Friday, March 9, 2007
This Web Site is contains recorded presentations and requires Windows Media Player or Real Player to view most of the presentations. Presentations can also be found in mp3 format. This is audio only and can be played with several software programs. If you would like to download a presentation and listen to it on a mp3 player, a zipped filew can also be dowloaded and extracted with WinZip. PowerPoint presentations and fact sheets are in PDF format and require Acrobat Reader to view. The Web Site was created by Craig Yohn, West Virginia University Extension Agent. Presentations were recorded, edited and produced by Craig Yohn.
A CD of this Web Site is available by emailing Craig Yohn
This is the third Forum for Rural Innovation. The purpose of the Forum is to showcase replicable innovative ideas, projects and programs that enhance farm and rural business profitability, conserve farm land and natural resources, or develop new approaches to rural prosperity that are viable in an expensive farmland-upscale consumer environment.
The Forum features a series of presentations that emphasize farming for high profitability through the use of innovative and sound business approaches particularly suited to the Mid-Atlantic region.
Forum for Rural Innovation Planning Committee
Christie Dunkle ( Clarke County)
Cynthia Hair, Ray Pickering ( Fauquier County)
Kellie Boles ( Jefferson County)
Gary Hornbaker, Warren Howell, Ann Higgins, Lou Nichols ( Loudoun County)
Roger Boyer ( Potomac Headwaters RC&D)
Corey Childs, Tony Wolf ( Virginia Cooperative Extension)
Mary Beth Bennett, Craig Yohn ( West Virginia Extension)
Dr. Phyllis Johnson, Director, USDA Beltsville ARS, Beltsville MD
USDA Beltsville Research and How it Directly Affects Your Production
Windows Media
mp3
mp3 download
Publications (These are in PDF format)
USDA Beltsville Research and How it Directly Affects Your Production (PowerPoint Presentation)
Beltsville - Current Research Impacts
Beltsville e-Update
Web sites:
USDA Beltsville
Past e-Updates
Dr. Denise Mainville, Assistant Professor, Agriculture and Applied Economics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA
Small Fruit and Specialty Crop Markets in Virginia
Windows Media
mp3
mp3 download
Janet Childs, Owner and Marketing Director of BreedersWorld.com, Berryville VA
Internet Tools to Grow Your Business
(Due to Technical Difficulties this presentation was not recorded. The forum regrets this error.)
Publication (This is in PDF format)
Internet Tools to Grow Your Business (PowerPoint presentation)
Web sites
Breeders World
Cornerstone Suffolks and Southdowns
Andy Hankins, Virginia Cooperative Extension Specialty, Virginia State University, Petersburg VA
Marrketing Opportunities and Alternative Enterprises for Small Scale Farming
Windows Media
mp3
mp3 download
Publications (These are in PDF format)
Add Profit With Cut Flowers
Cut Flower Production Resources
Using High Tunnel Technology with Sweet Cherries
Organic Watermelon Production
Shiitake Farming in Virginia
Agritourism in Oklahoma
Dr. James Parkhurst, Associate Professor, Fisheries & Wildlife Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg VA
Wildlife Management - Developing a Plan for Your Operation
Windows Media
mp3
mp3 download
2006 Forum for Rural Innovation
The Presenters
Phyllis E. Johnson is a native of North Dakota. She began her research career as a high school student in a National Science Foundation-sponsored genetics program. She received her BS in Chemistry (Phi Beta Kappa) and her PhD in Physical Chemistry from the University of North Dakota. She began working for the United States Dept. of Agriculture in 1975, at the Human Nutrition Research Center in Grand Forks, ND. She remained there until 1991, rising to the position of Research Leader for the Biochemistry, Nutrition, and Metabolism Unit. She gained international recognition for her work using stable and radioactive isotope tracers to study the metabolism of trace minerals in humans. She has published more than 100 papers in scientific journals, and she served three terms on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Nutrition.
In 1991, Dr. Johnson became the Associate Director of the Pacific West Area for the Agricultural Research Service, where she helped manage 22 laboratories in eight states. In 1997, she became Director of the Beltsville Area. She now oversees the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, the largest agricultural research center in the world, and the United States National Arboretum.
Dr. Johnson received the Arthur S. Flemming Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in the Federal Government and the WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) Award as the Outstanding Female Scientist in the federal government. She also received the Sioux Award, the highest recognition from the University of North Dakota Alumni Foundation. Other awards include the Federal Energy and Water Management Award from the US Department of Energy, the Outstanding Achievement Award from the United Soybean Board, and the Tech Council of Maryland’s Public Sector Innovator of the Year Award for Prince George’s County. Dr. Johnson received a Meritorious Executive Award from President Bill Clinton, and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center has received three awards from the White House under her leadership. These awards were for outstanding environmental management and leadership in use of biofuels and biobased products.
Denise Mainville joined the faculty at VA Tech in January 2005, after completing her M.Sc. and Ph.D. at Michigan State University. She is specializing in Agricultural Market Analysis, and is interested in how ongoing power shifts and the emergence of markets for value-added, identity-reserved, safety-assured and other product attributes affect the structure of agri-food markets, the strategies that firms employ, and the participation and welfare of participants along the marketing chain. In addition to her domestic experience in Michigan and Virginia, Dr. Mainville has lived and worked internationally, including in Brazil, Central America, the Caribbean and Africa.
In addition to her ongoing research activities, both domestic and international, Dr. Mainville works in teaching and extension. Her teaching activities include AAEC 3504 (Marketing Agricultural Products) and AAEC 4504 (Agricultural Price & Market Analysis). Her extension program is focused on market development issues relating to the coordination of agri-food markets and the identification and evaluation of market opportunities.
Janet Childs is the Owner and Marketing Director of the Breeders' World, an online livestock community that is in it's ninth year and averages over 3 million visitors annually. In addition, Janet along with her family, own Cornerstone Club Lambs and Virginia Lamb, a new venture that sells retail lamb to the Shenandoah Valley and Northern Virginia areas. Both family businesses capitalize on internet marketing, which has proven vital to their success.
Mr. Hankins has served as Extension Specialist-Alternative Agriculture in Virginia since 1987. He is stationed at Virginia State University in Petersburg. He provides educational programs in production and marketing of non-traditional farm products such as medicinal herbs, garlic, cut flowers, mushrooms, specialty fruit and vegetables, exotic livestock, value-added farm products and certified organic vegetables, grains and livestock. He also provides educational programs concerning development of agricultural tourism in Virginia.
Andy Hankins grew up on a 27 acre farm in Bedford County, Virginia. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture from Berea College in Kentucky. From 1977 to 1987, Andy served as an Agriculture Extension Agent first in King and Queen County and later in Madison County. He went back to college at Virginia Tech to receive a Masters Degree in Animal Science, before becoming a state specialist. Mr. Hankins currently lives with his wife and son in New Kent County, Virginia.
Dr. Parkhurst received his BS in Wildlife Biology from the University of Massachusetts, an MS in Wetland Ecology from the University of Rhode Island, and his PhD in Forest Resources from Penn State University.
Dr. Parkhurst began his career as a Wetland Wildlife Biologist, Department of Environmental Management, Division of Fish and Wildlife for the State of Rhode Island. In 1989 be became Assistant Professor of Wildlife Management, and Extension Wildlife Specialist, Department of Natural Resources Conservation at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. From 1993 to 1999 he served as Assistant Professor of Wildlife Management, and Extension Wildlife Specialist, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences at Virginia Tech. Since 1999, Dr. Parkhurst has been Associate Professor of Wildlife Science, Extension Wildlife Specialist, and Director, VT Center for Human-Wildlife Conflict Resolution, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences at Virginia Tech.
Dr. Parkhurst’s current research focus and interests include human-wildlife conflict resolution, human dimensions of natural resources management, wildlife damage management; wetland ecology and management; and wildlife habitat enhancement and management.