California Ag Network

Tag: USDA

  • Japan Grants Market Access To California Plums

    The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that Japan has granted market access for California plums. Eliminating the phytosanitary barriers keeping California plums out of the Japanese market required multiple rounds of technical negotiations that were somewhat hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) would like to extend its appreciation to the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and Agricultural Research Service’s negotiators and experts, as well as the Fresno County and Tulare County Agricultural Commissioner offices for their invaluable contributions to this process.

    There will be strict packing and fumigation protocols in place but given the success of the existing California nectarine program for Japan, California stone fruit exporters have already demonstrated a commitment to meeting Japan’s requirements.

    “Trade barriers threaten the health and viability of the industry. This represents a significant opportunity for California plums, as Japanese consumers value premium fruit and recognize California fruit’s superior quality. As the global economy rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding market access will continue to be critical to the industry’s success,” said Ian LeMay, CFFA President.

    The California Fresh Fruit Association (CFFA) is a voluntary, nonprofit agricultural trade association that represents California’s fresh fruit industry. CFFA promotes California nectarines, peaches, and plums (stone fruit) around the world by reducing trade barriers and expanding markets. The California stone fruit industry, based predominantly in the San Joaquin Valley, is dependent on opening new markets and maintaining access to approximately 50 countries around the world. 

  • Disaster Assistance to CA Farmers/Producers Impacted by Wildfires & Drought

    California agricultural operations have been significantly impacted by the wildfires and ongoing, severe drought. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has technical and financial assistance available to help farmers and livestock producers recover. Impacted producers should contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure and livestock losses and damages.

    “Production agriculture is vital to the California economy, and USDA stands ready to assist in the recovery from these wildfires and extreme drought conditions,” said Gloria Montaño Greene as Deputy Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC). “I assure you that USDA employees are working diligently to deliver FPAC’s extensive portfolio of disaster assistance programs and services to all impacted agricultural producers.”

    USDA Disaster Assistance for Wildfire and Drought Recovery

    Producers who experience livestock deaths due to wildfires may be eligible for the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP).

    Meanwhile, for both wildfire and drought recovery,  the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees, and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP) provides eligible producers with compensation for feed losses as well as water hauling expenses associated with transportation of water to livestock. For ELAP, producers will need to file a notice of loss within 30 days and honeybee losses within 15 days.

    Livestock producers may also be eligible for the Livestock Forage Disaster Program (LFP) for 2021 grazing losses due to drought. LFP benefits may be available for loss of grazing acres due to wildfires on federally managed lands on which a producer is prohibited, by a federal agency, from grazing normally permitted livestock. FSA maintains a list of counties eligible for LFP and makes updates each Thursday.

    Additionally, eligible orchardists and nursery tree growers may be eligible for cost-share assistance through the Tree Assistance Program (TAP) to replant or rehabilitate eligible trees, bushes or vines lost during the drought. This complements Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) or crop insurance coverage, which covers the crop but not the plants or trees in all cases. For TAP, a program application must be filed within 90 days.

    “Once you are able to safely evaluate the wildfire or drought impact on your operation, be sure to contact your local FSA office to timely report all crop, livestock and farm infrastructure damages and losses,” said Jacque Johnson, Acting State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency (FSA) in California. “To expedite FSA disaster assistance, you will likely need to provide documents, such as farm records, herd inventory, receipts and pictures of damages or losses”

    FSA also offers a variety of direct and guaranteed farm loans, including operating and emergency farm loans, to producers unable to secure commercial financing. Producers in counties with a primary or contiguous disaster designation may be eligible for low-interest emergency loans to help them recover from production and physical losses. Loans can help producers replace essential property, purchase inputs like livestock, equipment, feed and seed, cover family living expenses or refinance farm-related debts and other needs.

    Risk Management

    Producers who have risk protection through Federal Crop Insurance or FSA’s NAP should report crop damage to their crop insurance agent or FSA office. If they have crop insurance, producers should report crop damage to their agent within 72 hours of damage discovery and follow up in writing within 15 days. For NAP covered crops, a Notice of Loss (CCC-576) must be filed within 15 days of the loss becoming apparent, except for hand-harvested crops, which should be reported within 72 hours.

    “Crop insurance and other USDA risk management options are there to help producers manage risk because we never know what nature has in store for the future,” said Jeff Yasui, Director of RMA’s Regional Office that covers California. “The Approved Insurance Providers, loss adjusters and agents are experienced and well trained in handling these types of events.”

    Conservation

    Outside of the primary nesting season, emergency and non-emergency haying and grazing of Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) acres may be authorized to provide relief to livestock producers in areas affected by a severe drought or similar natural disasters. Producers interested in haying or grazing of CRP acres should contact their county FSA office to determine eligibility.

    The Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program can assist landowners and forest stewards with financial and technical assistance to restore fencing, damaged farmland or forests.

    USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is always available to provide technical assistance in the recovery process by assisting producers to plan and implement conservation practices on farms, ranches and working forests impacted by natural disasters.

    Long-term damage from wildfires and drought includes forage production loss in pastures and fields and increased wind erosion on crop fields not protected with soil health practices. Visit your local USDA Service Center to learn more about these impacts, potential recovery tactics, and how to take steps to make your land more resilient to drought in the future.

    “USDA can be a very valuable partner to help landowners with their recovery and resiliency efforts,” said Carlos Suarez, NRCS State Conservationist in California. “Our staff will work one-on-one with landowners to make assessments of the damages and develop approaches that focus on effective recovery of the land.”

    Assistance for Communities 

    Additional NRCS programs include the Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) program, which provides assistance to local government sponsors with the cost of addressing watershed impairments or hazards such as damaged upland sites stripped of vegetation by wildfire, debris removal and streambank stabilization.

    Eligible sponsors include cities, counties, towns, or any federally recognized Native American tribe or tribal organization. Sponsors must submit a formal request (via mail or email) to the state conservationist for assistance within 60 days of the natural disaster occurrence or 60 days from the date when access to the sites become available. For more information, please contact your local NRCS office.

    “EWP provides immediate assistance to communities to mitigate potential hazards to life and property resulting from the fires and particularly the severe erosion and flooding that can occur after the fire,” Suarez said. “We can work with a local sponsor to help a damaged watershed so that lives and property are protected while preventing further devastation in the community.”

    In addition to EWP, Conservation Technical Assistance (CTA) is another valuable service that NRCS can provide following a wildfire. NRCS technical assistance can help fire victims with planning cost-effective post fire restoration practices.

    More Information

    On farmers.gov, the Disaster Assistance Discovery Tool, Disaster Assistance-at-a-Glance fact sheet, and Farm Loan Discovery Tool can help producers and landowners determine program or loan options. For assistance with a crop insurance claim, producers and landowners should contact their crop insurance agent. For FSA and NRCS programs, they should contact their local USDA Service Center.

  • 2021 CA Table Olive Forecasted to More than Double

    The 2021 California table olive forecast is 55,000 tons, up considerably from last year’s crop of 23,200 tons, according to a survey conducted by the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service, Pacific Regional Office. Bearing acreage is estimated at 12,800, which results in a yield of 4.30 tons per acre.

    The Manzanillo production forecast is 53,800 tons, Sevillano production forecast is 1,100 tons, and other varieties are expected to total 100 tons.

    Growers reported variable crop yields by both variety and area. Manzanillo yields were reported to be higher and more consistent than the Sevillano variety yields. Sizes were reported to be smaller than normal due to high heat and lack of water availability.

    Labor costs and marketing remains an issue for California olives growers, with many uncertain how much of their crop will be economical to harvest.

    SURVEY SAMPLE

    There were 309 growers sampled for the survey. Reports from 153 were used to establish this forecast. The sample is designed to provide a State estimate of all varieties; estimates by variety are less precise.

    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    A special thanks goes to the many olive growers who participated in the survey. Time spent completing the survey is appreciated, and helpful in estimating current condition of the olive industry in California. The California Table Olive Forecast is funded by the California Olive Committee.

  • USDA Accepting Applications to Help Cover Costs for Organic Certification

    Organic producers and handlers can now apply for U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) funds to assist with the cost of receiving or maintaining organic certification. Applications for the  Organic Certification Cost Share Program  (OCCSP) are due Nov. 1, 2021.

    “USDA is here to help all producers, including those who grow our nation’s organic food and fiber. Many farmers have told us that cost was a barrier to their ability to get an organic certification,” said Zach Ducheneaux, administrator of USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA). “By assisting with the costs, this program can help organic farmers get their certification along with the benefits that come with it.”

    OCCSP provides cost-share assistance to producers and handlers of agricultural products for the costs of obtaining or maintaining organic certification under the USDA’s National Organic Program. Eligible producers include any certified producers or handlers who have paid organic certification fees to a USDA-accredited certifying agent during the 2021 and any subsequent program year. Producers can be reimbursed for expenses made between Oct. 1, 2020 and Sept. 30, 2021 including application fees, inspection costs, fees related to equivalency agreement and arrangement requirements, travel expenses for inspectors, user fees, sales assessments and postage.

    For 2021, OCCSP will reimburse 50% of a certified operation’s allowable certification costs, up to a maximum of $500 for each of the following categories (or “scopes”):

    • crops
    • wild crops
    • livestock
    • processing/handling
    • State organic program fees

    Organic farmers and ranchers may apply through an FSA county office or a participating state agency.

    This funding will be complemented by an additional $20 million for organic and transitioning producers through the Pandemic Assistance for Producers initiative. More information on that funding will be available in the coming weeks.

    More Information 

    To learn more about organic certification cost share, please visit the  OCCSP webpage, visit  usda.gov/organic, or contact your  local USDA Service Center.

  • $69 Million to Support Food Security Needs, Including $6+Million for CA SNAP Shoppers

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today an investment of $69 million to address critical food and nutrition security needs of low-income communities enduring the pandemic, enhance the resilience of food and healthcare systems impacted by the pandemic, and maximize funds reaching participants. This is one of several key steps that USDA is taking to ensure access to healthy and nutritious food in all communities, so every American has a chance to live a productive life and reach their full potential.

    Twenty awards totaling $61.5 million are for Nutrition Incentive Grants, and 15 awards totaling $7.5 million are for Produce Prescription Grants. These grants are all part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program COVID Relief and Response (GusCRR) grants program.

    “Bolstering nutrition security is one of our top goals in this Administration. The awards we are announcing today will help households in communities across the country – many hard-hit by the pandemic and the resulting economic challenges – be better equipped to purchase healthy fruits and vegetables. The organizations receiving this funding have demonstrated their ability to support vulnerable Americans with timely and impactful relief during this ongoing crisis,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

    Examples of organizations funded for Nutrition Incentive Grants include:

    • Wholesome Wave Georgia for its “Georgia Fresh for Less” program, providing over $3.6 million in fresh, local produce to Georgia’s food-insecure families. ($646,781)
    • The Food Basket, Inc., Hawai’i Island’s Food Bank, for “DA BUX Double Up Food Bucks” program, pioneering nutrition incentives to increase the purchase of Hawai’i grown produce among SNAP beneficiaries. ($5,000,000)
    • California Department of Food and Agriculture’s “California Nutrition Incentive Program” will empower state SNAP shoppers to purchase more fresh, healthy foods, increase their consumption of fruits and vegetables, and improve their food security and health outcomes while recovering from the pandemic and economic crisis. ($6,325,464)
    • Fair Food Network, Michigan will increase the reach and availability of “Double Up Food Bucks” to low-income communities in areas of the state hardest hit by the pandemic, and bring an additional $3.75M in fruits and vegetables to the tables of Michigan families across the two years of this grant. ($4,997,950)

    Examples of organizations funded for Produce Prescription Grants include:

    • Fresh Approach of Concord, California, for its “Trauma-Informed VeggieRX” program to increase access to and consumption of healthy foods among low-income populations. ($129,019)
    • Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation (MCHC) of Whitesburg, Kentucky, for its “MCHC FARMACY” program to provide SNAP participants extra incentives to purchase fresh produce. ($619,681)
    • Community Outreach and Patient Empowerment Program, Inc., of Gallup, New Mexico, for its “Navajo Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program” to address rising food security needs among Navajo individuals and enhance food and health care systems in the Navajo Region. ($647,027)

    Find out more about the impact and public value of NIFA’s research investments online https://nifa.usda.gov/impacts.

  • European Commission Delays Certificate Regulation, Protecting U.S. Dairy Exports and Global Infant Nutrition Supply Chains

    After months of advocacy by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) with U.S. and European officials, the European Commission (EC) decided yesterday to extend the implementation deadline for its new health certificate requirements to Jan. 15, 2022, backing off threats to shut down U.S. dairy exports to EU member states as well as transshipments of U.S. dairy products through the European Union. IDFA and U.S. officials considered the certificate requirements—requiring animal health monitoring and veterinarian sign-off, among other requirements—to be burdensome and in conflict with international standards set by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). U.S. dairy exports to Europe are used to manufacture an estimated $600-900 million in global infant and adult nutrition products. The EC’s extension provides enough time for U.S. and European officials to complete their discussions and determine appropriate implementation procedures for U.S. exports.

    “America’s dairy industry should not be collateral damage for trade disputes. While this stage of IDFA’s advocacy has reached a successful conclusion, we remain deeply concerned by the variety of ongoing trade barriers erected by the European Commission,” said Michael Dykes, D.V.M., IDFA president and CEO. “We are grateful for the support and intervention of the Biden Administration to resolve this matter and hope the U.S. government will continue working with IDFA to help U.S. dairy gain access to the EU market.”

    “We appreciate the U.S. government’s responsiveness to the concerns of the global dairy and infant formula industries, and for the European Commission’s acknowledgement of the need to delay implementation,” said Becky Rasdall, IDFA vice president for trade policy and international affairs. “This extension helps avoid needless catastrophic impacts to global nutrition supply chains and dairy-related jobs in Europe and the U.S. by granting officials enough time to provide guidance to those companies that simply want to know how to comply. It was the right thing to do.”

    IDFA has been working judiciously with U.S. officials to ensure U.S. dairy exports to the EU would continue uninterrupted. IDFA requested the extension and sought the U.S. government’s support to implement the requirements as written if an extension was not granted. Even with the extension, IDFA’s members need greater clarity from both governments about certain details of the implementation plan. IDFA will continue working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to make sure those questions are resolved. Additionally, IDFA has been in contact with European dairy associations such as Eucolait, which share IDFA’s view on the disruptive nature of the EC requirements.

    IDFA member companies make and supply medically important specialized nutritional products for infants and adults that are made exclusively for European companies or shipped through EU member states. The EC import requirements on U.S. goods included onerous animal health attestations that applied to all products shipped to the EU and through its territory, including dairy shipments destined for U.S. military bases in Europe and any products shipped to other countries for further processing before being exported back to the EU.

  • Deadline Fast Approaching for Conservation Reserve Program Signup

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in California is reminding producers and landowners that the signup deadline for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) current general signup is fast approaching. Eligible producers must submit their offers by July 23, 2021.

    USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) made several changes to CRP to make it more appealing to all producers, including those who are historically underserved, beginning, and veterans. FSA added incentives to encourage producers to include climate-smart agricultural practices in their operations to increase natural resource and environmental benefits.

    “Agricultural producers and private landowners should take advantage of the opportunities offered by the revamped CRP,” FSA Acting State Executive Director Jacque Johnson said. “Explore the increased payment rates and new incentives for climate-smart agricultural practices to see if elements of the revamped CRP fit your operation.” 

    Updates to the Conservation Reserve Program 

    USDA’s goal is to enroll up to 4 million new CRP acres by raising payment rates and expanding the incentives offered under the program. CRP is capped at 25 million acres for fiscal year 2021, and currently 20.7 million acres are enrolled, but the cap will gradually increase to 27 million acres by fiscal year 2023. To help increase producer interest and enrollment, FSA has:

    • Adjusted soil rental rates. This enables additional flexibility for rate adjustments, including a possible increase in rates where appropriate.
    • Increased payments for Practice Incentives from 20% to 50%. This incentive for continuous CRP practices is based on the cost of establishment and is in addition to cost share payments.
    • Increased payments for water quality practices. Incentive increased from 10% to 20% for certain water quality practices available through the CRP continuous signup, such as grassed waterways, riparian buffers and filter strips.

    Additionally, to mitigate climate change, FSA introduced a new annual Climate-Smart Practice Incentive for the general, grasslands, and continuous signups that aims to increase carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate-Smart CRP practices include establishing trees and permanent grasses, developing wildlife habitat, and restoring wetlands. The Climate-Smart Practice Incentive amount is based on the benefits of each practice type.

    More About CRP

    CRP is one of the world’s largest voluntary conservation programs with a long track record of preserving topsoil, improving water quality, sequestering carbon, reducing nitrogen runoff and preserving healthy wildlife habitat.

    Signed into law in 1985, CRP is one of the largest private-lands conservation programs in the United States. It was originally intended to control soil erosion and stabilize commodity prices by taking marginal lands out of production. The program has evolved over the years, providing more conservation and economic benefits. CRP marked its 35-year anniversary in December 2020.

    Program successes include:

    • Preventing more than 9 billion tons of soil from eroding, which is enough soil to fill 600 million dump trucks.
    • Reducing nitrogen and phosphorous runoff relative to annually tilled cropland by 95% and 85% percent, respectively.
    • Creating more than 3 million acres of restored wetlands while protecting more than 175,000 stream miles with riparian forest and grass buffers, which is enough to go around the world seven times.
    • Benefiting bees and other pollinators and increasing populations of ducks, pheasants, turkey, bobwhite quail, prairie chickens, grasshopper sparrows and many other birds.

    More information about the program can be obtained through this CRP fact sheet.

    More Information

    Interested producers should contact their local USDA Service Center. In addition to the CRP General signup, FSA is also accepting applications for the CRP Grasslands and CRP Continuous signups. Learn more at fsa.usda.gov/crp.

    To find their local FSA county office, producers can visit farmers.gov/service-center-locator. Service Center staff continue to work with agricultural producers via phone, e-mail, and other digital tools. Because of the pandemic, some USDA Service Centers are open to limited visitors. Producers should contact their service center to set up an in-person appointment. Additionally, more information related to USDA’s response and relief for producers can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.

  • Over $7M to Support Ag Research Innovations and Workforce Development

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced today an investment of over $7 million in research grants to U.S. Non-Land-grant Colleges of Agriculture (NLGCA).

    These grants aim to increase research, education, and outreach capacity at Non-Land-grant Institutions to support development of the innovations and workforce needed to sustain the agriculture industry in the future.

    “The National Institute of Food and Agriculture awards research, education and extension grants to solve the grand challenges before us,” said NIFA director Dr. Carrie Castille. “These efforts will help improve rural economies, increase food production and agricultural profitability and sustainability, address climate change and related issues, ensure food and nutrition security and train the next generation of the agricultural workforce.”

    Examples of the 24 funded projects to U.S. Non-Land-grant Colleges of Agriculture include:

    Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, will prepare a diverse pool of natural resource scientists to enter a workforce focused on climate-ready and sustainable agricultural practices, particularly in rangelands ($299,999).

    Texas A&M University, Commerce, Texas, collaborating with Tarleton State University, will learn how pollinator-friendly perennials in ornamental landscapes can provide a solution to decades of major declines in pollinators, through their Plant Drought Response and Insect Pollinator Studies project ($299,867).

    American Indian Higher Education Consortium, working in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, will create a network of scientists and educators to facilitate research, education and outreach activities relating to soil and water quality ($29,827).

    Background:

    Non-Land-grant College of Agriculture (NLGCA) and NLGCA Institutions are public colleges or universities offering a baccalaureate or higher degree in food and agricultural sciences. Land-grant Universities (also called Land-grant Colleges or Land-grant Institutions) are U.S. higher education institutions designated by a state to receive the benefits of the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890.

    Capacity Building Grants for Non-Land-grant Colleges of Agriculture (NLGCA) Program provides funding to NLGCA institutions supporting educational, research, and outreach activities that address priority concerns of national, regional, state, and local interest.  To determine if an institution is eligible to be designated as an NLGCA institution as defined in the 2018 Farm Bill, please visit NIFA-19-005 NLGCA Eligibility Flow Chart resource page. This NIFA-certified designation is an eligibility requirement for the Capacity Building Grants for Non-Land-grant Colleges of Agriculture program.

    NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education, and Extension across the nation to make transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA supports initiatives that ensure the long-term viability of agriculture and applies an integrated approach to ensure that groundbreaking discoveries in agriculture-related sciences and technologies reach the people who can put them into practice. In FY2020, NIFA’s total investment was $1.95 billion.

    Visit our website: www.nifa.usda.gov; Twitter: @USDA_NIFA; LinkedIn: USDA-NIFA. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural science (searchable by state or keyword), visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts.

  • Farm Marketing Success Linked to Natural, Cultural Assets

    Cornell University—Direct farm marketing efforts, such as farmers markets and roadside stands, are more successful in communities with more nonprofits, social enterprises and creative industries, according to a team including Cornell researchers, who created a nationwide database of assets to help municipalities craft community-specific development plans.

    While many municipalities seek to encourage direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing – an important factor in farmers’ livelihoods – the success of their efforts hinges on a wide array of community resources, or capital assets, with natural and cultural assets correlating most strongly with farmers’ success, the research found.

    To explore differences between communities, Todd Schmit, M.S. ’94, Ph.D. ’03, associate professor in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and colleagues at Colorado State University and the University of Missouri created a database of assets for every county in the United States, breaking down these community resources in six areas: built, cultural, financial, human, natural and social.

    “There’s a broad acceptance of the idea that sustainable community development is dependent on this array of capital assets. But when it comes to measuring those capitals, the literature is all over the place,” Schmit said. “Some studies will use educational attainment to measure human capital, but others will use food security, or access to medical care. We thought, why not measure all of those things?”

    To create their composite database, Schmit and his colleagues gathered data on dozens of factors, such as: the number of manufacturing establishments; the number of owner-occupied housing units without a mortgage; and acreage of farmland. All data came from publicly available sources such as the U.S. Census and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

    Then they used their new database to evaluate DTC farm marketing against community capital stocks in an article published July 2 in the journal Food Policy: “Measuring Stocks of Community Wealth and Their Association With Food Systems Efforts in Rural and Urban Places.”

    They found, as expected, that high levels of natural capital, especially farmland, correlated positively with DTC farm marketing. But they also found a positive association with cultural capital: Communities with more nonprofits, social enterprises and creative industries help farmers prosper in direct marketing.

    “Art-centric businesses, museums, theaters, symphonies, architecture firms – there was a very complementary effect,” Schmit said. “Maybe farmers markets are hosting musicians or art vendors and that’s making the farmers market a bigger draw for consumers? Or maybe because people are coming to communities to visit an art gallery or go to a museum, they’re saying, ‘Well, let’s head over to the farmers market, too, and make a day of it.’”

    Schmit said he hopes the new database will be helpful for community planners and other researchers studying a variety of issues important for regional development.

    “With this paper, we wanted to showcase an application of these capital stocks, but our bigger purpose is to provide this data for others to use in whatever application they want: obesity, child nutrition programs, infrastructure investment planning, conservation protection,” he said. “We want people to use this data.”

    Co-author Becca Jablonski ’03, Ph.D. ’14, an associate professor of agricultural and resource economics at Colorado State University, hopes the database will enable researchers and planners to craft economic development policies that are more successful because they are community-specific.

    “Often policymakers set strategies to support community economic development at the federal level without full consideration of the fact that different types of programs and initiatives will have different impacts in different places based on the comparative advantage of a particular place – what they do better than other places,” Jablonski said. “We hope that this database of the stocks of community assets can help decision-makers more thoughtfully reflect on their unique strengths and opportunities.”

    This research was supported by a grant from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture. — By Krisy Gashler, Cornell College of Agriculture & Life Sciences.

  • American Farmland Trust Shares Soil Health Economic Calculator with Customized Almond Version

    Today, American Farmland Trust, the organization that for 40 years has been saving the land that sustains us and advancing the principles of regenerative agriculture shares an updated AFT’s Retrospective Soil Health Economic Calculator (R-SHEC) Tool, providing farmers and the conservation community a means of evaluating the return on investment (ROI) of soil health conservation practices with 2020 price and crop data. The previous version of the tool used 2019 information. This updated pricing allows farmers to obtain a more accurate picture of the costs and benefits of their investments in soil health.

    Impacts of climate change on agriculture and the need for farms to become more resilient to extreme weather are more obvious than ever before. In addition, society is asking farmers to improve environmental outcomes of agriculture, including impacts to water quality and wildlife habitat and to sequester carbon in their soils to mitigate climate change.  Soil health practices like cover crops, no-till, nutrient management and conservation crop rotation can help address these challenges. However, despite farmers’ belief in the science underpinning the practices, they are often reluctant to change management techniques without knowing how much the practices will cost and what the financial benefits will be.

    The R-SHEC Tool is part of a comprehensive set of resources available online and free of charge from AFT on the Soil Health Case Study Methods and Took Kit webpage. The methods, tools and training resources provided are those used by AFT in developing case studies featuring soil health successful farmers in its Quantifying the Economic and Environmental Benefits of Soil Health project funded by a USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service Conservation Innovation Grant. The Tool Kit materials have all been updated for this re-release. The R-SHEC Tool allows evaluation of soil health practices adopted by row crop farmers (corn, soybeans, wheat and hay) for more than four years and within the last 15 years. The tool presents the net economic benefits in a partial budget analysis table and includes an estimate of the ROI in the soil health practices.

    In addition to updating price and cost data in the tool, AFT is releasing a customized almond version to estimate the economic effects of almond-specific soil health practices such as conservation cover, nutrient management, mulching and compost application. AFT believes the Almond R-SHEC Tool is very relevant at this time given the water struggles in California, a key almond producing region and almonds being a high-water use crop.  In 2018, AFT worked with Almond Farmers Tom and Dan Rogers and found they experienced a 25 percent reduction in irrigation water use which they attribute to the increased water holding capacity from the soil health practices used on their farm.

    The next phase of this work, a Predictive Soil Health Economic Calculator (P-SHEC) Tool will enable conservationists to partner with farmers who are “on the fence” about soil health practices to estimate the potential short and long-term economic effects of an investment in practices, hopefully giving the farmers the information they need. This tool will be previewed at the Soil and Water Conservation Society Annual Conference to be held virtually on July 26-28, 2021. Interested parties should sign up for Workshop 2 to learn about P-SHEC. The tool will not be released publicly until the fall.

    “AFT encourages our fellow conservationists to use this suite of resources and the new R-SHEC Tools released today to produce their own case studies demonstrating the economic and environmental benefits of soil health,” said Michelle Perez, AFT Water Director. “Our hope is that farmers who have been considering adopting soil health practices will find the economic evidence quantified for a farmer in their area sufficiently compelling to get them to ‘say yes’ to trying soil health practices themselves.”

    American Farmland Trust is the only national organization that takes a holistic approach to agriculture, focusing on the land itself, the agricultural practices used on that land, and the farmers and ranchers who do the work. AFT launched the conservation agriculture movement and continues to raise public awareness through our No Farms, No Food message. Since our founding in 1980, AFT has helped permanently protect over 6.8 million acres of agricultural lands, advanced environmentally-sound farming practices on millions of additional acres and supported thousands of farm families.