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USDA Farm to Table
ICYMI, here's what happened last week at USDA:
This month, we dig into the idea of “farm to table”. Over the past six years, USDA has strengthened local and regional food systems with projects that recruit and train farmers, expand economic opportunities for small businesses and increase access to healthy foods. These investments, in addition to a surge in consumer demand for locally-produced food, are creating jobs and opportunity throughout rural America, drawing young people back and improving quality of life in rural communities.
In June, we continue our focus on America's rural communities, helping create ladders of opportunity and building thriving rural economies.
Local food can help build communities. So does homeownership. Homeownership provides a strong foundation to help build household wealth, start a business or fund education through home equity. And to celebrate our role in helping residents of America's small towns and cities achieve the dream of owning a home, we kicked off National Homeownership Month with activities and events across the country.
In addition, we are also seeking applications for grants to make housing repairs for low and very low-income rural residents. The funds may be used to resolve health or safety issues, make accessibility modifications for people with disabilities or make energy-efficiency improvements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower utility costs. To learn more or to find out if you are eligible, visit the May 20, 2015 Federal Register.
In case you missed it last week, this is how we’ve been celebrating our commitment to foster thriving rural communities and make investments for the future of rural America.
The Week in Pictures
Homeowner Michelle Amrine takes a selfie with a crew of folks helping her to build her home in Ohio.
Farmers markets are also important outlets for the sale of organic agricultural products.
All images available in Flickr.
On the USDA Blog
Veteran Farmers, In Their Own Voice
This week, Secretary Vilsack, Deputy Secretary Harden and I meet with 35 military veterans who are now farmers and ranchers. Hosted by the Farmer Veterans Coalition and the Farm Credit Council, these men and women came to USDA to discuss the opportunities and resources available to veterans interested in agriculture. Many of them participate in the Homegrown by Heroes campaign which celebrates local products grown, raised and produced by farmer veterans across the country.
Farmers Markets: Important Sales Outlets for Organic Farmers
Across the nation, farmers markets continue to be great places for communities to gather, shop for fresh, healthy food, and get to know local farmers and ranchers. Farmers markets are also important outlets for the sale of organic agricultural products. In fact, more than 40 percent of organic operations report direct sales to consumers. As consumer demand for organic and local food increases, farmers markets offer important opportunities for organic producers to enter new markets and grow their businesses.
From Tomatoes to Yarn: Value Added Producer Grants Help Agriculture Entrepreneurs Get Ahead
“When you are a small farm, you don’t have a lot of capital.” says Julie Donnelly of Deepwoods Farm, a small tomato farm she runs with her husband in Bradley County, Arkansas. Despite being in an area known for its tomatoes, Deepwoods Farms was having a hard time getting ahead. “We couldn’t get past the commercial tomatoes.” Julie remembers. “We were almost bankrupt. I thought ‘I’ve got to do something!’ ”What Julie decided to do was diversify her tomato crop to produce more varietals, including heirlooms and different colored tomatoes.
5 Facts You Should Know About the Role Trade Plays on America’s Farms and Ranches
Today, farmers, ranchers, and rural communities are more prosperous thanks to strong trade agreements. Foreign markets contribute to more than half of total sales for many American agricultural products. The last six years have been the strongest in history for agricultural exports, and agricultural exports now support more than 1 million good-paying American jobs. Without the expanded trade that came with past trade agreements, the agricultural economy and the American economy as a whole would not be as strong as it is today.
Let the Good Times Flow for National Dairy Month!
June is an eventful and versatile month—the start of warm summer days, school vacations, and holidays like Father’s Day and Flag Day. We also celebrate many unusual observances in June such as Heimlich Maneuver Day, National Yo-Yo Day, and National Donut Day. But who can enjoy a donut without a nice, cold glass of milk? June is the perfect month to combine the two as USDA joins the rest of the country in celebrating National Dairy Month.
Closing the Summer Hunger Gap for Kids in Rural America
Cindy Bomar is a dedicated person; she is dedicated to her job and to her various volunteer organizations. And most of her charitable efforts are devoted to helping children, especially poor children. As a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for youth in Virginia, Cindy has all too often seen the suffering of poor and neglected children and teens. “I advocate in the best interest of these children so that they are not lost in the system,” she explains.
Preserving a Way of Life for the Yakama Nation
Recently, I visited the 1.1 million acre Yakama Nation reservation located in southwestern Washington State. Touring the reservation, I was able to see first hand how funds from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) will help the over 10,000 members of the Yakama tribe. Through RCPP, NRCS is working with the tribe to accelerate the recovery of fish stocks, including the Middle Columbia Steelhead, reconnect floodplains and improve irrigation water conservation.
Moving Back to Rural America: Why Some Return Home and What Difference It Makes
Population loss persists in rural America, especially in more remote areas with limited scenic amenities. Communities in these areas are attuned to the annual out-migration of their “best and brightest” high school graduates, typically a third or more of each class.
A Dream of Farming Becomes a Reality for this Kentucky Farm Mom
Emily Diamond is a wife, mother, and farmer. She and her family own and operate the Diamond Family Farm in LaGrange, Kentucky. Emily’s farm supplies meat for her family and to the surrounding community through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Through CSAs, the community commits to buying the farm’s harvest, sharing both the bounty and risk of farming.
Building a Better Future Together: Homeownership Month 2015
Rural America faces a unique set of challenges when it comes to combating poverty in our towns and communities. Too often, rural people and places are hard to reach or otherwise underserved — but USDA makes sure they are not forgotten. I believe that USDA and its partners have the tools and the means to expand opportunity and better serve those living in poverty. This month, Homeownership Month, we are celebrating a program that has helped rural families locate and climb ladders of opportunity into the middle class: The Mutual Self-Help Housing Program.
USDA TV
USDA Week in Review - June 5th, 2015
Read about us in the News
Why More American Women Are Becoming Farmers (Yahoo Food)
The Union Square Greenmarket in New York City was swept up in a deluge on Monday, with tents flapping violently as wind and rain bore down on them. But the dampened vendors barely batted an eye, and neither did the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s deputy secretary Krysta Harden, who was in town to promote farmer’s markets just like this one. “Farmers never complain about rain,” she told Yahoo Food knowingly.
Veterans see more opportunities in agriculture (Great Falls Tribune)
Paul Kanning had always dreamed of leaving his family farm growing up in northeastern Montana. But one night in 2003 during the invasion of Iraq, he unexpectedly decided the 1,200-acre farm he had resented for so long and that drove him into the U.S. Air Force was now his destiny. “We were going a gazillion miles an hour, and I don’t know why, but I was laying down one night thinking, ‘What am I going to do after this?’” said Kanning, 45. “And that’s when I started talking about how I need to buy the family farm and start doing it. I realized I was going to do whatever it took to get back on that farm.”
Feds work to make farming attractive to veterans (Star Gazette)
When Jamie Critelli began leasing an Elmira greenhouse in 2011, he qualified as a “young farmer” because he wasn’t over 35.The average age of a new farmer that year was 49, and only 14 percent were 35 or younger, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has set a goal of attracting 100,000 Americans to agriculture jobs in the coming years, but it’s been a hard sell. The work often is almost always demanding, and bad weather or changing market prices can eliminate profit margins. That’s why military veterans like Critelli, recommissioned last year as a captain in the Army National Guard, are advocating better coordination of federal career placement programs for veterans who want to be trained for agricultural careers.
Editor’s Note: The Local Food Revolution (Civil Eats)
ince we Civil Eats started six years ago, we have cast our net wide to report on local food stories about individuals and communities working together to create a more vibrant, resilient, and just food system. There is so much good news about innovative projects happening nationwide: From Alaska to Hawaii, we’ve been documenting the unfolding of what local food likes like on the ground. In this month’s note, I wanted to share some of our inspiring stories showing how local food systems are connecting producers to consumers, boosting local economies, and building community.
Food Stamp incentive program expanded to city farmers markets (So Pgh Reporter)
The City of Pittsburgh is joining with Just Harvest to promote a healthy new incentive for food stamps at 14 area farmers markets this summer. For the first time, for every $5 shoppers spend using their food stamps at participating farmers markets, they will receive an additional $2 coupon to spend on fruits and vegetables. The coupons are called Food Bucks and are available at 13 Fresh Access farmers markets in Allegheny County and one in Washington County.
Q&A: Tony Hernandez, Rural Housing Service Administrator at USDA (Commercial Observer)
Mr. Hernandez spent more than a decade marketing for IBM Corporation before taking over as administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service. He told Commercial Observer by email about his current role, working with Greystone, and the importance of advocating for the disadvantaged in rural communities throughout the country.
USDA seeks applications for grants to help repair housing in rural communities (High Plains Journal)
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced recently that USDA is seeking applications for grants to make housing repairs for low- and very-low-income rural residents. The grants are being provided through USDA Rural Development’s Housing Preservation Grant program. “These grants help rural homeowners and rental housing owners repair and improve their properties,” Vilsack said. “Funds may be used to resolve health or safety issues, make accessibility modifications for people with disabilities or make energy-efficiency improvements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower utility costs.”
In Gardiner, a new slaughterhouse boosts Maine’s agriculture infrastructure (Central Maine)
The recent completion of a dual red meat-poultry slaughterhouse in Gardiner represents both a step in the city’s effort to be a center for local food and an increase in the state’s infrastructure for locally raised meat. The poultry slaughterhouse, the only one in the state inspected by U.S. Department of Agriculture, is killing and processing around 2,000 chickens and turkeys a week, and the operators of the red meat side expect to start slaughtering cattle and pigs by late July or early August at the Libby Hill Business Park plant. The company running the red meat side, Central Maine Meats, already is processing cattle and pigs three miles away on Brunswick Avenue.
Take Two Apples and Call Me in the Morning (Modern Farmer)
A growing number of doctors are telling obese patients to increase the quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables they eat. That change, says Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, a professor of family medicine at West Virginia School of Medicine, is absolutely essential. “Telling people to eat less and exercise more doesn’t work, because you need to eat better. Obesity is not driven by a calorie balance, but by hormonal responses to food.”
Four more homes finished in CPLC program (Nogales International)
The room is empty and all of the walls are bare, but 8-year-old Valeria Villanueva knows exactly which theme she’ll choose to decorate her new bedroom. “Frozen,” she said with a smile, referring to the hit Disney movie. Her new Rio Rico home, built largely by her parents Gabriela and Jorge Villanueva and other participants in Chicanos Por La Causa’s (CPLC) Self-Help Housing Program, is one of four new houses recently finished in the nearly 20-year-old effort to make home ownership attainable for low-income county residents.
Sec. Vilsack joins community partners to expand access to summer meals for children (High Plains Journal)
Recently Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined representatives from Milwaukee’s Hunger Task Force, the Kohl’s Corporation and members of the Milwaukee community to bring attention to childhood hunger. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s summer meal programs provide breakfast and lunch to children in low-income communities all across the country. The event marked the start of this program and Kohl’s Serving Up Supper for Kids, a joint effort between the Hunger Task Force and the Kohl’s Corporation to provide nutritious suppers to Milwaukee children in need throughout the summer.
Immigrant entrepreneurs fuel local food frenzy (NY Post)
Whether it’s a taste of Malaysia or Puerto Rican moonshine, immigrant entrepreneurs are stepping into the spotlight at the upcoming New York Fancy Food Show with products that reflect their heritage. “People will see us [there] that wouldn’t normally know a business like ours exists in the Bronx,” said Ralph Barbosa, a partner in Port Morris Distillery, which produces the PMD NY brand of pitorro, the Puerto Rican “moonshine” rum, based on an old family recipe.
Listen
Broadcast Date: Wed, June 3, 2015
People farm throughout the country in rural and urban areas. (Susan Carter and Ag Deputy Sec Krysta Harden)
ACTUALITY: FARMERS ARE FARMERS REGARDLESS OF LOCATION OR GENDER
Broadcast Date: Wed, June 3, 2015
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden says rural or urban, farmers are farmers.
ACTUALITY: REUSING RESOURCES TO FARM IN URBAN AREAS
Broadcast Date: Wed, June 3, 2015
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden tells how urban farmers in New York City repurposed space to farm.
ACTUALITY: THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE AND THE ROLE OF URBAN FARMING
Broadcast Date: Wed, June 3, 2015
Agriculture Deputy Secretary Krysta Harden, during a visit to New York City, talks about how urban farmers fit into the channel of agriculture’s future.
WHERE ARE AGRICULTURAL LAND VALUES AND CASH RENTS HEADED?
Broadcast Date: Tue, June 2, 2015
Farmland values and cash rents can be an indicator of the health of the farm economy, but trends in those values seem to be very different depending on the region. (Gary Crawford, Kevin Paap, Dow Brantley,Steve Verett, Paul Combs, Nathan Kauffman)
ACTUALITY: LAWMAKERS HEAR PRAISE FOR FSA FARM BILL SIGN-UP
Broadcast Date: Tue, June 2, 2015
Paul Combs, a Missouri farmer, and Kevin Paap, a Minnesota farmer, telling a House Agriculture Subcommittee about their good experience in signing up for farm bill programs at their local Farm Service Agency Office.
Share
Veteran Farmers, In Their Own Voice http://t.co/38unMqRgjx #LocalMade pic.twitter.com/1fL6Rk3LWq
— Dept. of Agriculture (@USDA) June 5, 2015
A dream of farming becomes a reality for this Kentucky farm mom http://t.co/DAzA8pUifU #conservation pic.twitter.com/FGrl1NFwnM
— Dept. of Agriculture (@USDA) June 1, 2015
Are you living in one of the 50,000 #homes built with @USDA #SelfHelp Program? Where are you? How long have you been in your home?
— Rural Development (@usdaRD) June 5, 2015
DepSec talks with a farmer about the impact of @GrowNYC programs: "The @UnSqGreenmarket has saved my farm." pic.twitter.com/WS1vtXg6uV
— USDA Press Team (@USDAPress) June 1, 2015
Elanor Starmer, USDA Sr Advisor on local food is at #organicNY today. "Field offices are open when it comes to local food." #localmade
— Dept. of Agriculture (@USDA) June 2, 2015
"It's more than just houses. It's a way to change your life." -Housing Admin Tony Hernandez #BetterLife @usdaRD pic.twitter.com/hXiITQgl0h
— RD_Pennsylvania (@RD_Pennsylvania) June 2, 2015
