Latest news with #StateDepartmentofAgriculture
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Senior farmers market voucher distributions cancelled
(WBRE/WYOU) — According to the Area Agency on Aging, the first two Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) voucher distribution events have been cancelled. The announcement comes because the agency has not yet received the vouchers. It was previously revealed that federal funding for the vouchers has been cut. The first two Luzerne/Wyoming County distribution events have been cancelled, including the June 3 event at Misericordia University's MacDowell Hall and the June 5 Kingston Active Adult Center. Woman shot by police while allegedly attacking civilian In Lackawanna County alone, 38,000 farmers market vouchers were requested by the county's agency on aging, the agency in charge of distributing them. Due to the cuts to federal spending, they'll only be getting around 29,000. Under the State Department of Agriculture program, residents over 60 who fall within the program's income requirements are eligible to receive up to five $5 vouchers each to spend at local farmers' markets. For the full list of voucher distribution dates, visit the Luzerne County Area Agency on Aging. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Cuts in produce vouchers to affect low-income seniors
LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— Thousands of seniors statewide will soon be feeling the effects of federal budget cuts. This time the cuts take aim at a program that helps low-income seniors get fresh produce. Each summer, the senior farmers market nutrition program helps thousands of low-income seniors across the state. Lackawanna County rating drops one point above junk bond But cuts to the program are limiting the number of vouchers the program can give out. In Lackawanna County alone, 38,000 farmers market vouchers were requested by the county's agency on aging, the agency in charge of distributing them. But because of cuts to federal spending, they'll only be getting around 29,000. 'It really helps in your savings, but you want to help the farmer more-so than anything else,' said Denise Mehl, Scranton. Under the State Department of Agriculture program, residents over 60 who fall within the program's income requirements are eligible to receive up to five $5 vouchers each to spend at local farmers markets. Denise Mehl visits the Scranton farmers market regularly, and while not crucial to her budget, she says the vouchers help a lot. More than anything though, she worries about the farmers, about 1,000 farms participate in the program state-wide. 'If we didn't have them we wouldn't have anything,' voiced Mehl. According to the state department of agriculture, residents in Lackawanna County used these vouchers at a higher rate than any other county last year, over 90% of them were redeemed. 'It hurts people. It hurts the people that we serve here in Lackawanna County, those who need the help the most, and I just think that is really inhumane that they've done this,' expressed Bill Gaughan, county commissioner, Lackawanna County. State officials say the Trump administration has only released part of the funding congress approved, forcing agencies to slash their distribution by more than 25%. We reached out to GOP Congressman Rob Bresnahan for comment on the issue. He responded in-part: 'The recent decision to reduce benefits for the farmers market vouchers for seniors program was made at the state level. While I do not control those decisions, I am actively working at the federal level on a bipartisan bill to expand local food purchasing from our farmers to support those most in need. I look forward to announcing that legislation in the coming weeks.' Rep. Bresnahan Bresnahan says he and his team will be in contact with the Lackawanna County Agency on Aging to help ensure they receive the full funding and support they need for the program. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
WA losing invasive beetle battle in Tri-Cities. Fight to stop them moves to Columbia River
The Washington state Department of Agriculture is expanding eight-fold the area of private and public land in the Tri-Cities it wants to spray pesticide to fight highly destructive Japanese beetles. What was one square mile treated in Pasco last spring, will expand to eight square miles, including a slice of Columbia Park on the south side of the Columbia River in Kennewick this year. It will be the first time treatment has been done in Kennewick by the state to kill Japanese beetle larvae or grubs in the soil before they emerge as adults. In 2023, five Japanese beetles were found in Pasco, but the next year 408 were found in Pasco and one in a trap across the Columbia River in Kennewick near Hawthorne Elementary School. Statewide Japanese beetles caught in Department of Agriculture traps increased from 19,544 in 2023 to 26,700 last year. Most were in caught in the Lower Yakima Valley, with 24,700 found in Sunnyside, Grandview, Mabton and the far west side of Benton County. The Japanese beetles also have been found in Prosser, since the infestation started with three beetles in Grandview in 2020. Japanese beetles feed on more than 300 plants, and can devastate grape crops, strip roses and other garden plants of their leaves, and damage turf at homes, parks and golf courses. Adult Japanese beetles are up to a half inch long and have a metallic green head and thorax and iridescent copper wing covers. White C-shaped larvae with a tan head and visible legs may be seen during the spring. State Department of Agriculture officials said in November that trapping alone is not enough to eradicate Japanese beetles from the state. So far spring pesticide treatments have been voluntary and property owners must give consent each year to have their properties treated. But only about half of property owners in areas of concern gave permission to have their land treated last year. 'So far the level of community participation has only been enough to slow, but not stop or eradicate Japanese beetles from our state,' said Sven Spichiger, pest program manager for the Department of Agriculture, in a statement. 'If we aren't allowed to treat most of the properties in the infested areas, it is only a matter of time before it is too late to eradicate.' Then homeowners, gardeners and farmers will be left with the responsibility and expense of not only managing the pest, but the burden of following permanent quarantine regulations as well, he said. Parts of the Lower Yakima Valley already are under a Japanese beetle quarantine. Residents are not allowed to remove soil or sod or plants not free from soil, such as fruit trees and potted plants, from the quarantine area year round. The removal of plants and plant cuttings, roots, grass clippings, cut flowers, among other vegetation that could harbor Japanese beetles, is prohibited in the area May 15 to Oct. 15, the season when adult beetles live. Instead, they must be taken by landowners to special disposal areas. In states that have permanent infestations of the beetles, farmers and plant nurseries are subject to expensive and restrictive quarantines to move their products, as well as increased pesticide costs to manage the beetle, according to the Washington state Department of Agriculture. Residents must deal with the pest in their lawns and gardens as well, either increasing pesticide use or manually removing the beetles — some even using vacuums because of the sheer number of beetles, the agency said. Visitors and tourists must also deal with the beetles being a nuisance flying into them. The Department of Agriculture is asking permission from Tri-Cities landowners this year to treat land from North Road 64 east to around North First Avenue in Pasco. The southern edge of treatment for Pasco would be the Columbia River or East Ainsworth Avenue north to West Livingston Road, including part of Columbia Basin College north of Interstate 182. In Kennewick, the area to be treated would be in Columbia Park west of the blue bridge along the river for almost a mile and would also include a small amount of private land south of Highway 240. Treatment is done with the insecticide Acelepryn, which kills Japanese beetles and certain other pests in their grub or larval stage in the soil. It is not considered a health risk for people, pets, wildlife or insects, such as bees, that don't go through a larval state in the soil. About 17,600 property owners in Yakima, Benton and Franklin county treatment areas have been mailed letters with a consent form and a PIN number. If you are in a treatment area and need a form to permit spraying, they are available at the Pasco City Hall, plus additional city halls in the Lower Yakima Valley. To sign up online, go to and scroll down to the 'sign up now' box. I If you need help to sign up or to retrieve your PIN number, call 800-443-6684 or email pest@
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Once a farm is gone, it's gone': Lawmakers, farmers push for agricultural disaster relief at the federal and state levels
On Aug. 26, 2024, William DellaCamera looked over the verdant fields of Cecarelli's Harrison Hill Farm in Northford, admiring the healthy vegetable plants as he mused about how beautiful and plentiful the upcoming harvest would be. By the time he returned from lunch, DellaCamera was on the phone with his wife, telling her they had lost everything. A freak hail storm wiped out DellaCamera's crops in a matter of 13 minutes. When it was all over, the squall left DellaCamera with thousands of dollars in damage that federal insurance and other disaster programs failed to make whole. DellaCamera was not alone. Between 2023 and 2024, Connecticut farms reported more than $72.3 million in losses from deep freezes, floods, storms and other extreme weather events that decimated crops, timber, livestock and agricultural infrastructure, according to data from the State Department of Agriculture. Tired of hearing 'lip service' from government officials when farms were faced with financial ruin, DellaCamera hopped on his tractor and drove his John Deere 871 miles through Connecticut and down to Washington D.C. By the end of DellaCamera's campaign, Congress had passed a $220 million Farm Recovery and Support Block Grant Program for small and medium-sized farms that were hit with extreme weather in New England, Hawaii and Alaska. The program passed in December, but farmers still have not seen a dime of the funding that could be make-or-break for their operations. As farmers wait for their federal grants, state lawmakers heard testimony Monday on a bill that would create an emergency crop-loss fund when one-time weather events devastate production. While Sen. Richard Blumenthal's office said the $220 million block grant is not tied up in the federal funding freeze, Blumenthal said the disbursement of the aid is sitting in a state of 'intolerable uncertainty.' 'Farmers really deserve it, and they are deeply anxious about whether they'll receive it,' Blumenthal said. 'Farmers need it without delay. As the growing season begins, farmers deserve to know whether they have a safety net when disaster strikes. And very specifically as to this aid, they need it now.' Blumenthal said the Connecticut delegation is pushing the Trump administration to release the funds. He said the administration has not told him with 'any certainty or specificity' when that may happen. DellaCamera said farmers need the money now, but they also need safety net programs to do their job. During his 91-hour tractor journey, DellaCamera he said he heard the same story at every farm he stopped at. 'They say, 'Well, I don't participate in those programs because we can't afford them. I don't participate in those programs because I don't understand them. I don't participate in those programs because I did, and it didn't work for me. It didn't do what it was supposed to do.' I heard all the same. It doesn't matter where it was,' DellaCamera said. 'The programs that failed me and have failed every other specialty crop farmer clear across the United States. Those programs failed me, they failed my friends and my neighbors, and I am tired of it.' 'Our profession is the backbone of America,' DellaCamera said. 'It's not a Republican or a Democrat problem. This is a right and wrong problem.' As weather events grow more extreme and localized, DellaCamera said, the question is not 'if' another weather disaster occurs, 'It's a when and where.' Challenges for local farmers Better known by his nickname Digga, Robert Schacht of Hunts Brook Farm in the Quaker Hill section of Waterford said he is 'one hailstorm away from getting a real job.' 'As long as I have farmed, I've joked about that,' Schacht said. 'Because, if what happened to Willie (DellaCamera) happened to me, I'm at the scale of farm where crop insurance doesn't really work.' Schacht started Hunts Brook Farm in 2008, growing vegetables, fruits, flowers and greens. For him, he said, the job comes down to 'the security that food brings to myself and my community.' 'COVID was a huge example of that, watching how people reacted to the food shortages,' Schacht said. 'That sense of responsibility is strong.' But in the last few years, Schacht explained how challenges in agriculture have left local farms more vulnerable to uncertainty. 'Every farmer I know has been struggling for the last couple of years, and I haven't heard a lot out in the world about it. I haven't heard about it in the press. I haven't heard about it from the ag partners that we have at the state level and in the different organizations,' Schact said. 'My vegetables did not pay for themselves last year for the first time,' Schacht added, explaining how grant programs kept him at break-even. 'My whole life is here. … There's really not a big separation between what I make for an income and what the farm makes for an income. … I'm able to just sort of live off the edges of the farm.' With rapidly rising labor costs, increasing disease prevalence, new insects and shifting seasonality, Schacht explained that 'weather is just one of the many things that small farms are dealing with right now.' 'That's the unpredictable one,' Schacht said. Schacht said an emergency crop-loss fund would help, as long as the level of documentation required to make a claim does not become a barrier to small farms that lack the manpower to weigh their harvests. I can very easily tell you how many plants I have in the field, but I don't have time to weigh every harvest that I do coming out of the field," Schacht said. "If you end up having to put in eight days of labor to make a claim, that's where, for smaller farms like us, it just becomes too cumbersome." Still, Schacht said, he is "glad to see that the legislators are taking this seriously. 'I have a lot of admiration for what Willie (DellaCamera) decided to do,' Schacht added. 'Not many people would've been in a position to have been able to make such a grand gesture of time and energy. Willie's a big guy with a big voice, and I think all of us small farms are very thankful that he used it.' 'Once a farm is gone, it's gone' In the last decade, Connecticut has lost more than 15% of its farms, which fell from 5,977 in 2012 to 5,058 in 2022, according to the most recent census by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Through the process, nearly 65,000 acres — roughly 100 square miles — of farmland has disappeared from the state. House Minority Leader Vincent Candelora, R-North Branford, a co-sponsor of the crop-loss bill, said the emergency fund would fill in gaps where federal insurance falls short. As he testified before the Environment Committee on Monday, he described the program as an important step toward preserving the state's agricultural resources. 'Once a farm is gone, it's gone,' Candelora said. 'The land gets developed, the expertise leaves — it's very hard to bring these farms back.' In a letter submitted to the committee, Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt said his department lacks the capacity to establish and run such a grant program. 'This was not included in the Governor's Biennial Budget,' Hurlburt wrote. Hurlburt suggested that farmers would qualify for financial support under a different line item in Gov. Ned Lamont's budget proposal — a program providing 'grants-in-aid to support municipalities, homeowners and small businesses who have been impacted by a catastrophic event, not exceeding $15,000,000.' During the public hearing, Sen. Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, who sits on the committee and co-sponsored the bill, said she was surprised by Hurlburt's lack of support. 'My concern with that is that $15 million is a very small amount to apply to statewide businesses, and this is not specific to agriculture,' Cohen said. 'I'm hoping we can put our heads together with the commissioner to come up with a solution that will be beneficial for our farmers moving forward.' When farms faced crop loss in 2023 and 2024, Cohen described the sense of helplessness shared by farmers and lawmakers. 'There was really nothing we could do,' Cohen said. 'We didn't have any tools in the toolbox at the state level.' Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, said the emergency fund 'is something that absolutely could be done by the department.' 'This is one small part that we could do to try to ensure that we have some kind of insurance stopgap for these farmers,' Somers, who is also a co-sponsor of the legislation, said. 'This is a lifeline for them to hang on.' Somers said that Connecticut needs the crop-loss fund to keep farms in the state that are struggling to survive under mounting financial pressure. 'Sterling used to have 40 dairy farms. There's one left,' Somers said. 'That really kind of highlights where we are. … Once it's gone, you're going to have single-family houses or a development brought in there. You're not going to get the farm back.'
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Akamai Arrival' takes off: Ag declaration form goes digital
HONOLULU (KHON2) — Traveling to Hawaiʻi is about to get a high-tech upgrade. A new pilot program aims to ditch the pen and paper currently used to declare plants and years, travelers to Hawaiʻi have been required to fill out a paper declaration form, listing any live plants or animals they're bringing to the state, with the goal of protecting the islands' delicate ecosystem. 'Safety is nonpartisan': Despite aircraft incidents, experts say flying is still safe 'These creatures, which are very scary, especially this one, should not be coming into Hawaiʻi,' said Gov. Josh Green while pointing to a tarantula in a tank next to him. Now the paper ag declaration form is getting an overhaul, making fumbling for a pen at 35,000 feet no more. 'We all know the best time to let a passenger know what not to bring into the state is before they get on the plane. Not when they're scurrying through their baggage to look for a pencil and then, oops, I got a ferret. Oops, I brought in live plants,' said Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs. Beginning March 1, select flights on most domestic airlines that fly to Hawaiʻi will participate in the three month long pilot program. 'Akamai Arrival' has the same questions as the paper form and will be accessible on both laptops and smartphones. Travelers will fill out the form electronically before landing. State Department of Agriculture inspectors will review the manifest compared to the number of completed declaration forms and similar to the paper form, the data will be deleted. 'It's going to be helpful for our state, but most importantly, it's our biosecurity weapon,' Green said. Some passengers, like Cheryl Engle from Michigan, welcome the change. 'It was a little bit of a pain, we didn't have a pen on us. We didn't have anything to write on,' Engle said. The state says it's hoping the digital form will also help increase compliance, which currently is around a 60% completion rate. As for the effectiveness of the declaration form in stopping invasive species, the Department of Agriculture says about 75% of all flights coming in have something to declare, but it's not easy to catch everything sneaking into the islands. 'We're getting those types of animals maybe one or two a year. I would say regulated goods, things that require permits or treatments beforehand, you're probably getting one per day,' said Jonathan Ho, HDOA Branch Manager. Wakai says he hopes to use the approximately $800,000 saved from going paperless to buy ag sniffing dogs to do more to keep invasive species out of the islands. 'Zero. Not one person in 79 years has ever been prosecuted. What does that tell you? It tells you that the ag form is really not keeping bad things out of our community,' Wakai said. For now, the state says they eventually plan to add more languages to the form and the valuable tourism survey will be included. For more information, visit the Akamai Arrival website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
