News Update
August 15, 2013
USDA Announces Available Funding
to Provide Safe Housing for America’s Farm Laborers
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Aug. 14 the availability of nearly $40 million to provide housing for farmworkers and their families. Despite budget uncertainties, USDA remains focused on strengthening the rural economy.
“USDA’s Farm Labor Housing Program is the only national source of construction funds to buy, build or improve housing for farmworkers, who are critical to the tremendous productivity of American agriculture,” said Vilsack. “This program is an important way that USDA helps to ensure the well-being of itinerant farm labor families. Looking ahead to the future, we will also continue to urge passage of common sense immigration reform that will create rules that work for farm workers and producers alike.”
Under the Farm Labor Housing Program, loans and grants are provided to farmers, farmer’s associations, family farm corporations, Indian tribes, nonprofit organizations, public agencies and farmworkers associations to develop or improve multi-family housing facilities for farmworkers and their families.
For example, USDA provided Bienestar, a nonprofit organization in Hillsboro, Ore., a grant and loan to construct a 24-unit farmworker apartment complex in Forest Grove, Ore. The complex opened in Dec. 2012. In addition to providing new, modern two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments for residents, the facility also provides services such as English as a Second Language tutoring, and classes on computers, financial literacy and nutrition.
Today’s announcement makes available approximately $30 million in loans, $8.5 million in grants, and $951,000 in rental assistance. Applications for Farm Labor Housing assistance are due Sept. 13. More information about how to apply is available in the Aug. 14, 2013, Federal Register at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-08-14/html/2013-19774.htm or by contacting any USDA Rural Development state office.
For more information, please view the full release here.
Executives From General Mills and the Mosaic Company Join Speakers Lineup at Women in Agribusiness Summit
Several new speakers from key companies will join keynote speaker Beth Ford, executive vice president from Land O’Lakes, as presenters at the second annual Women in Agribusiness Summit, Oct. 22-24 at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, Minn.
These new speakers include:
Susan Kujava, director, industry relations, bakeries & foodservice for General Mills Inc., a company that was on Forbes “Best Places to Work” list, and Working Mother magazine’s “Best Places to Work for Multicultural Women,” and “Best Place to Work for Working Mothers” lists. Kujava, who leads sustainability and diversity initiatives within her division, including being the chair of the Women In Industry network, will speak on the “Transforming the Workplace” panel.
Barbara Kula, vice president, commercial from The Mosaic Co., will sit on the “Current Trends in Science, Technology” panel. Kula’s current role at Mosaic focuses on integrated business planning, customer service and market-to-cash functions.
Professional Development Coach Beryl Loeb of The Loeb Group will lead two of the compelling break-out sessions at the event: “Distinguishing Yourself in Business Conversations” and “Solving the Right Problem.”
Shauna Sadowski, director of sustainability at Annie's, Inc., will speak on the “GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) Labeling” panel. Sadowski is responsible for the company’s sustainability strategy, including reporting, education and supply-chain impacts, with emphasis on food and farming programs.
“We are excited to have such a wealth of knowledgeable and experienced leaders participating in this year's sessions,” said Joy O'Shaughnessy, director of the summit. “The valuable and dynamic learning opportunities will be phenomenal for attendees from all experience levels.”
COSI Exhibit Celebrates Production Agriculture
An annual exhibit at COSI Columbus, Central Ohio’s Science and Technology museum, designed to highlight and celebrate the production agriculture work farmers and farm families perform, will feature presentations from experts from the Ohio State University (OSU) College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES).
The annual Farm Days: Little Seeds, Big Tractors, opened Aug. 14 continuing through Aug. 18 and will feature more than 20 pieces of heavy-production farming equipment displayed in downtown Columbus on the Center of Science and Industry’s (COSI) English Plaza and Washington Boulevard, organizers said.
The Farm Days Science in Action series will feature presentations from experts from OSU Extension and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), said Dee Jepsen, assistant professor for OSU Extension and coordinator of the event for Ohio State.
The COSI exhibit is an excellent agricultural awareness program where faculty and staff interact with families and the community to share more about agriculture, including day-to-day practices and the science behind the agriculture industry, Jepsen said. “Visitors will get to see how agriculture interacts with their lives,” she said. “Some visitors may be from city or urban environments and some are from rural or country environments and may have different interactions with agriculture.
“Through this exhibit, COSI brings it all together to let people know how they are intertwined with agriculture and how much it touches everyone’s lives on a day-to-day existence. Some 15,000 people are likely to see the exhibit over the five-day period.” For more information, please view the full release here.
Farm Science Review Field Demos Offer Farmers
Comparison Opportunities, Teach New Techniques
With corn and soybean harvest being on the minds of many growers this time of year, being able to see new harvesting methods and tools up close at this year’s Farm Science Review Sept. 17-19 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, Ohio, is a valuable opportunity that could save growers significant expenses, an agronomist from Ohio State University’s (OSU) College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences said. For more than 50 years, Farm Science Review field demonstrations have allowed farmers to go out and see farm equipment run side-by-side, said Harold Watters, an Ohio State University Extension agronomy field specialist and coordinator of the university’s Agronomic Crops Team.
With recent advances in precision planting technology, the opportunity to see the demonstrations and learn new harvesting, manure and tillage techniques is a significant benefit for growers, said Watters, who is also a coordinator of the agronomic field crops demonstrations at the Review.
“The corn harvest is what everyone is thinking about right now,” he said. “Corn is such a big crop in Ohio, at 3.5 million acres, and 150 bushels per acre is a lot to manage.” For more information, please visit the Angus Journal Virtual Library calendar of upcoming events here.
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