Austin 360
Central Texas farmers have been devastated by this week s freeze and power outages, and local organizations are already finding new ways to get financial relief to farmers who need it.
One way that people can help farmers whose winter crops have been decimated in the past week is to shop at local farmers markets, which will be open this weekend. Many are waiving booth fees for farmers, who will be bringing produce they harvested before the freeze and any other shelf-stable products they sell, such as pickles. Some vendors will not have anything to sell at the market for weeks as they start over and re-plant, says Nora Chovanec, deputy director of Texas Farmers Markets. Others will have limited inventory.
Small Ranchers, Big Problems Jan 25, 2021
Some farmers are pushing for a bill that would allow states to set their own regulations for the retail sale of meat. It has failed to pass Congress five times. Some states have a shortage of meat processors that are USDA-inspected, limiting how much livestock farmers can raise. Photography courtesy of Grace Pond Farm
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When Rhiannon Hampson’s dairy herd births a male calf, she jumps on the phone that week to schedule its slaughter two years away. She crosses her fingers that the date she books will work or she’ll be able to trade with another farmer for the eight-hour round trip to the USDA-certified processing facility, one of only five in Maine.
BY R-CALF | January 24, 2021
Billings, Mont. – Thursday January 21, 22 groups representing ranchers, farmers, manufacturers, and workers sent a letter to the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) in support of United States blueberry growers’ request for relief from surges of low-priced imported blueberries that threaten the viability of their domestic farms.
In September 2020, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) opened an investigation under Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 to determine if United States blueberry growers were being harmed by increased blueberry imports. The American Blueberry Growers Alliance, representing mostly small, family-operated blueberry farmers in states including California, Florida, Georgia and Michigan, alleged that imports of blueberries from Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Canada increased dramatically