Agriculture Sites To See

AgNIC Home Page
http://www.agnic.org/
Links to reference sources, databases, and experts providing information about animal science, food and nutrition, plant sciences, range land management, rural life, USDA statistics, and more.

Agricultural Utilization Research Technology
http://www.auri.org/about-aur/resource.htm
"Ragna's Old Fashioned Scandinavian Lefse Mix", candles made from soybean oil wax, and biodiesel fuel are some of the new uses for  Minnesota agricultural products that have been featured in AURI's Innovation News. In addition to this quarterly newsletter, AURI produces research reports on growing trees as a crop, hog odor containment, and products made from alfalfa.

Agriculture Fact Book 2000
http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/fbook00/contents.htm
For information on food consumption, farms, current agricultural issues, rural development, agricultural services, food safety, agricultural marketing, and more, click on "A complete copy in PDF".

E-Answers: Your Extension Information Source
http://www.e-answers.org/
Search Extension Service publications of all participating institutions or of individual land grant colleges.

Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station
http://www.maes.umn.edu/
Explains the work of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES), provides articles from past issues of Minnesota Science, includes "Bulletins & Publications" and "Minnesota Impacts" studies (e.g.. "Minnesota River Basin Studies Target Pollution Control"), and reports on "Rapid Responses and Special Initiatives Programs" (egg. "Animal Waste Odor Control Systems", "Canola As An Alternate Crop").

Minnesota Department of Agriculture
http://www.mda.state.mn.us/
Has weekly crop weather reports, emergency assistance information, information on food safety, links to agriculture-related sites, and a Minnesota Department of Agriculture A to Z listing of  fact sheets and other publications in full-text. Recently added "New Items" at this site include Livestock Market Price Reports and forms for claiming reimbursement of Federal Crop Insurance.

National Agricultural Library
http://www.nal.usda.gov/
The National Agricultural Library includes links to websites about agriculture, an archive of agricultural photographs, and access to the library's Agricola database of  over 1.5 million journal articles, reports and other publications about agriculture.

Not Just Cows
http://www1.morrisville.edu/~drewwe/njc/
Librarian Wilfred Drew of New York's Morrisville College of Agriculture and Technology has one of the most extensive listing of agricultural websites in the nation with links to agricultural libraries, commercial sites, family-owned farm enterprises, non-commercial agricultural web sites, electronic journals, discussion groups, and more.

Our Favorite Sites
http://www.rural.org/favorites.html
"The Farmer's Guide to the Internet" is a compilation by the Tennessee Valley Authority Rural Studies Center of over 2,000 links to websites of interest to farmers - and other folks, too!

The Land
http://www.the-land.com/archives.html
The Land magazine includes news and feature articles about agriculture in Minnesota. Special issues focusing on corn, soybeans, swine, beef and dairy cattle, lambs, horses, gardening, maple syrup production, apples, and other topics are archived back to November 1998.

University of Minnesota Extension Service
http://www.extension.umn.edu/
Full-text of publications about communities and tourism, crops, family development, the environment and natural resources, financial affairs and business, food and health, gardening and horticulture, housing and clothing, leadership and civics, livestock, and youth development.

U.S. Department of Agriculture
http://www.usda.gov/
The United States Department of Agriculture's Home Page features information about current issues in agricultures, top ag stories, national news releases about agriculture, agricultural statistics, and highlights of Secretary Glickman's activities on behalf of U.S. agriculture.

Yahoo! - Science: Agriculture
http://dir.yahoo.com/science/agriculture/
An exhaustive list of ag links.

KingCorn.Org - The Corn Growers' Guidebook
http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/
Have fun with "Corny Culture", ask a "Corny Expert", check the "Desktop References" for information on corn growing and protecting crops against pests, diseases, and weeds, or search the "Publications Database" for information about corn production, crop diagnostics, hybrid corn, manure management, corn refining and industrial uses of corn.

Minnesota Soybean
http://www.mnsoybean.org/
Soybean research, grower's issues, soy recipes, soybeans as alternative fuel, and a quiz about soybeans are at this North Mankato site. According to the 1997 Census of Agriculture, Minnesota is the 3rd largest soybean producing state in the nation.

Minnesota Corn Growers
http://www.mncorn.org/
Everything about corn can be found here - from a comic for kids starring "Captain Cornelius" to "Ethanol" produced from corn, and "Nes and Legislation" affecting corn growers. According to the 1997 Census of Agriculture, Minnesota ranks 4th in the U.S. for corn crops.

Missouri Alternatives Center
http://agebb.missouri.edu/mac/links/index.htm
Provides links to information on growing and raising everything from asparagus to watermelons and fish (aquaculture) to worms!

Small Grains - Production Library
http://www.smallgrains.org/tech.htm
A great source for information on selecting seed, growing, controlling weeds and insects, harvesting, storing, and marketing wheat, barley, and other small grains.

ATTRA Publications
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/index.html
Fulltext information from Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas on agronomy, horticulture, livestock production, pest management, soils, marketing of agricultural products, production of value-added and processed products, and alternative farming systems.

Economic Research Service
http://www.ers.usda.gov/
Recent Agricultural Outlook commodities reports, plus statistics, publications, and key information about rural America can be found here.

MINNESOTA FACT SHEET
http://www.ers.usda.gov/epubs/other/usfact/MN.HTM
Summary statistics from the 1997 Agriculture Census about Minnesota, its farms, farm products, and farm finances.

RRCNET - Agriculture and Markets
http://www.rrcnet.org/agriculture_business/agriculture_markets.html
Links to market information for southern Minnesota farmers, compiled by Red Rock Central High School in Lamberton, MN.

The Small Farm Resource
http://www.farminfo.org/
Links to information sources and practical advice about choosing siding for a barn, raising catfish, extracting honey from a comb with a mechanical extractor, and many other topics.

USDA Economics and Statistics System
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/usda.html
Statistics on U.S. crop and livestock production, plus agricultural statistics for other countries.

Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin
http://www.usda.gov/oce/waob/jawf/wwcb.html
Click on page number to view crop moisture maps, weekly weather and crop bulletins for each state, maximum/minimum temperature maps, crop progress and condition tables, and other useful information.

Garden Gate
http://garden-gate.prairienet.org/
A well organized collection of links to seed catalogs, gardening books, garden supply catalogs, mailing lists, and information on gardening.

GardenGuides
http://www.gardenguides.com/
Basic fact sheets about growing annuals, bulbs, perennials, vegetables, and herbs, plus articles and tips and techniques for gardening.

Internet Directory for Botany: Gardening
http://www.botany.net/IDB/subject/bothort.html
Links to web pages from A to Z on gardening, including "African Violets", "Bonsai", "Daylilies", "Fruits and Vegetables", "Geranium Culture", "Homegrown Hydroponics", "Irises", "Missouri Botanical Garden Horticultural Database", and more.

National Gardening Association
http://www.garden.org/
Includes the NGA Horticultural Dictionary, ideas for getting kids involved in gardening, an archive of articles (Search NGA Library) about plants and gardening, and links to other web sites with gardening information.

Northern Gardening
http://www.redwing.net/~tlyockey/
Includes practical information and links to Minnesota gardening resources. 

Plant Database
http://plants.usda.gov/plants/index.html
This is the USDA site devoted to maintaining data reports on specialized areas from alternative crops to wetland plants.

U of M Extension Service
http://www.extension.umn.edu/mnext.html
This site features instant access to the most recent Extension publications, newsletters, audio scripts, news releases and programs. 

AquaNIC
http://aquanic.org/
Information about constructing and managing ponds, controlling fish disease and parasites, and fish farming from feeding to marketing. Also has the full-text of fact sheets, bulletins, technical reports and videos published by Regional Aquaculture Centers.

Breeds of
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/
Has the origin, use, and a brief description of the different breeds of cattle, goats, horses, sheep, swine, poultry, and more unusual livestock. Most are accompanied by a full-color illustration and links to further information about the breed.

Dairy Initiatives Newsletters
http://www.ansci.umn.edu/dairy/dinews/di.htm
Articles from the University of Minnesota's Dairy Initiatives Newsletter. Recent issues included reports on  "Chill Out With Supplemental Cooling", "Bulk Tank Testing", "Manure Treatment Systems", and "Top Ten Tips for Farm Safety." Minnesota ranks 5th nationally in dairy production.

Missouri Alternatives Center
http://agebb.missouri.edu/mac/links/index.htm
Want to know how to raise bison, elk, earthworms, llamas, or other, more unusual livestock? This is the place to find the information!

National Pork Producers Council
http://www.nppc.org
Nutritional value of pork, recipes, hog production and its effect on the environment, industry news, pig trivia, and technical information on hog production are all here.

TAMU Poultry Science WWW Virtual Library
http://posc.tamu.edu/library/dother.html
Links to universities, research centers, associations, major poultry producers, and breeding farms where information about poultry - from raising emus to improving egg quality - can be found.

AKC Recognized Breeds
http://www.akc.org/breeds/recbreeds/index.cfm
One hundred forty-eight dog breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club, are described here. Select from sporting, working, hound, terrier, toy, non-sporting, herding, or miscellaneous groups for a list of dog breeds in that group, then click on the name of a breed for a description and photograph of these dogs.

Cat Fancier's Association: Breed Profile
http://www.cfainc.org/breeds.html
Click on any of the 35 pedigreed breeds for a description and photograph of that breed.

Center for Veterinary Medicine
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/
Includes pet care information (Information For Consumers) and lists of approved animal drug products (Green Book).

Healthypet (AAHA) Pet Care Library
http://www.healthypet.com/Library/index.html
Information from the American Animal Hospital Association on pet behavior, diseases, and care.

Horse Interactive
http://www.thehorse.com/
Searchable database of articles from "The Horse" about equine health and medicine, plus links to horse-related sites.

AVMA Care for Pets Home Page
http://www.avma.org/care4pets/
Information about buying a pet, animal safety,  animal health and diseases, and advice on coping with the loss of a pet.

2000 Cat Names
http://www.petrix.com/catnames/
Trying to think of a distinctive name for your new kitten? There are over 2,000 ideas here!

2000 Dog Names
http://www.petrix.com/dognames/
What are the most popular names for dogs? You'll find them and lots of other suggestions for naming your new puppy here.
 

Blandin Foundation 1998 Rural Minnesota Pulse Survey
http://access.mpr.org/features/9809_blandinsurvey/
Survey of 1,072 rural Minnesota residents on what they felt were the greatest needs and the top 10 issues in rural Minnesota.

Country Net Index
http://www.themadhatter.net/cindex.htm
A down-home guide to the Internet for grown-ups living in Rural America by Marty Gallanter.

Minnesota Center for Rural Policy and Development
http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/ruralmn/
Research on social and economic issues affecting rural Minnesotans is conducted by the Center for Rural Policy and Development at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Rural Briefing Room
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Briefing/rural/
Read about Rural Conditions & Trends or study briefing papers on emerging rural issues like welfare reform, minorities in rural areas, and rural manufacturing. This site also includes a collection of  statistics on rural demographics, employment, income and poverty, rural industry, and ag finance.

Rural Information Center
http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/
Provides links to information about community development projects, attracting small businesses, tourism promotion, community water quality, recycling, technology transfer, rural health programs and rural medicine, and agricultural health and safety.

RUPRI - Rural Policy Research Institute
http://www.rupri.org/
RUPRI publishes policy studies and reports related to rural issues such as rural development, rural health care, and rural welfare reform. Demographic statistics are also available by clicking on "Rural By The Numbers".

Center for Rural Affairs
http://www.cfra.org/issues/default.htm
Current issues addressed are corporate farming, sustainable agriculture, and the development of rural micro businesses.

Smart Communities Network
http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/
Sustainable development provides a framework under which communities can use resources efficiently, create efficient infrastructures, protect and enhance quality of life, and create new businesses to strengthen their economies. It can help us create healthy communities that can sustain our generation, as well as those that follow ours.

Nation Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)
http://www.ncat.org
For the past 25 years, the National Center for Appropriate Technology has been serving economically disadvantaged people by providing information and access to appropriate technologies that can help improve their lives. During the organization's rich and varied history, NCAT projects have ranged from low-tech to high-tech, addressing complex issues of housing, economics, and environmental quality. Weatherizing houses, training farmers, monitoring energy use, demonstrating renewable energy technology, testing new products and providing information on building construction are just a few of the many ways that NCAT has contributed to fostering healthy communities and a better quality of life for everyone. 

National Main Street Center: Resources
http://www.mainst.org/ResourcesAndContacts/Links.htm
Great links to "Other National Organization Web Sites" with information on historic preservation,  economic development, management of non-profits and small cities, and community development and planning,

Rural Development News
http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/rdev/rdn.html
This newsletter covers rural development activities in Minnesota and 11 other states that are part of the North Central Regional Center for Rural Development..

USDA Rural Development
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/
USDA Rural Development's mission is to provide information and programs to develop rural business and cooperative programs, rural housing and community facilities, rural utilities, and to foster community development and empowerment.

OCRE: Organizations Concerned About Rural Education
http://www.ruralschools.org/
Links to reports and information on educational issues, compiled by a coalition of organizations dedicated to improving rural education.

Welcome to ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools
http://www.ael.org/eric/
Search the ERIC database of nearly 1 million articles, reports, curriculum guides and other publications about education or identify digests and selected full-length articles about American Indians and Alaska Native Education, education for Mexican-Americans, migrant education, outdoor education, or rural education.