By Jennifer Pena

In the “ordered chaos” of the Internet highway, mountains of information appear on every side. Some subjects, however, such as cranberries, farm stress or value-added agriculture, may not appear readily on your browser. For that reason, we’ve brought together a few fun, educational or just plain interesting sites for your enjoyment. Happy searching.

Ag associations galore
www.foodinstitute.com/assn.htm#USorgs

Here’s a detailed listing of most major state, national and regional commodity organizations. The Food Institute is a non-profit information and reporting association now celebrating its 70th year as “the industry’s most highly regarded food trade information source.” If you’d like to be a member, go to their home page and sign up; if not, take a look at some compiled lists and reports at no cost.

Farm options
www.uwex.edu/ces/agmarkets

Looking for a resource that wants to “help farmers and communities identify and take advantage of opportunities in new and emerging farm and agricultural markets?” This is the place to go. University of Wisconsin Extension has compiled information for anyone interested in how to add value to farm commodities, explore new markets for a business, or work on a business start-up. Access resources on creating a business plan, financing or even Internet tools and programs. Or join a discussion group and share your ideas on how to help develop new farm options.

Corn growers’ guidebook
www.kingcorn.org or
www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn

At this Web site, devoted to more profitable corn management systems, one can explore an encyclopedia’s worth of information and links. Read about “Corny Experts,” university and agribusiness folks who know a lot about the king of American crops. Highly pleasing also is “Corny Culture,” a fun list of things containing corn, such as recipes, songs, words and places to visit.

New uses for renewable resources
www.newuses.org

The nonprofit New Uses Council, Inc. has designed a comprehensive site for multiple interests, including information on grants, bio-based reports and the EverGreen newsletter. Included is information on the European Commission’s “NF-2000 Network,” or the “Non-Food Agro-Industrial Research Information Dissemination Network,” and a link to that site. The NF-2000 Network has a database of new uses activities, including production of biodegradable films and bottles from polylactic acid polymers, small rural bio-power plants and the alternative oilseed Camelina sativa. Be prepared for heavy-duty subjects here.

Learning agriculture is fun
www.learnagriculture.org

Learn Agriculture was launched this fall as a cooperative project involving more than two dozen farm organizations, agribusinesses, government agencies and public education groups in Minnesota. Their Web site is a well-designed, “one stop shop” with ag-based education materials for students and teachers. Fun classroom “ag-tivities,” free stuff to increase your agriculture I.Q., information on ag tours and resources for teachers are packaged with colorful cartoon drawings.

The cattle pages
www.cattlepages.com

The Cattle Pages is developed by a young Texan couple as a free service to the cattle industry. They’ve included a list of links to many categories such as breed listings, supplies and equipment. Each link takes you to another page of useful resources. Not an overly large site, Cattle Pages is worth trying as a jumping-off point to cattle on the Internet.

Cranberries and stress
www.geocities.com/cranberrybogs

If you think cranberries and farm stress are a good combination, this site will work for you. The site developer, a rural mental health therapist and cranberry farmer, has created a resource for people who deal with farm stress as well as for those who want news and opinions about the cranberry industry. Articles and links include topics such as farm wives, men’s health, personality styles, sleep deprivation and so forth. Check out a series of pictures called “Ditched” under “Farm Stress,” and you might feel better about your day.

Connecting to canola
www.canola-council.org

The Canola Connection might possibly hold all you ever wanted to know about canola -- or it can tell you who has answers. This site has an images library, nutrition and other information about canola, a growers manual, and even a canola yellow pages. Read news and events, or join in on a discussion group on biotechnology, feeding, production, precision farming, marketing, industry or human nutrition. The Canola Connection has enough information for a couple days’ worth of browsing.