Sustainable
economies initiative
Colin Donohue, Director of Conservation Based Development
Rural
Action has developed an approach to sustainable economic development
centered on four principles: keep local dollars local, use resources
sustainably, huild on unique local assets, expand local ownership
and options.
Rural
Action's Sustainable Economies Initiative creates economic opportunities
that provide a meaningful livelihood for individuals
while preserving the environment and furthering community goals.
Given the lack of an industrial base in the region, small business
and microbusiness development and expansion provide the most likely
opportunity for economic development. Since 1995, Rural Action has
been working with agricultural and forest based enterprises, a sector
that is often overlooked by business development programs.
FARMS
Sustainable Agriculture:
Good Food Direct Good Food Direct! (GFD) completed the 2001 season
with total sales of just under $40,000, an increase of 26 percent
over the 2000 season. GFD also began offering delivery to two sites
in Columbus, the Wild Oats supermarket and the Bexley Co-op, where
sales totaled over $5,000.
The GFD steering committee met weekly for the last two months of
2001 to look at ways to streamline the ordering and payment process
to make it more efficient, while maintaining the convenience of the
current operation for consumers and producers. The new system will
appear in the spring 2002 season with a new catalog.
Business Development Workshops:
We held two workshops on improving
business practices for area growers this fall. One focused on agricultural
tax issues and the other on developing a marketing plan. There are
two more planned for early 2002.
Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Board:
As the year ended, invitations
to a Sustainable Agriculture Advisory board went out to communiry
members. In 2002, the advisory board will evaluate current trends
in Appalachian Ohio's agricultural economy and identify key issues.
FORESTS
Center for the Preservation of Medicinal Herbs:
In January of 2001 Rural Action began the management of the National
Center for Preservation of Medicinal Herbs a 68-acre medicinal plant
research farm in Meigs County. This work deepens our ability to meet
grower research needs and to provide a facility for more in-depth
demonstration plantings and workshops.
National
Herb Products Promotion:
National Center staff attended
both the Natural Froducts Expo West and Expo Fast trade shows in
the spring and fall.
Research:
Center staff maintained over twenty
research experiments in medicinal herbs that will yield information
about cultivating
these valuable plants. Our first harvest of goldenseal was
completed in the fall of 2001.
Sustainable
Forestry
Grower Workshops:
This past year Forestry advanced the capacity for
herb and mushroom cultivation through seven workshops and the annual
Landowners Conference, which included introductory mushroom and ginseng
cultivation workshops, an advanced workshop with Ed Fletcher of Strategic
Sourcing, Inc. and a site identification workshop with our staff
forestrer Dave Schatz. Schatz made 23 site visits to provide technical
assistance to individual growers.
Forest
Congress:
The Forest Congress brought together nearly 50 people
representing the environmental community, timber industry, government
agencies, forest landowners, and recreational users to discuss
forest conservation issues on private land. The 28-page report, Southeast
Ohio Forest Congress: Conservation Issues on Private Lands, details
the outcomes of the Congress. It was published and distributed
in
June.
Individual Development Accounts:
Forestry's $8,000 planting stock
loan fund and a small-scale Individual Development Account (IDA)
program helped two landowners grow medicinal herbs. Loans totaled
$741. The Appalachian People's Action Coalition, a local non-profit,
is managing the IDA program.
Marketing: We linked goldenseal growers with buyers who paid $56-$60
per pound-substantially higher prices than the $15-$17 per pound
commonly offered and followed up on an order for goldenseal tops
which sold for $11 per pound, roughly twice what local buyers were
paying.
RAGA (The Roots of Appalachia Growers' Association)
With help from
Partners in leadership Development (PLD), another Rural Action
program, RAGA incorporated. By the end of 2001, RAGA had more than
40 paid
members, a brochure, a member list-serv, and a newsletter. They
consistently held field days nearly every month of the growing
season. They also
implemented a USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
growers' grant demonstrating cultivation practices. RAGA members
exhibited at both the West Virginia Herb Association and the Appalachian
Herb Gathering. Greg Duskey of Morgan County was RAGA's first board
president.
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