Historic Farm Bill Funding Available to Organic Producers and Handlers

News Release
Release No. 0149.14
Contact: Office of Communications (202)720-4623


Historic Farm Bill Funding Available to Organic Producers and Handlers
Funds to assist with Organic Certification Costs
WASHINGTON, July 17, 2014 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that approximately $13 million in Farm Bill funding is now available for organic certification cost-share assistance, making certification more accessible than ever for small certified producers and handlers.

"Consumer demand for organic products is surging across the country," said Secretary Tom Vilsack. "To meet this demand, we need to make sure that small farmers who choose to grow organic products can afford to get certified. Organic food is now a multi-billion dollar industry, and helping this sector continue to grow creates jobs across the country."

The certification assistance is distributed through two programs within the Agricultural Marketing Service. Through the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program, $11.5 million is available to all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. Territories. Through the Agricultural Management Assistance Organic Certification Cost-Share Program, an additional $1.5 million is available to organic operations in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

These programs provide cost-share assistance through participating states to USDA certified organic producers and handlers for certification-related expenses they incur from October 1, 2013 through September 30, 2014. Payments cover up to 75 percent of an individual producer's or handler's certification costs, up to a maximum of $750 per certification. To receive cost-share assistance, organic producers and handlers should contact their state agencies. Each state will have their own guidelines and requirements for reimbursement, and the National Organic Program (NOP) will assist states as much as possible to successfully implement the programs. State contact information can be found on the NOP Cost Share Website, www.ams.usda.gov/NOPCostSharing.

In 2012 alone, USDA issued close to 10,000 cost-share reimbursements totaling over $6.5 million, to support the organic industry and rural America. Additional information about resources available to small and mid-sized producers, including accessing capital, risk management, locating market opportunities and land management is available on USDA's Small and Mid-Sized Farmer Resources webpage.

USDA has a number of new and expanded efforts to connect organic farmers and businesses with resources that will ensure the continued growth of the organic industry domestically and abroad. During this Administration, USDA has signed four major trade agreements on organic products, and is also helping organic stakeholders access programs that support conservation, provide access to loans and grants, fund organic research and education, and mitigate pest emergencies. Through the NOP, USDA has helped organic farmers and businesses achieve $35 billion annually in U.S. retail sales. The organic community includes over 25,000 organic businesses in more than 120 different countries around the world.

Today's funding announcement for organic certification cost-share assistance was made possible by the 2014 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill builds on historic economic gains in rural America over the past five years, while achieving meaningful reform and billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. Since enactment, USDA has made significant progress to implement each provision of this critical legislation, including providing disaster relief to farmers and ranchers; strengthening risk management tools; expanding access to rural credit; funding critical research; establishing innovative public-private conservation partnerships; developing new markets for rural-made products; and investing in infrastructure, housing and community facilities to help improve quality of life in rural America. For more information, visit www.usda.gov/farmbill.

For additional information contact Dana Stahl, Organic Certification Cost Share Program Manager, Dana.Stahl@ams.usda.gov, (540) 361-1126. Additional information is available on the NOP's website at www.ams.usda.gov/NOPCostSharing.

The NOP is responsible for ensuring the integrity of USDA organic agricultural products in the United States and throughout the world. Find out more about organic certification by visiting www.ams.usda.gov/nop.

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USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).

Don't let 'big ag' take our right to farm

Ruell Chappell 4:40 p.m. CDT July 23, 2014

Ruell Chappel

The late 1950s and '60s saw a huge migration from the family farm to the cities.

We wanted to work 9 to 5 and wear nice clothes.

We also wanted someone else to grow our food and process, deliver and market it.

Many corporations stepped up and gave that to us in spades.

The problem was that these same corporations decided they not only wanted the business, but needed to make sure they kept the business.

To this end, they bought up local manufacturing and processing businesses and closed them.

Since then, our communities have been in an ever-steepening spiral on food security, economic prosperity, job growth and food prices.

In their zeal to not only own your food, but own it forever, both foreign and domestic industrial agricultural corporations have created and support the nuclear option of Amendment 1 (also known as the Right to Farm amendment).

It is the largest land and power grab I have ever witnessed.

More ...

Sierra Club launches sustainable agriculture testimonials, Western Michigan University student project

By Rosemary Parker | rparker3@mlive.com 
Follow on Twitter
on June 26, 2014 at 8:54 AM, updated June 26, 2014 at 8:57 AM

KALAMAZOO, MI -- How do Michigan farmers and consumers feel about food from local farmers?

Since last month Erin Denay has been posing that question at farmers markets across the state to create enough video snippets to roll out one a day during the  month of July, part of a collaborative project with Sierra Club, said Gail Philbin, assistant director of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter.

"We really want consumers and farmers already involved in the sustainable agriculture  scene to understand there are people supporting them," said Denay, 22, of Bay City. She is a senior at Western Michigan University majoring in environmental and sustainability studies and organizational communication.

Sustainable agriculture, she said, is farming that "revolves around the well-being of the surrounding environment, people, and animals while producing healthy, high-quality food that protects the quality of the land and water for future generations.

In the series of one-minute video testimonials produced by the Less=More sustainable agriculture coalition, Michigan residents talk about why meat, dairy, poultry and eggs that are locally grown under humane conditions are important to them, their communities and local economies, a news release from Sierra Club said.

"Sustainable agriculture is farming that revolves around the well-being of the surrounding environment, people, and animals," Denay said, " so as to produce healthy, high-quality food that protects the quality of the land and water for future generations."

"We want them to know we are here for them," Denay said, "and to draw more attention and tax dollars to them," the farms practicing sustainable agriculture methods.

Maynard Beery of Beery Farms in Middleville, for instance, told Denay that though he could not keep up with soaring demand for his grass fed beef "there is no way that I can compete with a 50,000 animal feedlot. They're happy if they wind up with $10 a head in profit and no, that's not going to support myself and my son."

Farm subsidies for which he  currently does not qualify would allow his farm to expand, he said.

The project also hopes to let people know there are 300 farmers markets in Michigan, and lots of choices when it comes to shopping for food. "We want to illuminate the opportunities to eat local, sustainable healthy food," Denay said.

What were the most promising findings of Denay's interviews?

"The appetite, pardon the pun, for local, healthy food is alive and well in Michigan," Philbin said.

The series kicks off July 1 with the release of the testimonial of Jill Johnson and Mary Wills of Crane Dance Farm in Middleville via Less=More's Twitter account, @MoreforMichigan, and its Facebook page.

The remainder of that week the videos feature Kalamazoo farmers and consumers, Denay said.

"Being involved with this project has made me so much more aware of the healthy, high-quality food that is being made available by small-scale sustainable farmers in Michigan communities," Denay said. "I want this testimonial series to really highlight the wonderful things they are doing and why they deserve our support so they can succeed and grow and continue to provide for their communities."

Sierra Club believes issues such as antibiotic overuse, the viability of local economies,  climate change, fair wages and working conditions for workers and animal welfare can be traced back to how food is grown.

"Many consumers are searching for a way to have some control over the food they eat because they are disillusioned or disgusted with the industrial food system," she said. "Growing your own food or buying from local farmers they know is a good way to do that."

Sierra Club is a member of the Less=More Coalition, producers of the video series. The group is made up of national, state and local organizations as well as consumers and farmers who support sustainable agriculture and seek to level the playing field for sustainable livestock farmers.

Specifically, the coalition is tackling inequities in the subsidy system that the coalition argues is weighted toward concentrated livestock operations.

In 2013, the coalition's report "Restoring the Balance to Michigan's Farming Landscape" noted that some farms continue to receive taxpayer-funded subsidies even when they have been fined for violations of environmental law and blasted the farm subsidy system for favoring concentrated animal feeding operations in the award of funds.

Less=More members include: Beery Farms of Michigan, LLC, the Center for Food Safety, Crane Dance Farm, LLC, ELFCO Food Cooperative, Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan, Food & Water Watch, Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council, Groundswell Farm, Zeeland, Humane Society of the United States, Michigan Farmers Union, Michigan Small Farm Council, Michigan Student Sustainability Coalition, Michigan Voices for Good Food Policy, Michigan Young Farmers Coalition, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter and Socially Responsible Agricultural Project.

The coalition is also asking people to contribute their own food stories to the series. For more information on submitting a testimonial, email:Moreformichigansc@gmail.com

Subsidy Information for Sustainable Livestock Farmers

FACT SHEET
2014 Farm Bill Conservation Subsidies

After years of political wrangling, the 2014 Farm Bill was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 7 on the campus of Michigan State University. The five-year, $956 billion bill includes $56 billion in funding for conservation programs, with $8.9 billion going to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).  For an overview of the 2014 Farm Bill, visit: http://tinyurl.com/FBoverview 

To read the Farm Bill in its entirety:  http://tinyurl.com/actualfarmbill

What is EQIP The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a Farm Bill Conservation Program that provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers to address natural resource concerns. It aims to deliver environmental benefits such as improved water and air quality, ground and surface water conservation, soil erosion and sedimentation reduction and wildlife habitat. http://tinyurl.com/EQIPoverview


Categories of EQIP practices eligible for funding in Michigan include:
Animal Waste
National Water Quality Initiative
Conservation Activity Plans
Organic Initiative
Energy American Indian Tribes

Locally-Led Conservation: MAEAP Water Quality Monitoring
Wayne County Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative

For a list of specific practices and the funding available visit: http://tinyurl.com/MichiganEQIP

How to Apply for EQIP  If you’ve never applied for EQIP funds, you should know that you need to have an approved Conservation Action Plan before you’re eligible to apply for EQIP funds.  So, the first step is to apply for funds to develop the plan with an approved “technical service provider.”  The deadline for this application is usually early in the year. After you get the funds and the plan is approved, you’re free to apply for EQIP funds in the following year.  For details on the application process for EQIP, visit: http://tinyurl.com/EQIPsteps

Find your local NRCS field office:  http://tinyurl.com/NRCSofficelocator

For more info about Michigan’s EQIP program:
Steve Law, EQIP Coordinator; Phone:  (517) 324-5282; E-mail: steven.law@mi.usda.gov

Sierra Club targets CAFOs in Gratiot and Midland counties

http://www.themorningsun.com/environment-and-nature/20130912/sierra-club-targets-cafos-in-gratiot-and-midland-counties

One of the large feeding operations in Forest Hill 

By Linda Gittleman, The Morning Sun

POSTED: 09/12/13, 6:25 PM EDT | UPDATED: ON 09/12/2013

On a Sierra Club-sponsored tour of local concentrated animal feeding operations, the one near Forest Hill got some attention.

“That was one of the worst I’ve smelled,” said Joe Maxwell, a Missouri hog farmer, former lieutenant governor and a U.S. Humane Society official.

And he has toured industrial farming sites all over the world.

The tour was part of a “Less=More” program made up of Sierra Club members as well as farmers, food safety organizations, environmental and welfare groups who believe there is “an unfair bias toward factory farms.”

At a short program at the Alma Public Library before the tour Wednesday, Anne Woiwoide, Michigan Sierra Club president, said the group is not making claims of illegal activities. The focus instead is on unfairness.

The group wants to encourage both the state and federal governments not to support what she called “polluting factory farms.”

“These farms are receiving your tax dollar support,” she said.

She cited a dairy farm that’s located in both Gratiot and Midland counties, and which has subsidiary farms.

“From 2001 to 2012, they received $744,941 in federal farm subsidies and tax subsidized loans of $5 million,” according to a written statement from the Sierra Club.

Small farms cannot compete with that kind of financial assistance.

Yet even though the Midland/Gratiot farm received the subsidies, it was fined by two different agencies for about $45,000 related to five separate incidents.

Some of those incidents included discharge of wastes into county drains, improper storage of wastes, and stockpiling of wastes near a road.

It was also pointed out that a CAFO can generate millions of gallons of waste – enough to equal a city of 16,000 people - but the farms, unlike cities, aren’t required to treat the waste. And that waste can include antibiotics, chemicals, pathogens and other contaminants.

In Gratiot and Midland counties there are 24 CAFOs. Since 1996, 14 have been cited for environmental violations.

On the tour, Maxwell said that CAFOs, especially those run by people from out of the country, “deplete the wealth of the community.”

He said that studies have shown that the resources and profits are taken out of the community and that there is a loss of business. He spoke of two neighboring counties. One allowed CAFOs and one did not. The one that did, floundered.

CAFOs began with Tyson Foods and his chickens, he said. Farmers are told to get big or “we won’t buy from you,” he said.

“But there is an alternative,” he said. “Which one is most profitable and sustainable and doesn’t cost the taxpayers?”

Farms can reach of point in size when it is no longer effective, he said.

But women are helping to change things, he said, since 14 percent who run farms are now women. And he cited an example in North Carolina, which included women farmers. They took some tobacco settlement money and began a sustainable agriculture program.

Lynn Henning, an employee of the Sierra Club and environmental prize winner, also provided some insight into the damages done to Michigan’s water.

She looked at the number of animals on each farm - well into the thousands - how much waste is produced and where that waste goes.

She also talked about the amount of water used. At one farm in the Midland/Gratiot group of dairy farms, 122,000 gallons are needed each day.

“There is concern that there are too many wells,” she said.

Too many wells can affect the surface and ground water.

For more information, you may visit www.MoreforMichigan.org

No one from the Gratiot agricultural community was present and one MSU Extension office agent who asked to be included in the tour was denied.

Linda Gittleman may be reached at 989-463-6071, lgittleman@michigannewspapers.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lgittleman.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linda Gittleman’s alma mater is Western Michigan University where she majored in speech and English and her hometown is Alma. She’s worked at the Morning Sun's Alma office for more than 20 years. Reach the author at lgittleman@michigannewspapers.com .

• Full bio and more articles by Linda Gittleman

Take the Crap Out of Farm Subsidies!

Want to help level the playing field so sustainable farmers can compete with factory farms? Join the Less=MoreCoalition and its fight to end subsidies to polluting factory farms! 

Show your support by signing up at: http://tinyurl.com/LessIsMoreCoalition

To learn more about Less=More, visit MoreforMichigan.org.

Less=More and New Report about Taxpayer $$ Favoring Factory Farms over Sus Ag Covered by Michigan Radio

Michigan organic farmers want better access to federal farm subsidy money

Feb. 17, 2013, Michigan Radio

By Steve Carmody

Environmental and organic farming groups want a change in the way federal agriculture subsidies are handed out.

Anne Woiwode is the Sierra Club’s state director. She says a relatively small number of large animal feeding operations in Michigan have a big advantage over the state’s organic farmers.  
Woiwode says the big producers have better access to federal subsidies, in particular the Environmental Quality Incentive Program.

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program is a voluntary program that provides financial and technical assistance to agricultural producers.   The financial assistance helps agri-businesses plan and implement conservation practices that improve soil, water, plant, animal, air and related resources on agricultural land.

Woiwode says not having as much access to the program puts Michigan’s organic farmers at a disadvantage in the marketplace and forces consumers to pay more if they want organic products.
She says the aim of the campaign is to shift funding priorities away from polluting large animal feeding operations and towards organic Michigan farmers.

“There are 50,000 farmers in Michigan. 238 of them are these massive operations that are polluting and competing unfairly with the rest,” says Woiwode. “It’s about time we paid attention to the rest of the 50,000.”

A spokeswoman for the Michigan Farm Bureau says there is nothing new in the group’s complaints about the Environmental Quality Incentive Program.
Laura Campbell is the bureau’s Agricultural Ecology Manager.  She says the program’s limited funds are distributed as widely as possible.

Big news!  Less=More, a new coalition of groups supporting sustainable farming in Michigan, unveiled a new report about how taxpayer subsidies favor polluting factory farms in Michigan over the sustainable farms people like you go out of your way to support at farmers markets and CSAs.  Meanwhile, your tax dollars go to giant animal warehouses that poison the water, air, land and food. Less=More believes less support to factory farms means a more sustainable Michigan.

Check out the Less=More press release below announcing its new report, Restoring the Balance to Michigan's Farming Landscape.  And check out their website at www.MoreforMichigan.org.

New Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Calls for Reforms of Funding Priorities for Michigan Farm Subsidies

 

Feb. 15, 2013   Media Contact: Gail Philbin, 312-493-2384

Lansing, Mich.—Taxpayers are providing millions of dollars in government subsidies to industrial mega-farms in Michigan under policies that unfairly favor corporate agricultural giants while ignoring massive pollution and health risks, and undermining safe, sustainable farms that are growing in consumer popularity, according to a report released today by a new sustainable agriculture coalition.

Restoring the Balance to Michigan’s Farming Landscape, a report issued by Less=More, a new coalition supporting sustainable farming in Michigan, offers a window into the bias of one specific federal Farm Bill program, the Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP).  Since 1995, under this program Michigan factory farms (also known as Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs), have raked in millions of dollars of tax subsidies that are inaccessible to sustainable and organic livestock operations. This inequity keeps prices for factory farm products artificially low compared to healthier, locally grown meat, dairy and egg products, and increases threats to health and the environment by encouraging more massive, concentrated livestock facilities.

“Families and businesses that support local, sustainably grown foods deserve to know that millions of dollars of our federal taxes are supporting polluting factory farms here in Michigan,” said Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter director. “That hurts our environment, the public’s health and Michigan farmers who work hard to provide us with clean, healthy food,”

Most CAFOs look and operate more like a factory than a farm, confining livestock in warehouses often for their entire lives or in crowded, open feedlots with no vegetation. These mega “farms” receive substantial taxpayer subsidies even when poor disposal practices of the millions of gallons of chemical- and contaminant-filled wastes they generate lead to pollution of water, land and air, and violations of state and federal environmental laws.

“This lopsided support happens at a time when many independent, environmentally responsible farmers whose practices don’t pollute are struggling to make ends meet,” said Sandy Nordmark, vice president of the Michigan Farmers Union. “It’s also taking place at a time when Michigan consumers want more products from sustainable farmers, not less. Direct sales at farmers markets, local stores, restaurants and through community supported agriculture are one of the fastest growing sectors of the agricultural community.”

According to Restoring the Balance, 37 Michigan factory farms cited for environmental violations and unpermitted discharges over the 15 years ending in 2011 were awarded nearly $27 million in Farm Bill subsidies between 1995 and 2011.  Of these operations, 26 jointly racked up fines and penalties of more than $1.3 million for their share of these violations.

Under the Michigan EQIP program, administered by the USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service Michigan office, dramatic disparities in funding exist between practices used exclusively by CAFOs, such as waste lagoons, and those used by sustainable livestock operations to achieve similar goals.  The report also documents environmental problems and threats posed by factory farm practices and structures funded by EQIP, and provides case studies with real world examples of the problems.

“Michiganders should know that something can be done to fix this uneven playing field. Less support to factory farms means a more sustainable, greener Michigan,” said Sierra Club’s Woiwode. “We invite supporters of sustainable and organic, locally grown foods to join the Less=More Coalition to help bring that change about.”

Restoring the Balance explains that the State Conservationist of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Michigan, with advice from a state Technical Committee, has the needed authority to correct the system that puts farmers devoted to sustainable rearing of animals at a disadvantage while rewarding polluting industrial operations that harm the environment and threaten public health.

In a meeting with NRCS State Conservationist Garry Lee on Feb. 14, the Less=More Coalition presented its finding and urged him to take action. The coalition recommendations include:

• Require CAFO applicants to list all citations for any environmental or health-related law violation;
• Require CAFO applicants to document compliance with state and federal environmental laws, including keeping up-to-date records and Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans, which guide handling of animal waste;
• Institute accountability into the system through:

          o  Requiring an independent verification of whether or not operators complete work as funded;
          o  Withhold funds until all prior subsidized work is documented;
          o  Require testing of the effectiveness of practices, both in general and at specific sites, with
              independent scientific committee to review and approve practices authorized for subsidies;
          o  Eliminate practices from EQIP funding that do not provide environmental benefits.

• Restructure the ranking system to invest the majority of EQIP funds into practices designed to achieve program’s environmental objectives, including fully funding planning based on practices for traditional sustainable livestock and certified organic livestock farms just as factory farm Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plans are funded;
• Provide training to District and County Conservationists in sustainable practices so they can objectively assess proposed projects;
• Make it a priority for local and district conservationists to reach out to sustainable farmers in their region and educate them about the funding opportunities available through EQIP, and
• Streamline paperwork for organic farmers applying for EQIP by allowing use of some of their organic certification documentation in EQIP application.

An abstract of Restoring the Balance is attached and the full report is available at:  http://michigan.sierraclub.org//pdfs/moreformichigan/moreformichigan.htm.

For questions, contact Sandy Nordmark, Michigan Farmers Union, 269-979-3968; and Anne Woiwode, Sierra Club, anne.woiwode@sierraclub.org or 517-484-2372.

The Less=More Coalition is a group of organizations engaged in various aspects of our food system who seek to level the playing field for sustainable farmers in Michigan. They include: Beery Farms of Michigan, LLC, the Center for Food Safety, Crane Dance Farm, LLC, Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan, Food & Water Watch, Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council, Groundswell Farm, Zeeland, Humane Society of the United States, Michigan Farmers Union, Michigan Voices for Good Food Policy, Michigan Young Farmers Coalition, Sierra Club Michigan Chapter and Socially Responsible Agricultural Project.

Less support for factory farms means a more sustainable Michigan. Visit www.MoreforMichigan.org.                  
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