REAP A Renewable Energy Program

The USDA is seeking applications to provide assistance to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to complete a variety of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Funding is available from USDA's Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) authorized by the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill).

For more information go to www.usda.gov or call (860) 345-3977 for assistance with a REAP application.

Farmland To Lease Or To Farm

Farmers now have a new guide to help them identify available land for farming and acreage for leasing.

The University of Connecticut and the American Farmland Trust (AFT) produce the resource for farmers and landowners in a state that has the third highest farm real estate values in the nation.

"We hope this guide will serve to connect those looking for farmland with those with farmland to lease," said Cris Coffin, director of AFT New England division. "Whether it's 5 acres or 100, farmland leased by communities, land trusts and institutions to farmers, or used for community farms, can help grow Connecticut's farms, food and economy."

For more information call (860) 683-4230, or visit www.farmland.org and www.workinglandsalliance.org.

Pennsylvania Farm Show Offers State's Best

Overall Champion in the 2010 Pennsylvania Farm Show Carriage Racing Exhibition, Randy Cadwell, of Southern Pines, N.C., pictured on the right, with her Welsh Section B pony, and navigator, Tristan Aldrich of Unionville, Beaver Co., courtesy of the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

The 2011 Pennsylvania Farm Show, Saturday, Jan. 8 through Saturday, Jan. 15, shows off the best of Pennsylvania’s top industry – agriculture.

The 95th show will offer new family living classes, horse-pulling contests, educational seminars, a youth talent show,  and country music singer, Glen Shelton.

Other annual favorites include butter sculpture, a sheep-to-shawl contest, farm show detectives, the popular celebrity cow milking contest, plus an extensive food court that offers the best Pennsylvania-produced products.

For all the details, see www.farmshow.state.pa.us.

Three Days of Fiber, Arts, Studios, Farms

Head for the Maine Fiber Arts Tour Weekend, Friday, Aug. 6, Saturday, Aug. 7, and Sunday, Aug. 8, a three-day special event featuring more than 50 studios, farms, shops and galleries open to the public.

Workshops, demonstrations galore about traditional crafts such as basketmaking and quilting to knitting, spinning and nontraditional uses to art.

Maine Fiberarts is a statewide arts nonprofit formed to support fiber and to foster its special work in basketry, beadwork, clothing design, crochet, embroidery, felting, knitting, lacework, needlework, paper, quilting, rugs, sewing, spinning, surface design, and weaving.

Goals include to "create greater opportunities for artists to exhibit work, to apprentice, to mentor, to teach crafts to children" and more.

Specialty Crops, Marketing, Get Boost

Specialty crops growers in Connecticut (grapes, asparagus, ornamental plants and Christmas trees) will benefit from a $320,000 federal grant that will fund research and programs for hardier plants, improved yields and broader markets.

The $320,500 grant is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Specialty Block Grant Program administered by the state Department of Agriculture. The state has distributed nearly $776,000 in USDA specialty block grants since 2006. To be eligible, projects must increase the competitiveness of specialty crops and benefit the industry and not a single producer or business.

“The USDA grants clearly recognize that the projects that will be supported by these funds will boost the competitiveness of our small specialty producers and help create and promote more robust markets for their crops,” state Agriculture Commissioner F. Philip Prelli said.

The recipients of this year’s USDA grants are: Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association ($45,000) and Connecticut Greenhouse Growers Association ($35,000), for a new marketing program – Connecticut GardenStars – designed to increase sales of Connecticut grown ornamental plants. Connecticut Christmas Tree Growers Association ($3,847), to fund the Association’s 50th anniversary celebration and accompanying educational workshop on Aug. 6-7, 2010.

University of Connecticut, Dept. of Agricultural & Resource Economics ($49,996), to conduct an economic analysis of grape production for wine-making in the state, to include potential markets for locally produced grapes and expected profitability of expanded production.

Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station ($49,996) to increase production of hydroponics-grown salad greens by establishing greenhouse and fertilizer protocols that will maintain high nutritional values; boost the state’s asparagus crop by improving management strategies that enhance soil and root health and establish a more vigorous plant.

University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension ($35,530), to provide producers with training and information to improve safe food handling practices on their farms in order to adhere to federal and state Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) guidelines.

Connecticut Department of Agriculture ($67,352), to establish a uniform food safety GAP program in Connecticut by training and licensing a state agricultural employee. The employee will be responsible for implementing the GAP program for 149 specialty crop farmers over the next three years.

The application deadline for the next round of specialty crop grants is due by March 1, 2010. For more information visit www.ctgrown.gov or contact Jaime Smith at (860) 713-2559.