2003 News Archive

Agriculture & Land Based Training Association

Brett Melone (831) 758-1469

$150,000

To provide information and training to limited resource socially disadvantaged, new entry and immigrant farmers in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties, California on financial management, crop insurance, marketing contracts and other existing and emerging risk management tools.

Growing Power

Erika Allen (414) 527-1546

$75,000

To provide follow-up technical assistance and risk management education workshops on production, marketing, financial, human resource and legal risk. Training will focus on sustainable farming practices, food processing, packaging and marketing.

Heifer International

Colleen Donovan

$149,820

To address the delivery gaps for immigrant farmers, and to support local and regional immigrant farming programs that enable participating farmers, specifically immigrants, refugees and ethnic minorities to succeed through sustainable production, community-based marketing enterprises and informed risk management decisions for their operations.

Drake University Agricultural Law Center

Neil Hamilton (515) 271-2065

$176,000

To help support state and local food policy councils in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Minnesota. The council will provide training to small farmers, direct marketers and other producers of specialty crops and will engage public officials and others in adopting policies to create opportunity for local farmers and consumers.

Oklahoma Department of Agriculture

Willard Tillman (405) 522-5595

$70,000

Conduct needs assessments, and sponsor risk management workshops for women, limited resource and socially disadvantaged producers in the counties of Caddo, Garvin, Logan, McCurtain, Muskogee, Okfuskee, Okmulgee and Seminole, and Oklahoma City, Lawton, and Woodward.

University of Arkansas-Fayetteville

Willard Tillman (405) 522-5595

$125,000

To expand risk management outreach and education project to Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Tennessee to members of 14 Oklahoma based tribes and 1 Mississippi based tribe.

Women in Blue Jeans

Diana Goldammer (605) 996-6500

$30,500

To provide networking opportunities, support and risk management education for women in agriculture and farmers' wives in the agricultural industry through a two-day conference.

Coronado Resource Conservation & Development Area, Inc.

Kim Web (520) 384-2229

$72,850

To provide risk management tools to limited resource, socially disadvantaged producers in Southern Arizona that will enable them to make choices that will increase their presence in the market place and their income. This project will build on information developed and gathered from a FY 02 project funded by RMA to include the entire 15 million acre geographic area covered by the Coronado Resource Conservation and Development Area.

Taos County Economic Development Corporation

Terrie Bad Hand/Pati Martinson (505) 758-8731

$83,700

To provide risk management tools to area farmers through the value-added processing and marketing of food products and TCEDC's business courses and services for farmers.

Hmong American Community

Chukou Thao (559) 237-4910

$75,000

To promote the economic well being among Hmong Americans in Fresno County, California

Fort Valley State University

Mark Lattimore, Jr. (478) 825-6269

$175,000

To utilize a network of key personnel from the Georgia based farmer organization and FVSU in developing comprehensive training activities to educate small and limited resource landowners and others as to the current and future value of their land and to ensure that small and limited resource farmers via collaborative outreach efforts have access to information designed to help farmers manage their land in a sustainable manner.

Polk County Agriculture Extension

Steven D. Johnson (515) 261-4215

$75,000

To create an exemplary model for the planning, implementation, delivery and evaluation of a multitude of educational activities and outreach efforts in response to the risk management education needs of Iowa Women in Agriculture.

Phoenix Revitalization Corp.

Fernando Castillo (602) 253-6895

$35,000

To provide risk management assistance to urban growers in the Central City South area of Phoenix by promoting education, training and information dissemination while pursuing targeted activities to assist growers to increase production and expand customer base and sales venues.

Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (LA)

Jean Mills (229) 225-9556

$75,000

To develop a variety of free internet-based risk management tools that women, limited resource, socially disadvantaged and other traditionally underserved southern producers can effectively access and utilize.

Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAGE)

Sibella Kraus (510) 526-1793

$75,000

To create innovate, replicable strategies that link solutions to the market development and land access needs of underserved specialty crop producers.

Minnesota Department of Agriculture

Meg Moynihan (651) 297-8916

$85,410

To implement a variety of strategies to deliver risk management tools that will assist organic producers assess and manage production and economic (including marketing) risks associated with organic systems.

Micro Farm Sustainable Research & Education

Ed Bergheger (503) 868-7679

$81,925

To increase awareness among agricultural producers in Oregon and Washington of the advantages and usage of hydroponics growing in an agricultural context.

Southwest Wisconsin Technical College

Ellen Leuck (608) 822-3262

$35,000

To create awareness and provide risk management education to over 240 producers in Southwest Wisconsin.

Grass Works, Inc.

Harvey E. Works (920) 361-9728

$30,000

To ensure that producers will be better able to use financial management, crop insurance, marketing contracts and other existing and emerging risk management tools

Future Harvest Chesapeake, Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture

Bruce Mertz (410) 604-2681

$50,000

To sponsor two conferences aimed at improving the financial odds of limited resource farmers and women farming in the Mid-Atlantic region.and provide comprehensive information on local and regional opportunities to develop specialty crops, alternative markets and risk management strategies.

Operation Spring Plant

Dorathy E. Barker (252) 431-1010

$75,000

To provide training for farm management and technical assistance to sixty underserved farmers in central and eastern North Carolina; identify marketable crops for diversification, and provide information on farm assistance.

Kentucky Cooperative Extension Program

Marion Simon (502) 597-6437

$150,000

To provide risk management education for at-risk farmers and ranchers in transition.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Beth Eberspacher (402) 472-2039

$150,000

To provide risk management education geared towards empowering farm women through the use of financial and marketing tools.

Rural Coalition/Coalicion Rural

Lorette Picciano (202) 628-7160

$300,000

To build upon the findings of 2002/03 RMA project by working with the insurance industry to train insurance agents to deliver crop insurance and other insurance products to limited resource farmers with the high quality customer service these farmers require; train partner organizations to develop a revolving loan fund as a risk management tool; develop record keeping systems necessary to produce the financial records required for both revenue protection type insurance and revolving loan funds.

University of Idaho

Cinda Williams (208) 885-7787

$15,000

To evaluate and strengthen the risk management education outcomes of the Cultivating Success Program (a series of comprehensive farm business planning and management courses) so that farmers and agricultural educators/advisors are informed of the full range of tools for managing risk.

Council on the Environment, Inc. (Greenmarket)

Rachel Dannefer (912) 477-3220

$124,516

To assist limited resource immigrant farmers in establishing economically viable farms through collaboration with RMA and other partners, the NFDP will continue its outreach efforts to provide farmers with RM training and other services.

Center for Rural Affairs

Joy Johnson (402) 846-5428

$50,000

To provide risk management education and outreach assistance to 300-400 beginning and aspiring farmers and ranchers from the mid-state region in a supportive manner.

Georgia Organics, Inc.

Patricia K. Howell (608) 873-8224

$85,000

To sponsor risk management education workshops for African American farmers on organics and to mentor five farmers.

Langston University

D. Chongo Mundende (405) 466-6023

$125,000

To sponsor four risk management workshops and provide outreach and assistance on production, marketing, accounting, legal risks associated with farming.

Michigan State University

John Wise (269) 561-5040

$100,000

To provide a bi-lingual curriculum, multi-faceted IPM risk management training program that utilizes classroom curriculum and hands-on laboratory and field training to teach the critical concepts of risk management and integrated pest management practices necessary for disadvantaged blueberry growers in the region.

African American Family Farmer, Inc.

Melvin L. Bishop (706) 485-9673

$99,968

To create awareness and provide assistance and risk management education to African American families in Georgia.

University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

Henry English (870) 575-7246

$100,000

To provide risk management education to approximately 600 socially disadvantaged and limited resource farmers in Southwest and Eastern Arkansas.

Federation of Southern Cooperatives

Edward Pennick (404) 765-0991

$225,000

To provide risk management education and assistance to farmers to assist them in making sound decisions relating to the preservation and succession of their farm operations and land.

Concentric Management Applications

Renita Page (276) 632-2624

$100,000

To educate and assist limited resource and traditionally underserved areas.

Minnesota Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association

Marilyn N. Johnson

$50,000

To produce and deliver sound risk management solutions to specialty crop growers throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.

Washington State University Cooperative Extension

Jon Newkirk (509) 335-9661

$125,000

To service 150 farm families suffering severe financial and/or family stress.

Farm to Table, Inc.

Pamela Roy (505) 473-1004

$88,760

To improve the economic viability of limited resource, socially disadvantaged and traditionally underserved farmers and ranchers in the Southwest (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado).

Alabama A&M University

Duncan Chembezi (256) 372-4970

$150,000

To provide risk management education and assistance to underserved agricultural producers in North Alabama.

Texas/Mexico Border Coalition

Omar J. Garza (956) 487-8032

$121,080

To provide outreach, training and technical assistance to traditionally under served Hispanic farmers and ranchers in the 56 county border region area of Texas and New Mexico.

Southside Community Land Trust

Devan Chase (401) 273-9419

$50,044

To work with people from immigrant and minority communities in the Providence area who are developing their own agricultural businesses.

Montana/Wyoming Stockgrowers Association

Fred Small (406) 477-6423

$100,000

To use a proactive approach to outreach and provide educational activities to ensure that the Native American producers on ten reservations in Montana, Wyoming and Utah are provided with the assistance necessary to utilize financial management practices, marketing contracts and other existing and emerging risk management tools.

Community Food Security Coalition, Inc.

Andy Fischer (310) 822-5410

$75,000

To provide limited resource farmers with the knowledge they need to enter into the potentially lucrative market of school and college food service.

Montana State University

Vince Smith (406) 994-5615

$100,000

To provide American Indian underserved agricultural producers in the four-state region (Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming) with the knowledge, skills and tools needed to make informed risk management decisions for livestock operations, including both crop insurance and other risk management tools.

Virginia State University

Albert Essel (804) 524-5871

$225,000

To equip educators to provide high quality, knowledgeable risk management education and assistance to women, limited resource, socially disadvantaged and traditionally underserved producers on crop insurance, financial management, business planning and other risk management tools.

Community Teamwork

Hugh Joseph (617) 628-5000

$200,000

To build on prior grant from RMA to Tuft University. In collaboration with Univ. of Massachusetts and Tuft University recipient will provide assistance and risk management education to immigrant farmers in Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Rutgers Cooperative Extension

David Lee (856) 769-0090

$70,000

To deliver risk management curricula for underserved producers in New Jersey and New York city region and agribusiness professionals.

Ag Georgia

Glen Arnold (478) 934-1244

$17,500

To sponsor regional meetings throughout the state to women, limited resource, socially disadvantaged and other traditionally underserved agricultural producers.

West Virginia Department of Agriculture

Thomas McConnel

$85,000

To develop and implement an outreach program to deliver training to West Virginia farmers to enable them to recognize risks and to employ the many tools available to them to manage the risk.

Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group

Keith Richards (479) 587-088

$75,000

To provide risk management education through a "learning network" comprised of several organizations, agencies and individuals who are assisting farmers in sustainable enterprise development.