Prairie Roots Food Co-op Passes Membership Milestone

At a potluck picnic on Monday, Prairie Roots Food Co-op announced that their first membership milestone of 667 members has been met. In fact, they surpassed their July 1 goal with 675 members signed up. As a cooperative, members own the new grocery store and the broad base of membership support indicates the growing interest in fresh local food in our community. Tim Mathern, President of Prairie Roots said, “People are paying more attention to the origins and quality of their food and our mission as a co-op is to provide access to natural, organic and local food.”

The new food co-op is working towards opening a retail location that will feature healthy local food in one easy and convenient location. They aim to have 1,000 members when they open the store, and new members are still encouraged to sign up. Now that Prairie Roots is two-thirds of the way to their membership goal they will move to the next phase of development, which includes securing a site, finalizing their financing and planning for store opening. They hope to open their retail food co-op in 2015.

Prairie Roots already operates a weekly online market that features hundreds of fresh local food items and products from local farmers and producers. This week all purchases over $50 are 10% off.

New members can sign up on their websitewww.prairie-roots.coop, their weekly market, or at any of their events.

NDSU Hosting

Science Boot Camp for EducatorsScience teacher, author, toy designer and Emmy award-winning TV personality Steve Spangler is leading a hands-on science boot camp in Fargo on Aug. 14 for teachers, Extension Service staff and other educators.

The program will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Great Plains Room at the North Dakota State University Memorial Union. The NDSU Center for 4-H Youth Development is hosting the event.

Spangler’s passion is to find the most creative ways to make learning fun. He turns ordinary science experiments into unforgettable learning experiences. His now-famous Mentos Geyser Experiment became an Internet sensation in 2005 and spawned more than 1,000 related exploding-soda videos.

The registration fee for the boot camp is $65, which includes a $40 take-home kit filled with science materials and an activity guide. The registration deadline is July 22.

Participants can receive 1 600-level professional development credit from NDSU Distance and Continuing Education (the cost is an additional $60 to be paid the day of the event) or 1.5 continuing education credits (the cost is an additional $10 to be paid the day of the event).

For more information, contact Linda Hauge, an NDSU Extension youth development specialist, at (701) 231-7964 orlinda.hauge@ndsu.eduor visithttp://www.ndsu.edu/4h/spangler/. Go tohttp://tinyurl.com/spangler-ndsuto

register.

Agronomy Seed Farm

Annual Field Day Set for July 14The North Dakota State University Agronomy Seed Farm field day will be held July 14 beginning at 5 p.m.

Researchers from several NDSU plant breeding programs will lead discussions on variety development and new varieties available for producers.

Researchers also will talk about new trends in the industry relating to their respective crop and what NDSU is doing to advance the bottom line for the producers of these crops. Crops included in these discussions will be spring and

durum wheat, barley and soybeans.

John Nowatzki, NDSU Extension agricultural machine systems specialist, will present information on his work with unmanned aerial vehicle research for agricultural applications. He will provide an insight into the various types of

machines, systems and software available.

NDSU weed researchers will update producers on herbicide and weed control topics and the current focus of their research programs.

Several state Extension specialists will give updates on current areas of interest relative to their area of expertise and for individual consultation in areas of producer concern.

At the conclusion of the tour, a complimentary meal will be served by NDSU’s Carnivore Catering.

The farm is one mile south and one mile west of Casselton, according to Tom Teigen, NDSU Agronomy Seed Farm director.

New webpage details

risk management for anhydrous facilities

BISMARCK – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring is urging anhydrous ammonia dealers to check out a new webpage and to contact the North Dakota Department of Agriculture (NDDA) to learn how to comply with provisions and requirements of the Risk Management Program (RMP) affecting their businesses.

“The webpage provides guidance materials and tools to help anhydrous facility managers better understand RMP and what they must do to be in compliance,” Goehring said. “At the same time, we want them to contact us with any questions or as a follow-up to our previous outreach meetings held around the state.”

The webpage can be found athttp://www.nd.gov/ndda/program/risk-management-program-rmp-agricultural-anhydrous-ammonia-facilities.

Goehring said managers can contact NDDA at (701) 328-2231 or (800) 242-7535 for more information or to schedule a compliance assistance visit.

NDDA pesticide and fertilizer staff will begin conducting inspections and compliance audits of anhydrous facilities starting in July.

“The staff is already conducting completeness checks on all facilities they visit, as well as providing one-on-one outreach to managers,” Goehring said. “Over the summer, they will be spending considerable time working with managers and employees about RMP. We will conduct most of the official RMP inspections and full audits off-season during the winter.”