Sustainable Agriculture

Organic Certification Cost Sharing Program Renewed

The Hawaii Department of Agriculture has announced through a September 30, 2009 press release that the Cost Sharing Program for Organic Certification has been renewed.  Federal funds have been renewed to assist Hawaii organic farmers, organic livestock producers and organic produce handlers with the cost of obtaining organic certification.  Through cooperative agreements between HDOA and USDA, federal funds will be made available to assist in obtaining organic certification.

Waimanalo Field Day

The College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) hosted a field day at its Waimanalo Experiment Station on September 26, 2009.  Mr. Ray Uchida, Oahu County Administrator and Mr. Roger Corrales, Waimanalo Station Farm Manager were our hosts.  The Field Day featured mostly faculty and staff from the Department of Tropical Plant and Soil Sciences (TPSS).

Dr. Jim Brewbaker of TPSS is our corn breeder and much of the field day acreage was devoted to sharing information about various sweet corn varieties.  As part of the field day, taste tests of two varieties of sweet corn was done. 

But the field day wasn't limited to sweet corn.  Displays were shown from the Biotechnology Outreach Program and Dr. Ania Wieczorek and by Dr. H.C. "Skip" Bittenbender on the converting cacao into chocolate. 

Taro or Kalo, one of Hawaii's most culturally important crops is also grown on the Waimanalo Experiment Station.  The station serves as a germplasm repository, growing most of the Hawaiian and other varieties of taro.  CTAHR views maintenance of these crops as critically important to its mission.   Not only could visitors see the taro but also an informational display on taro corms, by extension educator, Jari Sugano, of the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences (PEPS),  was presented.

In keeping with the theme of sustainable agriculture, organic eggplant field trial demonstrations, under the direction of Dr. Ted Radovich of TPSS were displayed.  The CTAHR Student SOFT Garden also displayed their organic garden to visitors.  SOFT is an acronym for  "Sustainable and Organic Farm Training."   Read the SOFT Blog.

Know your farmer, know your food!

USDA has released a new web site in support of local farmers!   American farmers feed our nation and the world, but they are all local to somewhere. Get to know your local farmer, and get to know your food. USDA wants to foster the viability and growth of small and mid-size farms and ranches, and we want to create new opportunities for farmers and ranchers by promoting locally produced foods. We also want to build the infrastructure necessary to support a local food system, and we'll need local partners to do that. Local and regional food systems mean fresh food, vibrant communities, a strong connection between cities and the countryside, and support for this and the next generation of farmers and ranchers.

Search for a local farmers market!  The web includes, resources for farmers, including loans, grants, and lots of other information.

The Omnivore's Delusion and Food, Inc.

In keeping with the point-counter point, we have two different points of view about modern agriculture.  The first is Blake Hurst piece, "The Omnivore's Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals."  Published on July 30, 2009 in the "The American", the Journal of the American Enterprise Institute.  Good reading. 

For another opinion, opening this week in the latest anti-conventional agriculture, anti-food industry documentary "Food, Inc."   A scathing attack on modern agriculture by filmmaker Robert Kenner and co-producer, Eric Schlosser, who gave us Fast Food Nation. 

 FYI - in  Honolulu, "Food, Inc" opens July 31, 2009 at the Kahala Consolidated Theatres.  Interesting that Chipotle Grill is a major corporate sponsor of "Food, Inc" and until October 2006 was owned and operated by McDonald's. 

As with most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. 

Come to the Hawaii State Farm Fair - July 18,19, 2009

Admission:  $5 adults; $3 children (4-12 years old); Free Admission for Bishop Museum and HFBF members plus up to 3 guests.

Vegetable Gardening at the Oahu Urban Garden Center -- July 11, 2009

Vegetable Gardening

Second Saturday at the Urban Garden Center - UH Vegetable Seeds

New Farmer's Market in Honolulu, Grand Opening, June 3, 2009

Honolulu Farmers’ Market
Blaisdell Center Kapiolani-Ward Parking Lot
Every Wednesday OPENING JUNE 3, 4:00 - 7:00 pm

Join us for the newest HFBF Farmer's Market!  

Don't go to the supermarket for your produce!  Head to the SUPER Farmer's Market for your produce and local products.

Hawaii Island Homegrown: Food Self Reliance Workshop - June 6, 2009

A workshop on improving Hawaii Island's local food culture and agriculture will be held on Saturday, June 6, 2009 at the Ocean View Community Center in Ocean View.  From the brochure:

With more than 85% of our food imported from off-island, many Hawai‘i Island residents are concerned about our community’s food security. This workshop will empower you to reduce your food budget, increase consumption of fresher, more nutritious food, decrease the impact of spiraling fuel costs, and help create an abundance of food for sharing or sale. This workshop is for gardeners, farmers, homeowners, landscapers, teachers, extension professionals—anyone interested in growing Hawai’i community food self-reliance.

Download the brochure. 

New USDA Organic Initiative

USDA announces new initiative in support of organic agriculture via the USDA NRCS EQIP program.   The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has additional information about this program.  Contact your the Pacific Islands NRCS Office for more information.  For organic certification information in Hawaii, contact Hawaii Organic Farmers Association.  See previous post in Sustainable Agriculture regarding organic certification.

From the Organic Farming Research Foundation:

USDA Announces $50 million in Funding for Organic and Transitioning Producers Applying to EQIP – Initial Application Period Starts May 11, 2009 In an historic move to support organic farmers and ranchers and those transitioning to organic, the USDA is allocating $50 million of funds through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to be set aside for a new Organic Initiative. Current organic producers and those transitioning to organic will be eligible to receive contracts for implementing conservation practices and conservation planning under the program, but they’ll have to act fast. Applications will be accepted beginning Monday, May 11, 2009. To ensure consideration for assistance from this pool of funds, producers must file an EQIP Organic Initiative application no later than May 29. Core practices include: conservation crop rotation; cover cropping; nutrient management; pest management; prescribed grazing; and forage harvest management. States may also decide to add other practices in addition to these six core practices. Organic and transitioning farmers can also still apply to EQIP for other EQIP conservation practices that are not part of the Organic Initiative. Farmers who want to apply for EQIP should call or visit their local USDA service center. A resource page listing organizations that can help producers apply for the EQIP program is available on the OFRF website. This page will be updated as needed, so please check it frequently. If your organization has experience providing assistance to farmers applying for EQIP and wants to be listed on our resource page, please email Tracy Lerman, OFRF Policy Organizer as soon as possible: tracy@ofrf.org. Here are several useful links for more information: The USDA press release announcing the Organic Initiative OFRF’s press release on the EQIP Organic Initiative The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition webpage on the EQIP Organic Initiative The USDA Service Center Locator OFRF's resource page for farmers applying to EQIP

Western SARE Sub Regional Stakeholder Input - now online / New RFAs released

Back in September 2008, the Western Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) held a "subregional" conference in Kailua-Kona.  The results of the meeting was first reported in an earlier edition of Sustainable Agriculture blog.  To celebrate the 20th year of the SARE program, the Western SARE have held or will hold a series of Subregional conferences to gather stakeholder input to help set the direction for the next 20 years of WSARE.  All of the subregional conferences have now been held, except one which will be held in August 2009 in California.  Each of the conferences followed the same format and was led by Dr. Jerry DeWitt, Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University.  Summaries and actual stakeholder input can be found for the following conferences:  Pacific (held in Guam); Southwest (held in Albuquerque, NM); Hawaii (held in Kailua-Kona); Mountains-High Plains (held in Cheyenne, WY); and the Pacific Northwest (held in Spokane, WA).  The last subregional conference, in California, is scheduled to be in August, 2009.

The Hawaii Subregional Conference page contains links to the keynote speakers:  Andrew Hashimoto, CTAHR Dean; Jerry DeWitt; Leopold Center; Richard Ha; Hamakua Springs Country Farm; Ed Boteilho, Cloverleaf Dairy; and Gary Maunakea-Forth, MA'O Organic Farms.  The Conference Overview and the Table Top Reports are also available on-line. 

Western SARE has just announced the RFAs for the 2009-2010 funding cycle.  This information is extremely important to grant seekers because these issues define the priorities that the WSARE will fund toward.  See the Western SARE Grants page.  Of immediate importance are the Research and Education Grant Pre-applications due June 12, 2009.  You can download the Request for Pre-applications.   On May 29, 2009, application for Graduate Student Grants are due.  Professional Development Program Grants are due November 3, 2009 and the Farmer-Rancher and Professional-Producer Grants are due December 4, 2009.

2009 Stockman's Spring Field Day

Dr. Mark Thorne, CTAHR's Range Extension Specialist announces his 2009 Stockman's Spring Field Day.  The program will be held on three islands, starting on Kauai (Kauai Community College) on April 20-21, 2009; on Maui (Kula Community Center) on April 22-23, 2009 and the Island of Hawaii (Waimea Civic Center) on April 24-25, 2009.  The program includes an evening workshop (4:00 pm - 8:30 pm) on the first and producer/pasture visits on the second day.  This year the program will feature Dr. Scott Dalzell of the University of Queensland, in Australia, who will be discussing methods of establishing and managing leucaena pastures in Hawaii.  For more information download the registration form.  Or contact Dr. Mark Thorne at the Kamuela Extension Office.

White House plants a vegetable garden

After President Obama was elected, and even before, the magnitude of the recession became apparent, there was a push from community food activists to plant a "Victory Garden" on the South Lawn of the White House.  Led by Roger Doiron, founder of the Kitchen Gardeners International, a Maine non-profit to encourage home gardening, a petition drive was started, through the "Eat the View" campaign that gathered over 100,000 signatures using Facebook and other social networks to encourage the Obama's to plant a garden.  Today, the Michele Obama, along with 23 fifth graders from the Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, DC broke ground on an 1100 square foot plot.  This will be the first garden on the lawn since Eleanor Roosevelt had a garden at the White House during the second world war.  For more information see the New York Times or the USA Today.   

Michele Obama getting her hands dirty (from USA Today).

Map of the W.H. garden and a map of the approximate location.  From the White House via the N.Y. Times. 

Tomorrow's Table presentation at CTAHR Web Site

You may have missed the lecture by Raoul Adamchak and Pamela Ronald, the authors of Tomorrow's Table on UH-Manoa on February 5, 2009.  The presentation was recorded and is now available on streaming video.  Go to the CTAHR Web Site, on the right hand column - look for "What's New" - and click on the top link "Feb. 5, 2009 Tomorrow's Table".  If you have Real Player (R) on your computer, it will start automatically.  If you don't have Real Player (R) on your computer, you have to download it from the Real web site.     

New USDA Funding Opportunities - Beginning Farmer Grants and Farmers Market Promotion Program

USDA CSREES has released the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program competitive grants program.   Proposals are due May 13, 2009.  Download the request for applications.  There is a 25% cost share required for this program.
 

From the RFA:

CSREES announces the availability of funds and requests applications for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP) for fiscal year (FY) 2009.  The BFRDP provides resources to support the development of education, outreach, curricula, workshops, educational teams, training, and technical assistance programs to assist beginning farmers and ranchers in the United States and its territories in entering, establishing, building and managing successful farm and ranch enterprises.  This program will also provide a cooperative agreement to an on line electronic and library clearinghouse to provide associated support to individually funded projects, educational enhancement projects and the overall BFRDP program. The estimated amount available for support of this program in FY 2009 is $17,280,000.  

The legislation requires the Secretary to establish a competitive grants program for the purpose of providing education, outreach, training and technical assistance to benefit beginning farmers and ranchers in the United States, including programs and services (as appropriate) relating to: 

(a) Mentoring, apprenticeships, and internships;
(b) Resources and referral;
(c) Assisting beginning farmers or ranchers in understanding how to acquire land from retiring farmers and ranchers;
(d) Innovative farm and ranch transfer strategies;
(e) Entrepreneurship and business training;
(f) Model land leasing contracts;
(g) Financial management training;
(h) Whole farm planning;
(i) Conservation assistance;
(j) Risk management education;
(k) Diversification and marketing strategies;
(l) Curriculum development;
(m) Understanding the impact of concentration and globalization;
(n) Basic livestock and crop farming practices, forestry and range management;
(o) The acquisition and management of agricultural credit;
(p) Environmental compliance;
(q) Information processing; and
(r) Other similar subject areas of use to beginning farmers or ranchers.

USDA Agricultural Marketing Service has released its request for applications for its Farmers Market Promotion Grants.    Proposals are due April 27, 2009.  Additional important information can be found at the USDA AMS FMPP website.

From the press release: 

The primary objective of FMPP grants is to help eligible entities improve and expand domestic farmers markets, roadside stands, community-supported agriculture programs, agritourism activities, and other direct producer-to-consumer market opportunities. Eligible entities include: agricultural cooperatives, producer networks, producer associations, local governments, non-profit corporations, public benefit corporations, economic development corporations, regional farmers' market authorities and Tribal Governments.
 
About $5 million is allocated for the FMPP program. The minimum award per grant is $2,500, with a maximum of $100,000 for any one proposal. Matching funds are not required.

For more information about the program, download the 2009 Farmers Market Promotion Guidelines.  To read about successful past proposals:  Download 2008 funded projects.