This year FMPP will emphasize three priorities during the 2010 grant period: (1) focus on the recruitment and retention of new farmers to participate at farmers markets and other direct-to-consumer farm marketing outlets; (2) develop professional expertise for farmers market managers, farmers/vendors, boards and organizations to effectively manage and/or operate farmers markets and other direct marketing enterprises; and (3) improve food access in local, rural and underserved communities to promote the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms.

Since AMS began tracking farmers markets in 1994, the number has grown by nearly 4,000 nationwide. Currently, nearly 5,274 farmers markets operate nationwide, up from 4,685 in 2008, an increase of 13 percent. AMS maintains a comprehensive list of farmers markets, posted online at www.ams.udsa.gov/farmersmarkets.

AMS also has developed two new tools for prospective grant applicants. The FMPP Pre-Application Guide for 2010 helps readers assess their readiness for the grant application and implementation process. AMS has also captured its on-site FMPP grant-writing training in a detailed PowerPoint presentation that provides step-by-step instructions on how to fill out the application forms. You can access both tools on the FMPP website at http://www.ams.usda.gov/FMPP.

More information on the "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" initiative is available at http://www.usda.gov/KnowYourFarmer.

Information on how to apply for a grant will be published in the Mar. 1, 2010, issue of the Federal Register and posted on the AMS website at http://www.ams.usda.gov/FMPP. Applications and proposals must be received by AMS no later than the close of business on April 15, 2010. Applications received after April 15, 2010, will not be considered.

For more information, contact Carmen Humphrey, Program Manager, Farmers Market Promotion Program, AMS, 1800 M Street, N.W., Room 3012-South Tower, Washington, D.C. 20036; phone (202) 694-4000; fax (202) 694-5949.

First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation was launched earlier this month. The campaign has four primary tenets: helping parents make healthy family choices, serving healthier food in schools, improving access to healthy, affordable food, and increasing physical activity of kids. Already, the administration has announced its plans to improve school meals, a financing initiative to reduce food deserts, new research tools that detail local food environments and health outcomes, including grocery store access and disease and obesity prevalence, and a broad range of public/private partnerships to solve America's childhood obesity epidemic.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800) 795-3272(voice), or (202) 720-6382 (TDD).

February 12, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Kastel, 608-625-2042

New USDA Rules Establish Strong Organic Standards for Pasture and Livestock

Family Farmers Call Rule a Victory for Integrity of Organic Food and Agriculture
Swift and Judicious Enforcement of Abuses Now Expected by Obama Administration

WASHINGTON, DC -- After over 10 years of lobbying, family farmers across the country, who produce organic milk, are celebrating the release of strict new USDA regulations that establish distinct benchmarks requiring the grazing and pasturing of dairy cows and other livestock. Many hope that the new rule will put an end to the abuses that have flooded the organic market with suspect milk from a handful of mega-dairies generally confining thousands of animals in feed lots and barns.

"We are delighted by the new rules," said Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst at the Wisconsin-based Cornucopia Institute. "The organic community has been calling for strong regulations and its enforcement for much of the past decade. Cheap organic milk flowing from the illegitimate factory farms has created a surplus that is crushing ethical family farm producers."

The issue has been a lightning rod for controversy in the organic community. At least five times during the last decade, the National Organic Standards Board -- a key USDA advisory panel made-up of industry stakeholders -- passed guidance or recommended regulatory changes clarifying the requirement that dairy cows and other ruminants must be allowed to exhibit their native behavior and consume a meaningful amount of their feed from grazing on pastures.

New rulemaking had been delayed by the Bush administration, using a myriad of tactics, some of which are being scrutinized in an ongoing investigation by the USDA's office of Inspector General.

The Cornucopia Institute, on behalf of its family farmer members, also filed numerous formal legal complaints with the USDA's National Organic Program calling for investigations into alleged violations of organic livestock management practices occurring on many of the 20 largest factory farm facilities.

The biggest scandal in the history of the organic industry centered around one such USDA investigation with the regulators finding "willful" violations of 14 organic regulations on factory farms operated by Aurora Dairy, a $100+ million company based in Colorado (Aurora produces private-label, store brand milk for Wal-Mart, Costco and large grocery chains).

"The public controversies concerning Aurora, and alleged improprieties by the largest milk processor in the country, Dean Foods (Horizon Organic), put increasing pressure on the USDA to rein-in the scofflaws in this industry," Kastel added.

"I am confident that the new rule, along with a commitment to rigorous enforcement by certifiers, will put an end to these abuses and restore fairness to the organic dairy sector," said Kevin Engelbert, a dairy farmer from Nichols, NY who milks 100 cows. "Consumers will be able to purchase organic dairy products with confidence, knowing that regardless of the label, the animals who produced the milk were on pasture, as nature intended," Engelbert added.

The USDA has announced that they will begin this month hosting a series of workshops around the country with the nation's 50+ organic certification agencies and other industry stakeholders. The sessions are intended to clearly define the meaning and intent of the new rule so that certifiers, who conduct annual farm inspections and review organic system management plans, will understand what the regulations require from farmers and only approve management practices that strictly conform to it.

Specifically, the new rules require that dairy cows and other ruminants be out on pasture for the entire growing season, but for not less than 120 days. It also requires that the animals receive at least 30% of their feed, or dry matter intake (DMI), from pasturing. In addition, organic livestock will be required to have access to the outdoors year-round with the exception of temporary confinement due to mitigating and documentable environmental or health considerations.

"These minimum benchmarks will assure consumers that industrial-scale dairies don't just create the 'illusion' of grazing and continue producing illegitimate organic milk," said Kastel. He continued by emphasizing to consumers that, "Based on Cornucopia's research 90% of all namebrand dairy products are produced with high-integrity -- the handful of factory farms are bad aberrations and will now be dealt with."

The 120-day/30% DMI benchmarks were negotiated reference points agreed-upon by organic community stakeholders and arrived at after a series of meetings and discussions, nationwide, over much of the last half dozen years. The rules were also a carefully crafted consensus aimed at ensuring that legitimate organic dairy operations could truly provide meaningful pasture for their herds across the wide range of climatic zones in the U.S. It is estimated that the rule will impact upwards of 2000 organic dairy farmers.

Cornucopia, a farm policy research group, along with agricultural producers and other organizations, are carefully scrutinizing other impacts on the most sweeping rewrite of the federal organic standards since their inception in 2002. In addition to dairy cattle, the standards will assure humane animal husbandry practices in eggs, poultry, beef and pork production. The USDA will also be accepting public comments for 60 days on one exclusion from the pasture minimum, that for "finish feeding" on grain for ruminants, including beef cattle -- an issue that proved controversial and elicited a wealth of public comments when the original draft rule was published.

"I, along with many other family farmers, watch with intense frustration as the seemingly unprincipled mega dairies continually bend the rules and engage in unfair competition with me," said Rebecca Goodman, a certified organic dairy producer who milks 40 cows in Wonewoc, WI. "I am thankful that the USDA is now standing with us to preserve the integrity of the organic food label."

"When Secretary Vilsack met with organic dairy farmers in Wisconsin this past summer he told us that he would 'level the playing field' for small and medium producers," Goodman added. "These new regulations appear to be the first of what I hope will be many steps by the Secretary following through on this important commitment."

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LINK TO RELEASE: http://www.cornucopia.org/2010/02/new-usda-rules-establish-strong-organic-standards-for-pasture-and-livestock/

MORE:

"I am so pleased to know that the process of rule change that will ensure that organic livestock will consume a significant amount of pasture during the grazing season is coming to a successful conclusion", said Kathie Arnold, an organic dairy producer in Truxton, NY who has a 130 cow herd in partnership with her husband and his brother. Arnold, a respected leader in the organic dairy community, has been intimately involved in the stakeholder dialogue for the past six years and was the point person for collating comments from farmers around the country that were submitted to the USDA as the consensus agreement -- now largely adopted in the USDA regulations.

"For those of us whose livelihoods depend on the integrity of the organic label, we view this as excellent news," said Blake Alexandre, a large-scale, grass-based dairy producer from Humboldt County California. "We thank the leadership at the USDA for their diligent work and will be carefully monitoring how this is implemented. But every indication appears to meet our expectations."

The new organic livestock standards will go into effect 120 days after publication in the Federal Register [which is expected later today (2-12-10)], or approximately June 16, 2010.

Cornucopia Institute research indicates that 30-40% of the nation’s organic milk supply is coming from a handful of giant CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) largely found in arid areas of the western U.S. When the USDA established the federal organic standards in 2002, only two such operations were in existence and neither was providing any pasture to the thousands of animals in their milk herd.

Of the two original CAFOs, both associated with Dean Foods' Horizon brand, one, in Pixley, California, a 10,000-head split operation (conventional and organic cows) lost its organic certification in 2006. The other, a corporate-owned dairy in Paul, Idaho was never investigated during the Bush administration by the USDA. The Cornucopia Institute has formally appealed to Secretary Vilsack to adjudicate the legal complaints against Dean Foods and to reopen the Aurora investigation (under the previous administration Aurora was allowed to stay in business after career civil servants recommended its decertification having found multiple and "willful" violations of federal law).

Companies like Aurora and Dean Foods/Horizon built commanding organic industry market shares, now well exceeding 60-70% of the market, by quickly getting suspect milk on the store shelves through quickly adding or developing financial ties to new factory farm facilities (it should be noted that current industry market shares are not tracked by government data and difficult to precisely pinpoint).

See the USDA regulatory language: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5082652&acct=noprulemaking

Over 90% of all namebrand organic dairy products are produced with high integrity. A brand scorecard, intended to empower consumers and wholesale buyers, can be viewed at: http://www.cornucopia.org/2008/01/dairy-report-and-scorecard/

The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit farm policy research group, is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Their Organic Integrity Project acts as a corporate and governmental watchdog assuring that no compromises to the credibility of organic farming methods and the food it produces are made in the pursuit of profit. Their web page can be viewed at www.cornucopia.org.

Wallace Center at Winrock International Announces
Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center

New Wallace HUFED Center will fund one-to-three year grants to establish and develop food enterprises bringing more healthy food to underserved communities

It is my pleasure to announce the launch of the Wallace Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center (HUFED). The Wallace HUFED Center, supported by a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, was created to respond to the growing need to reorganize, rethink and transform the way food is grown, sourced, distributed, marketed and consumed in the United States in order to better meet the need of historically underserved communities. Specifically, the HUFED Center will focus on the need to make more healthy and affordable food available in low-income areas; to increase market access for small and mid-sized agricultural producers; and to promote positive economic activities generated by attracting healthy food enterprises into underserved communities.

The Wallace HUFED Center will apply market-based solutions with a business orientation to the problem of food access by providing technical and financial assistance to enterprising and innovative projects that directly address and resolve food access issues. Through grants, technical assistance and other activities, the Wallace HUFED Center will seek to build local capacity to serve food needs in urban and rural low-income, historically excluded and underserved communities and communities of color.

By way of this announcement we are opening a grant program and issuing a call for Letters of Interest (LOI). Grants will range from one year $10,000-$25,000 grants to three year grants up to $100,000. Technical assistance will also be available to successful grantees. We anticipate supporting approximately 30 projects over the next three years and expect to fund a range of strategies and organizations ranging from for-profits to not-for profits. LOIs should be brief but carefully thought out concept papers that provide our technical review panel sufficient information. After review, a subset of applicants will be invited to submit full proposals. LOIs are due March 8, 2010 and should be submitted through our online submission form after reviewing the complete Grant Guidelines (if you are not able to access or use the online submission form, please call the Wallace HUFED Center Help Line, noted below).

To review or download the full set of Grant Guidelines, which contain instructions for writing and submitting an LOI, further information about the purpose and goals of the Center, and greater detail on grant types, please see www.wallacecenter.org/hufed. You may also contact us via the Wallace HUFED Center Help Line: (703) 531-8810 or via email: hufed@winrock.org.

We encourage you to share this announcement with others who would be interested.

Thank you,
John Fisk, Director, Wallace Center at Winrock International
and
Michelle Frain Muldoon, Program Manager, Wallace HUFED Center

The Praxis Project is proud to announce the Call for Proposals for Communities Creating Healthy Environments (CCHE)-a grant initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support community organizing and policy advocacy to increase access to healthy food and safe places to play in communities of color. CCHE will provide funding and technical assistance for up to ten local community organizing groups and indigenous nations with grants of up to $250,000 over three years.  Youth led organizing groups in communities of color are strongly encouraged to apply.

As the program embarks on its second year, we are looking to continue to expand the investments to create healthy vibrant communities. This past year ten dynamic groups across the country were awarded with the grants.  The groups are developing cutting edge, culturally competent and comprehensive approaches to ensure just and equitable access to healthy food and safe places for recreation.

What kind of organizations should consider applying for CCHE funds?

• Local organizations working in communities of color whose leadership and makeup reflects the populations they serve. Groups with a successful track record of at least two years in community organizing and policy advocacy work to address health-related problems in communities of color.
• Tribal governmental agencies engaged in health policy.

Examples of health-related policy advocacy for local communities include: land use regulation such as zoning limitations that prevent the increased availability and access to healthy food choices; before-and-after school programs that improve access to recreation and increase physical activity levels; increasing access to translation in health care and social services; laws to extend Medicaid eligibility are solid examples on policy advocacy for local communities.

Communities Creating Healthy Environments is a National Program Office of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation under the leadership of The Praxis Project.  The Praxis Project is a national, nonprofit organization that builds partnerships with local groups to influence policymaking that addresses the underlying, systemic causes of community problems. For more information on Praxis and our other initiatives, please visit us on the web at www.thepraxisproject.org.  For more information on other funding initiatives of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and its goal of reversing the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015, please visit them on the web at www.rwjf.org.

Access to Affordable and Nutritious Food -
­Measuring and Understanding Food Deserts and Their Consequences: Report to Congress

Food Justice Manifesto