December 13, 2001

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Ben Lilliston, 301-270-4787

Mark Ritchie, 612-870-3400

Minneapolis – A new 2003 calendar, Renewing the Countryside, tells the story of 12 Minnesotans protecting the environment and promoting rural communities through innovative businesses and community projects. This powerful journey through Minnesota’s landscape is full of incredible photographs and stories of hope and renewal.

The calendar is published jointly by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Great Plains Institute for Sustainable Development, and Northeast Minnesota Sustainable Development Partnership of the University of Minnesota. The calendar is based on the book, Renewing the Countryside, which features 43 stories of Minnesotans.

The calendar is available for $9.95, and the book is available at a special holiday price of $29.95. Both can be found in bookstores throughout Minnesota, or they can be ordered through the web site: www.renewingthecountryside.org

The calendar shares the stories of Minnesotans that are redefining what it means to live, work, and learn in Rural America. The people in the calendar are enhancing the state’s cultural and natural resources while spurring local economic development in their communities.

"We hope this calendar motivates those who want to support rural communities and protect our natural resources to `vote with their dollars,’" said Sara Bergan of the Great Plains Institute for Sustainable Development. "By purchasing goods and services from the enterprises highlighted here, and others like them, readers can do their part to renew the countryside."

"We know this calendar will inspire others with the powerful stories," said Mark Ritchie, President of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. "And it is one of the most beautiful collections of photos from rural Minnesota in the last decade."

Additional stories of rural renewal, beyond what is presented in the book and calendar, can be found at: www.renewingthecountryside.org. The web site makes available hundreds of initiatives from all over the state, and over the next year will add other states and Canada as well.

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy promotes resilient family farms, rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and education, science and technology, and advocacy.