Reference Resources

Agriculture

AgroKnowledge: The National Center for Agriscience and Technology Education
AgroKnowledge prepares students for the workforce, ready to use emerging technology in agriculture, food, and natural resources. AgroKnowledge is a national partnership between community colleges, but is also partnered with "business and industry, leading universities in agriculture education, secondary schools and professional associations.

Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC)
Specializes in identifying resources about sustainable food systems and practices in support of USDA's effort to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture and farmers worldwide.

EPA - Major Existing EPA Laws and Programs That Could Affect Agricultural Producers (.pdf)

The Food Chain
"Articles in this series will examine growing demands on, and changes in, the world's production of food."

Food Price Inflation: Causes and Impacts
Report examines the causes and impacts of food price inflation, covering topics such as the competition between ethanol and food for farm acreage, low grain and oilseed supplies, higher input costs such as transportation and processing, the weak dollar, and impacts on food assistance.

Living History Farm
Actual farm site used to historically educate you about farm life and agriculture in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.

National Agricultural Library
There are regular online agricultural libraries, and then there is the National Agricultural Library (NAL), with more working papers, fact sheets, and farm updates than ears of corn in a corncrib. This digital library, produced by the United States Department of Agriculture will be quite a boon to agriculture scholars, extension agents, and farmers alike.

National Pesticide Information Center
Its primary function is to provide "objective, science-based information about pesticides and pesticide-related topics to enable people to make informed decisions about pesticides and their use."

The Organic Center
The Organic Center is a great website that focuses on the science behind organic agricultural production. Their mission is "to generate credible, peer reviewed scientific information and communicate the verifiable benefits of organic farming and products to society."

Virginia Cooperative Extension: Agricultural and Natural Resources Publication
These publications from the Virginia Cooperative Extension cover these topics, and dozens more. On the site, visitors can look over a table contents that divides the papers into such headings as "Agricultural and Applied Economics", "Food Science and Technology", and "Horticulture".

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