Ag Happenings Around Homer
We'd like to thank all of the participants and organizers at the Women in Agriculture conference held on Jan 25th, and also to the fine people at KPC's Kachemak Bay Campus for offering us a space to hold it. Homer Soil & water hopes to host it again next year.
Thursday, February 6th: Working with Cover Crops, presented by Brad Casar, HSWCD Soils Guy, and Dorian Perez from UDSA-NRCS.... Two presentation times:
11:00 am-12:00 pm at the Homer Public Library AND
5:30-6:30 pm at the Kachemak Community Center (at the Farm Bureau meeting, but very open to the public)
This is part of the KNOW YOUR LAND series of talks. Cover cropping is known as one of the key elements to maintaining healthy soil and fertility for farmers, but how can we apply it locally? Are the same benefits seen locally, or are there other reasons we should or should not use cover crops? This week we will be looking at these questions and other insights from our recently completed soil health study where farmers in Homer and Anchor Point trialed cover crops for three years. Free and open to the public. Stay tuned for part two of their cover crops presentations coming soon.
Thursday, February 6th: New! South Kenai Peninsula Farm Bureau Meeting, 5:30- 6:30 pm, Kachemak Community Center, 59906 Bear Creek Dr. This month's meeting will be brief. We'll be joining Homer Soil & Water and NRCS for their discussion on local use of cover crops and what was learned in their soil health study (see above), followed by announcements.
Questions? Rita Jo 235-8116 or Beth 299-0301
Sunday, February 16th: Homer Garden Club Meeting, 2:00 pm at Aspen Suites Hotel in Homer. This month's speaker is Brenda C. Adams.
Long time Homer Garden Club member and former president (2004-2010), Brenda is an international-award winning garden designer, author and master gardener. Among her written works are There’s a Moose in My Garden and Cool Plants for Cold Climates, and she has received a silver award from the Garden Writers Association. She also teaches garden design for the University of Alaska and the Cooperative Extension Service Master Gardeners’ program. Having created over 240 unique gardens for residential and commercial clients, her designs have received three prestigious awards in the Perennial Plant Association’s annual international competition; her 2012 award was the PPA’s highest, the Honor Award. She is a frequent guest on radio and speaks throughout Alaska and around the country. And pollinators are regular and welcome guests in her gardens! Come hear what Brenda has to say on the 16th.
Thursday, February 20th: Keep Alaska Wild & Free from Invasive Plants!. Hosted by Homer Soil & Water and the Homer staff from UDSA-NRCS....Two presentation times:
12:00-1:00 pm pm at the Homer Public Library conference room AND
5:30-6:30 pm at Grace Ridge Brewing.
This is part of the KNOW YOUR LAND series of talks. What is Weed-Free Hay, and why is it important? More than just an annoyance, invasive plants cause harm to Alaska's native plant communities, threatening salmon and moose habitat -- which we all depend on to keep our local economies thriving. Controlling invasive species infestations are expensive! We need your help in preventing the introduction and spread of non-native, injurious invasive plants - before they cost us millions of dollars per year. Early Detection and Rapid Response (EDRR) is the most cost-effective method of controlling infestations, when we still have the opportunity to actually eradicate new infestations. Learn how to identify problematic invasive plants, how to report them, and how you can help keep Alaska wild & free from invasive species. This 20 minute presentation will be followed by Q&A -- we want to learn from you how best to increase demand for weed-free hay throughout the community.
Wednesday, February 26th: 5:00-7:00 pm, NRCS talk about using tensiometers in irrigation systems. They'll discuss irrigation water flow in soils, why and how to use tensiometers and how to manage your irrigation water and schedule with tensiometers. Presented by NRCS Soil Conservationist and plant-water relations expert Dave Ianson and NRCS Engineer and irrigation water management enthusiast Alicia Greene. The conversation will be held in the NRCS conference room at 432 E. Pioneer Ave in downtown Homer. Free and open to anyone curious to know more about irrigation tools.
To register contact the Homer NRCS office or alicia.greene@usda.gov.
Saturday, February 22, 9:30 am - 5:00 pm, Beekeeping Class, at the Chamber of Commerce building. For more information call Linda with the Homer Area Beekeepers Association at 399-9211.
February, 20-22, 2020: 15th Annual Alaska Sustainable Agriculture Conference, BP Energy Center, located at 900 E. Benson Blvd, Anchorage, AK. TONS of Alaska-specific farming topics at this year's Western SARE Conference. Truly jam packed. Check out the schedule by clicking this link. Cosponsored by Western Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) and the UAF Cooperative Extension Service. Here's a sample of what they've got lined up:
* potato farming on the Kenai and the Alaska Potato Program
* cover crops in peony fields
* starting a cottage food business
* resources for rural farmers
* understanding AK earthworms
* indoor Ag for off-road communities
* Ag in Kodiak and southeast AK
* Rhodiola workshops
* useful apps for AK farmers and landowners
* AK's produce safety program
Register here.
Other Cool Things to Know About
Check out what Homer Soil & Water Conservation District has been up to in our Fall Newsletter.
February 11th: Deadline to submit a letter of intent to the Alaska Division of Agriculture for a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant.
February 28th: Deadline for agricultural producers to sign up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), though continuous signup exists for certain programs. Farmers and ranchers who enroll in CRP receive a yearly rental payment for voluntarily establishing long-term, resource-conserving plant species, such as approved grasses or trees (known as “covers”) to control soil erosion, improve water quality and develop wildlife habitat on marginally productive agricultural lands. Incentives also exist for transitioning land to a beginning farmer or rancher and for establishing riparian buffers or other freshwater or estuary protections. Click here for more details regarding CRP Enrollment options.
March 1st: Deadline to get your farm or other business supplying local foods (including fish) included in this year's The Kenai Loves Local Food Directory brochure. Produced by the Kenai Local Food Connection and Kenai Soil & Water Conservation District since 2011 and handed out to tourists and residents all over the peninsula. This year it will be getting a fresh new look. Register here.
Cool online resources to check out:
- Podcast: Charlie Payne on Successfully Scaling Livestock
https://www.thrivingfarmerpodcast.com/charlie-payne/
- Multiple podcasts: from the Thriving Farmer Summit. https://www.thrivingfarmersummit.com/sales-page-34218735ab
- Becoming a Thriving Farmer
- Success with Farmers Markets
- 4 Simple Strategies to Keep Customers
- Yes, Microgreens Are Still Hot
- Short (2-5 minute) videos on crop insurance options in Alaska and why you'd want to use them. Two of them feature Alaskan farmers' takes on why they insure their crops. Produced by AgriLogic Consulting. They have several that are specifically about Alaska and other, longer videos as well. https://vimeo.com/agrilogicconsulting
- Western SARE announces the launching of their podcast Fresh Growth: Approaches to a More Sustainable Future from Western Ag Practitioners. The podcast introduces you to farmers and ranchers from around the western United States who are finding innovative sustainable practices that enrich the natural resources we all care about. Listen in as they tell their story and provide advice for young or beginning farmers.
- Check out past Ag Matters Radio episodes on their website. Produced by Radio Free Palmer/Big Cabbage Radio. Good stuff. Recent episodes include interviews with Alaska Flour Company, Roaming Root (Fairbanks' first mobile food market), and Senator Lisa Murkowski (on bills impacting Alaskan agriculture).
A few useful cellphone apps for Ag producers:
- Smart Receipts: makes taxes easy; saves your receipts in electronic form (photos them, screenshots of online purchase receipts, etc.).
- The MARS: Recordkeeping app is available on the Iphone App store for free. Should be super useful for small diversified/hobby farms that need to track their income/expenses throughout the year for Schedule F tax purposes. Developed by AgriLogic. The Android version will be released soon.
- Grow&Tell: What grows where? Share what vegetables grew well, which didn't grow so well, and which ones tasted best. See what other gardeners near you are growing and download your own personal gardening journal.
Farm Storage Facility Loans. The USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Farm Storage Facility Loan (FSFL) program provides low-interest financing to producers to build or upgrade storage facilities and to purchase portable (new or used) structures, equipment and storage and handling trucks. Contact Erin Sturdivant at FSA Alaska for more: erin.sturdivant@usda.gov
Value Added Producer Grant from USDA Rural Development. Designed to help agricultural producers enter into value-added activities related to the processing and marketing of new products. The goals of this program are to generate new products, create and expand marketing opportunities and increase producer income. You may receive priority if you are a beginning farmer or rancher, a socially-disadvantaged farmer or rancher, a small or medium-sized farm or ranch structured as a family farm, a farmer or rancher cooperative or are proposing a mid-tier value chain. Applications due March 10th.
Learn more here.
Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP). From USDA. The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (aka the 2018 Farm Bill) reauthorized the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and provides mandatory funds to support education, mentoring, and technical assistance initiatives for beginning farmers and ranchers. Learn more here.
Rural Business Development Grant from USDA Rural Development. Small businesses (including Ag) are vital to growing and sustaining rural economies, but starting and growing them isn’t easy. The Rural Business Development Grant Program (RBDG) supports the development and growth of rural small and emerging businesses with fewer than 50 employees and less than $1 million in gross revenues. The program awards grants on a competitive basis to towns and other governmental entities, Native American Tribes, rural cooperatives, higher education institutions, and nonprofit organizations for planning, technical assistance, job training, and acquisition of land, capital, equipment and other business development needs. Support is available in the form of either enterprise or opportunity grants. Deadline to apply is March 31st. Two easy resources to learn more. https://sustainableagriculture.net/publications/grassrootsguide/rural-development/rural-business-development-program/ and https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/rural-business-development-grants
Alaska Farm Bureau 2020 Membership Drive - with prizes for the winners! They hope to have each chapter increase their members by 20% or 20 members. To reach this goal there will be prizes for individuals:
- 1st place: Up to $650 on airfare
- 2nd place: 2-night getaway at your choice of Lands' End Resort or Chena Hot Springs
- 3rd place: One delicious Prime Rib roast courtesy of Mugrage Hay & Cattle
American Farm Bureau Federation has many programs available for members and state Farm Bureaus, including the Young Farmer and Rancher (YF&R) program. The objective of YF&R is to provide leadership in building a more effective Farm Bureau through engaging young farmers and ranchers across the country and providing tools and training to be more effective agriculture advocates. Alaska Farm Bureau members save up to 75% off on office, home and school supplies at Office Depot OfficeMax, up to 15% on orders from Dungarees.com, and discounted rooms at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
Interested in learning more about local food production and/or the perspective on local foods from local restaurateurs or other commercial buyers? Well, head over to Homer soil & Water Conservation District's webpage and click on the links to our two food system study reports completed in November. They're on the home page. homerswcd.org
Are you planning on breaking new ground? Don't forget our local agency resources prior to shoveling in for land clearing or drainage type projects. Feel free to call the Homer branch of the USDA -NRCS to help you determine whether the area has highly erodible land (HEL) or wetlands. You could be eligible for technical or financial assistance programs! Call NRCS at (907) 235-8177 ext 3, or visit https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/ak/home/
We'd like to spread the word that Senator Murkowski's Micro-Grants for Geographically Disadvantaged Farmers has recently been funded in the U.S. Farm Bill to the tune of $5 million, with $2 million slated for Alaska. This grant will be administered by the Alaska Division of Agriculture, but it's so new they are still working out the details of managing it. Stay tuned for more.
UP The Road and Beyond
Saturday, February 29th: Farmers Day & Barn Dance, 2:00-8:00 pm, held at the Ionia Barn in Kasilof. Kenai Local Food Connection presents the first annual Farmers Day & Barn Dance, a free, family-friendly event for farmers, prospective farmers and farm-supporting organizations to make connections and build community. From 2 - 5 pm, take the leap and visit with organizations and businesses that support local farms, with services that range from grants and cost-share programs, to markets and marketing advice, to seed and supplies. Bring a book for the farmers book exchange. From 5 - 6 pm, get to know your neighbors while enjoying a Farmer Appreciation dinner prepared by the chefs at Ionia. Evening entertainment from 6 to 8 pm includes an old-fashioned barn dance with live music and caller, and a farm-themed spelling bee! It's a day of making connections and building community -- Feb. 29 -- at Ionia. Directions to the Ionia Barn can be found on the event flyer and at www.kenailocalfood.org. For more information, contact Eliza at 252-2314.
SAVE THE DATE: April 2-4, 2020: Alaska Farmer's Market Association Conference - Sheraton Hotel - Anchorage, AK
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