producers, who support each other in maintaining sustainable farming practices as an alternative to high-input agribusiness practices.
- Pobstfield Farm. This organization provides space for community gardens. You can download a contract from the website and garden your own plot of ground.
- There are a number of programs (or at least names) associated with local foods on the University of Minnesota website: Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships is sponsored by the University of Minnesota's sustainable agriculture initiative. UMN Local Food Partnerships is a identity within Regional Partnerships. It's a little confusing to figure out all the names that show up under the UMN website, but here are two more probably related to the ones aboe in this bullet: Pride of the Prairie is a collaborative effort whose purpose is to promote the production and use of locally grown food and develop a regional food system in western Minnesota that provides good, nutritious food, nurtures a healthy environment and provides economic opportunity for area entrepreneurs. Also see http://localfoods.umn.edu/. Some day I will have to ask Linda Kingery to untangle all these entities.
- Weston A. Price Foundation. Northwest Minnesota chapater representative is Mary Lien, jmlien@gvtel.com. Weston Price, who, according to Michael Pollan, discovered that indigenous people unaffected by our "western diet" did not have nearly as many health problems as we do. See Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food, p. 94 ff. The website says, "The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. Dr. Price's research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble activators found exclusively in animal fats."
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