specialty crops

The Washington state Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday the availability of $10 million in federal grants for the specialty crop industry. The WSDA is now accepting applications from Washington-based operations that are the lead on projects with multiple state partners for the 2021 Specialty Crop Multi-State Program (SCMP) ...

The Specialty crop industry in Idaho will have a little more grant money to use this year. The Idaho state Department of Agriculture announced earlier this month that it will accept applications for an additional $2.8 million in grant money available through the specialty crop block grant program ...

Not only has production of specialty crops, organic crops, local food, and greenhouse production grown in recent years, but as the RMA's acting Administrator Richard Flournoy pointed out, so has crop insurance offerings in those areas. "All the growth we've had in those programs over the years, as well as the interest in those programs and that we have made a lot of changes to organic and spe

With 2021 shaping up to be a dry year, farmers across the Northwest are looking for ways to save and conserve water. John Bourne, Vice President of Marketing at Ceres said their technology allows farmers to ensure their water is used efficiently, thus saving the precious resource while improving the bottom line ...

As the Trump Administration prepares to exit Washington D.C., that means Sonny Perdue’s time as the Ag Secretary is coming to a close. Dan Newhouse Chairman of the congressional Western Caucus, said the past four years were challenging for farm country, and he felt Perdue did a good job listening to the concerns of everyday farmers, and was productive. How ...

The speed of the economic recovery will largely hinge on the availability, dissemination, and reach of COVID-19 vaccines, pushing a pent-up consumer demand to later in 2021. That’s according to a comprehensive year-ahead outlook report just issued from CoBank’s Knowledge Exchange Division. “The c ...

The Washington State Department of Agriculture received $4.65 million in federal Specialty Crop Block Grant funds in 2020. Project Manager Leisa Schumaker said the funds are made available as part of the Farm Bill to increase the competitiveness and demand of Washington's specialty crops ...

Many specialty crops are grown here in the Northwest. And if you're a specialty crop producer, and think your crop is not eligible for CFAP payments, you might want to check again.  "There are more than 130 speciality crops there are eligible for the program," said AMS Administrators Bruce Summers. "T ...

It’s expected that Congress will take up the issue of another round of COVID-19 stimulus assistance later this month, but will agriculture receive any assistance? Discussions around another round of assistance look at the most urgent needs across the country, what some have called a “skinny bill”, which at this point does not appear to include the farming sector. Central Washing ...

The USDA recently expanded eligibility to include more commodities in the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, better known as CFAP. And in an effort to help producers navigate the needed paperwork, USDA is working to engage and answer questions proactively ...