[Ngo-sanrm] U.S. government is starting to support organic agriculture -- not just big agribusiness

Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group ngo-sanrm at ngocentre.org.vn
Mon Oct 6 05:45:48 BST 2014


U.S.D.A. to Start Program to Support Local and Organic Farming
<http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/GreenlivingReview/%7E3/h4ngC5Pq2Ek/usda-to-start-program-to-support-local.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email>

Posted: 05 Oct 2014 11:20 AM PDT

The United States Department of Agriculture
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/agriculture_department/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
plans to announce Monday that it will spend $52 million to support local
and regional food systems like farmers' markets and food hubs and to spur
research on organic farming.

The local food movement has been one of the fastest growing segments of the
business, as consumers seek to know more about where, how and by whom their
food is grown.

But local farmers still struggle to market their food. Distribution systems
are intended to accommodate the needs of large-scale commercial farms and
growers. Grocery stores and restaurants largely rely on big distribution
centers and are only beginning to figure out how to incorporate small
batches of produce into their overall merchandise mixes.

Farmers' markets are proliferating around the country, increasing 76
percent to 8,268 since 2008, according to the Agriculture Department, but
they have trouble marketing themselves. And few consumers are aware of a
website <http://search.ams.usda.gov/farmersmarkets/> the department created
to help them find a farmers market in their area.

"These types of local food systems are the cornerstones of our plans to
revitalize the rural economy," Tom Vilsack, the agriculture secretary, said
in a telephone interview. "If you can connect local produce with markets
that are local, money gets rolled around in the local community more
directly compared to commercial agriculture where products get shipped in
large quantities somewhere else, helping the economy there."

The $52 million will be the first outlay to local and organic enterprises
of the farm bill
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/farm_bill_us/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>
signed
into law
<http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/08/us/politics/farm-bill.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias&>
by President Obama in February, which tripled the amount of money aimed at
that sector to $291 million. The organic business, which has long
complained that the Agriculture Department does not support it financially,
will get $125 million over the next five years for research and $50 million
for conservation programs.

Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/29/business/usda-to-start-program-to-support-local-and-organic-farming.html


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