People
Birmingham, Deirdre
Chair, CIAS Citizens Advisory Council
Deirdre is starting an organic apple orchard in Iowa County. The orchard features English and French cider apples that she will process to make draft and vintage ciders. She helped initiate and runs the Midwest Organic Tree Fruit Growers Network. She also helps nonprofits and farmers apply for various grant programs. She is president of the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF), and a past director of the REAP Food Group. She has experience running an educational nonprofit and working in international agricultural development, particularly in Africa. She holds a Joint Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Land Resources and Adult Education. deirdreb@mindspring.com
Bell, Michael M.
CIAS Director
Professor, Department of Community and Environmental Sociology
michaelbell@wisc.edu
The Wisconsin Cut Flower Growers School offers practical information on how to grow and sell flowers using organic and sustainable production practices and manage a cut flower business. It will be held February 18-19 on the UW-Madison campus. More information is available here.
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- Cover Crops Case Studies: Gary Sommers Farm
- CIAS Workshop to Focus on Growing Cut Flowers for Market
- CIAS recognized for work on value chains
- Farm to School Toolkits
- Eco-Fruit program recognized at Wisconsin Idea Symposium
- Michael Bell named director of UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems
- Cover Crops Case Studies: JenEhr Family Farm
- Wisconsin Idea Symposium
- UW-Extension Workshop Offers Lessons on Native Pollinators
- Finding a cost effective, persistent legume for Wisconsin pastures (Research Brief #85)
- College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UW-Madison
- Grazing Resources for Wisconsin
- Great Lakes Regional Farm to School Network
- Organic Farming Resources for Wisconsin
- Toward a Sustainable Agriculture Curriculum
- UW-Extension Emerging Agricultural Markets Team
- UW-Extension Grazing Resources and Research
- Veggie Compass
- Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial Project
- Wisconsin’s Farm Fresh Atlases
CIAS in the community
CIAS recognized for work on value chains
The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development has recognized CIAS and Agriculture of the Middle as "influential initiatives" working on value chains over the past ten years. Value chains are strategic alliances between farmers, processors, distributors, retailers and other partners in the food supply chain. These partners work together to deliver high quality, differentiated food to the marketplace and share profits equally. CIAS has researched and developed teaching materials on value chains. CIAS researcher Steve Stevenson contributed to two articles in the value chain issue of JAFSCD; view the abstracts here and here.
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