ATTRA loses federal funding

Funding for ATTRA (the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service) was cut from the 2011 budget that was passed by Congress and signed into law April 15.

The program is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service.

It provides information and other technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, extension agents, educators and others involved in sustainable agriculture in the United States. (ATTRA was formerly known as the "Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas" project.)

The program administrators are xploring options for maintaining the project without this funding.

ATTRA executive director Kathleen Hadley is asking interested parties to propose ideas to keep the program's website, publications and technical assistance available to users. Hadley also wants users to take a quick survey to reveal how the program's services have been used.