Highlighting Agriculture

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Pasture To Plate: Certified mobile kitchen

Posted in New England Farm Weekly

CN-MR-2-Pasture to plate 2by Sanne Kure-Jensen

Pasture To Plate offers on-farm dinners and food-related workshops at farms in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Using a food truck’s certified kitchen, farmers can host events featuring just-picked produce, at the site where they were grown! This venture is directed by Margiana Petersen-Rockney.

Pasture To Plate educates and connects consumers to local, ecologically sustainable farms in southern New England. It provides small farmers a mobile certified kitchen for preparing value-added products from their raw produce. The mobile kitchen/food truck offers farmers a valuable tool for on-farm dinners, boosting profits and growing a stronger community. Continue reading→

Heather Faubert recognized at Rhode Island Agriculture Day

Posted in New England Farm Weekly

CN-MR-2-Heather Faubert 2by Sanne Kure-Jensen

The Rhode Island Fruit Growers’ Association (RIFGA) honored Extension Fruit Specialist Heather Faubert at the University of Rhode Island (URI) for her Integrated Pest Management (IPM) work with fruit growers. Sandie Barden, co-owner of Barden Family Orchard, presented Faubert with an award and a lifetime membership to the RIFGA. The organization is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Continue reading→

Maple View Farm puts education first

Posted in Mid Atlantic

CM-MR-3-Maple View 1by Sally Colby
Bob Nutter started out in Maine as a fifth generation dairy farmer, but a better milk market and a climate that would accommodate double cropping drew him to North Carolina. In 1963, after selling his milking herd and bred heifers, Nutter relocated his family, farm equipment and calves to an Orange County, North Carolina farm owned by his father.
Although Nutter is now semi-retired, he’s still active in the farm operation. Mike Strowd, who grew up in the state and has been involved in the dairy business throughout the south, is co-owner and manager of Maple View Farm. Nutter’s son Roger is the plant manager, overseeing the on-farm bottling operation and ice cream production. Continue reading→

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Comments on Farm Bill Progress

Posted in Eastern Edition, Western Edition

Camp Hill) – Pennsylvania Farm Bureau (PFB) says farmers across Pennsylvania (and the nation) are willing to make sacrifices as part of the overall farm bill package, including the elimination of direct payments, which total $5 billion per year in the bills approved by the Senate Agriculture Committee and House Agriculture Committee.

“PFB is pleased that the Agriculture Committees have advanced farm bill legislation that places a high priority on crop insurance as a risk management tool and includes additional insurance opportunities for fruit and vegetable growers,” said PFB President Carl T. Shaffer.  “We are hopeful that the bipartisan supported bills, which include a flexible crop insurance program and a streamlined conservation program that focuses on working lands, will move swiftly though the full Senate over the next few weeks and through the House this summer.”

Farm Bureau notes that the Senate and House versions of the farm bill contain many similarities on issues that directly impact farmers.

PFB adds that it is important for the public to know where money from the farm bill actually goes.  “The proposed $100 billion farm bill proposals direct about $80 billion (80% of all farm bill funding) toward food stamps and other food nutrition efforts under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP.  The remaining $20 billion – which is one half of one percent of all federal spending – is targeted to help farmers afford crop insurance coverage as part of the agriculture safety net and to assist farmers in implementing conservation practices that reduce soil erosion, limit runoff and improve water quality,” concluded Shaffer.

Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is the state’s largest farm organization with a volunteer membership of more than 55,000 farm and rural families, representing farms of every size and commodity across Pennsylvania.