September is Hunger Action Month and an advocacy group is working to get legislation expanded to provide more healthy foods to people in rural Arkansas. Some 41% of Arkansans live in rural counties. Florence French Fagan, senior regional organizer for the nonprofit Bread For The World, said they are focused on part of the Farm Bill known as the GusNIP Expansion Act. .
Research shows that farmers die from suicide at a rate twice as high as the rest of the population, and Illinois officials are taking steps to help reverse that trend. The Illinois Department of Agriculture, in coordination with the Illinois FFA Foundation and the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, will expand the state s Farm Family Resource Initiative to all 102 counties. Illinois Ag Department Director Jerry Costello said the program will bring much-needed mental-health services to rural parts of the state. .
Students in eight rural Nebraska schools will soon be getting hands-on experience in "specialty crop" production thanks to a two-year U.S. Department of Agriculture grant awarded to the Center for Rural Affairs. Kirstin Bailey is senior project associate at the center and lead staff on the Nebraska Young Farmer Program: Introducing Specialty Crop Production. .
The Maryland Board of Public Works recently approved the preservation of several working farms. The Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation purchased 14 new agricultural easements across nine counties in the state representing more than 1,400 acres. The program purchases development rights from farmers so the land will be kept as farmland in perpetuity. .
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