USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is accepting applications from New York farmers to implement micro-irrigation conservation systems for crops. Although signup is continuous, applications received through May 20 for the Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) Program will be considered in the next funding round. Funding for this program is authorized through the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill).
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Working Farms News
Funding for Micro-Irrigation Conservation Systems
Funding for Oil Spill Prevention
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in New York is piloting a Conservation Activity Plan (CAP) to assist farmers in meeting revised regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intended to prevent fuel and oil spills on their operations. Funding is provided through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). CONTINUE READING
Screening of Milk War
MILK WAR
Wednesday May 4 at 7 pm
Hawthorne Valley School Hall
330 County Route 21C, Ghent NY
Admission: $5-$10
518-672-5808 for more information
A 2011 James Beard Award nominee.
Narrated by Colm Feore (Run time: 47 mins)
On a November morning in 2006, 20 armed officers raided a small Canadian organic farm. They weren’t looking for drugs or guns. They were there for milk.
Dairy farmer Michael Schmidt found himself facing multiple charges. The offence: selling unpasteurized milk, a practice outlawed in Canada. Milk War, a documentary produced for ichannel by Stornoway Communications and The Path to Gimli, tells the story of one man’s battle with government authorities over raw milk – a fight that Schmidt insists is really about the fundamental right “to give people the freedom to choose healthy nutritious food.”
Please feel free to stay afterward for a panel discussion with the producers of the film.
Farmland Protection Plan Focus Groups Are Complete
Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation (HVADC) , the Columbia Land Conservancy, and the County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board are working on a County Plan to support and promote local agriculture. We have completed our focus groups which discussed land use planning, cooperatives, economics, and taxes.
Funding help for livestock farmers
Livestock farmers in Albany, Columbia, Greene, Schenectady, Rensselaer, and Montgomery Counties will have an opportunity to apply for financial assistance to establish or improve grazing systems on their farms according to USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service State Conservationist Astor F. Boozer.
“This project is in its second year of implementation through the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) that was authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill. In partnership with the Hudson Mohawk Resource Conservation and Development (RC&D) Council, NRCS will offer farmers the opportunity to apply for conservation practices that will protect soil and improve water quality on grazing lands,” said Boozer.
More information at the Register Star