Urban Ag Extension

The USDA recently started an Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production. They are now forming an Advisory Committee on Urban Agriculture. "The 12-person committee will advise the Secretary of Agriculture on the development of policies and outreach relating to urban, indoor, and other emerging agricultural production practices as well as identify any barriers to urban agriculture" (from press release). 
 
The deadline to apply to serve on the committee is March 5, 2021. 
 
The USDA does a lot of things that affect farmers: farm funding programs through the Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service, research through the Agricultural Research Service, market development through the Agricultural Marketing Service, grants through the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, farm census surveying through National Agricultural Statistics Service, and more. The people who serve on this new committee will have an opportunity to push USDA to make its work more relevant to and supportive of urban farmers. 
 
To apply to serve on the committee, you would need to write a cover letter, fill out a form about your background, and provide a resume. I would suggest including keywords in your application from the following list of kinds of individuals that the USDA is looking to recruit for the committee: 

• Four agricultural producers (two agricultural producers in an urban area or urban cluster and two agricultural producers who use innovative technology).
• Two representatives from an institution of higher education or extension program.
• One representative of a nonprofit organization, which may include a public health, environmental or community organization.
• One representative of business and economic development, which may include a business development entity, a chamber of commerce, a city government or a planning organization.
• One individual with supply chain experience, which may include a food aggregator, wholesale food distributor, food hub or an individual who has direct-to-consumer market experience.
• One individual from a financing entity.
• Two individuals with related experience or expertise in urban, indoor and other emerging agriculture production practices, as determined by the Secretary.

For more information, and to apply, click here: https://www.fsa.usda.gov/news-room/news-releases/2021/usda-seeks-members-for-advisory-committee-on-urban-agriculture?utm_campaign=urbanfarmers&utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Jan 13, 2021 Press release from the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation (MARBIDC)
 

The Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation (MARBIDCO) has announced a grant funding opportunity to encourage Maryland's agricultural producers to engage in value-added activities and pursue financial support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Value Added Producer Grants Program (USDA-VAPG). The USDA-VAPG is a highly competitive nationwide grants program with approximately $33 million available for distribution in 2021. These federal grant funds, which can range up to as much as $250,000, can be used for planning (up to $75,000) or working capital expenses (up to $250,000) in accordance with USDA regulations. Eligible purposes include feasibility studies or business plans, working capital for producing and marketing value-added agricultural products, and for farm-based renewable energy projects. 

MARBIDCO is making available Maryland Value Added Producer Matching Grants (MVAPMG) of up to 15% of the amount of a USDA-VAPG award to help an eligible applicant meet the one-for-one non-federal financial matching requirement (with a cap of $25,000). All applicants that meet the MARBIDCO requirements will receive a commitment of matching funds to be included with their federal USDA-VAPG application. A MVAPMG monetary award from MARBIDCO will only be provided to an applicant that is selected to receive USDA-VAPG funding.    

The application submission deadline for the national USDA-VAPG program is March 22, 2021. Questions regarding the USDA-VAPG can be addressed to the Maryland/Delaware Office of USDA-Rural Development at 302-857-3629, or visit USDA’s website for more information.

Applicants seeking to receive a commitment of matching funds from MARBIDCO must submit an application at least two weeks prior to the federal submission deadline. The deadline for the submission of hand-delivered MARBIDCO applications is Monday, March 8, 2021, at 4 p.m. (or by mail, postmarked no later than Thursday, March 4, 2021). Electronic submissions are due March 8, 2021, by 4 p.m. and can be sent to dsweeney@marbidco.org

Please visit MARBIDCO's website for more information and to download the MVAPMG application form: www.marbidco.org For questions about the MVAPMG, please contact MARBIDCO Financial Programs Associate Daniel Sweeney at 410-267-6807 or dsweeney@marbidco.org

Care-A-Lot Grant Program 

This program provides support for Baltimore City non-profits or community organizations with 501c3 status who are able to mow and help maintain vacant lots in the City during the "Growing Season." Organizations can receive up to $22 per lot for up to 25 lots for a maximum of 10 mows per year. 

The deadline to apply is March 1st.

For more information, email BMOREBeautiful@baltimorecity.gov

More info about BMORE Beautiful here.

The Baltimore Office of Sustainability's Food Policy Action Coalition shared the following information:

If you are actively participating in frontline food distribution efforts or are an agricultural or food production worker, you are eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine under the state of Maryland’s Phase 1, Priority Group 1C. While you are eligible, the availability of vaccines is very limited at this time. We know that the status of COVID-19 Vaccinations is constantly evolving but we wanted to try to provide some information that might be useful. 

While vaccines are not readily available, we suggest that you and your staff/volunteers try to pre-register on multiple lists so that you can get notified when they are available. We know that not all the forms are the same and it may be confusing to determine which box you should check on various forms. Do your best to check the box that most closely relates to your food response work (ex: food worker, food production, etc). If some forms do not include any food related roles it is likely they have not added 1C qualified individuals to their list quite yet. We suggest checking those sites periodically to see if they have opened up sign-ups to Priority Group 1C. 

• BCHD Vaccine Interest Form for those 65+: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfNfn_mjDMXdnqJIlXgqHUCTXAJj0CVR9LDVhkqM0D4YG7-fw/viewform OR call Maryland Access Point at 410-396-CARE (2273)

• To find vaccine sites in Maryland, visit the state covid page: https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/pages/vaccine 

• University of Maryland Medical System: https://www.umms.org/coronavirus/covid-vaccine/get-vaccine

• MedStar Health: https://www.medstarhealth.org/mhs/about-medstar/covid-19-vaccine-information/

• Sinai Hospital: https://www.lifebridgehealth.org/Coronavirus/COVIDVaccine.aspx 

• GBMC (need to include insurance info): https://www.gbmc.org/covid-vaccine 

Here are additional sites that may be offering vaccines. We encourage you to check periodically for availability. 

• Giant Pharmacy: https://giantfood.com/pages/covid-info

• Safeway: https://www.mhealthappointments.com/covidappt

• RiteAid: https://www.riteaid.com/Covid-19 

Health Department Updates

The Health Department is providing updates regularly over social media and the covid website. It may be helpful to follow these pages: 

https://www.facebook.com/BaltimoreHealth

https://coronavirus.baltimorecity.gov/covid-19-vaccine-information 

Below is the most recent update shared by the Baltimore City Health Department (1/27/21):

ICYMI: Baltimore City COVID-19 Vaccination Announcements, Mid-Week round up.

As of Monday, January 25th, Baltimore City is officially in Phase 1C, and new groups are eligible for COVID-19 vaccinations, including older adults aged 65 and older.

The Baltimore City Health Department's vaccine clinic moved from Port Covington to Baltimore City Community College on January 25th. Appointments with the Baltimore City Health Department remain limited at this time. Those with appointments at Port Covington (either first or second dose) should have received an email detailing these changes- your location has changed, but not your appointment time.

Appointments at this time remain limited. Baltimore residents seeking vaccines can "pre-register" in one of three ways.

At this time, older adults aged 65 and up can fill out a "vaccine interest" form at coroanvirus.baltimorecity.gov/covax

Those older adults without access to the internet can call our MAP Hotline at 410-396-CARE(2273) for assistance in signing up. We will call those older adults who sign up back when a vaccination appointment becomes available. We have seen a surge of interest from older adults and are aware of long wait times for the MAP hotline. We are working to increase staffing at our call center to address this concern.

Those Baltimore residents who work or live in Baltimore can also visit coronavirus.maryland.gov to "pre-register" for vaccine directly with health care providers in the area. Individual health care providers will then reach back out once vaccine appointments become available.

On February 2nd, from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm, Health Commissioner Dzirasa will be holding a town hall for older adults in Baltimore regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Call-in toll-free at 1-877-311-7164.

Governor Hogan on January 26th announced that beginning February 5th, the Baltimore City Convention Center will become a mass vaccination site. M&T Bank is also being considered as a future site, once more vaccines are delivered to Maryland. When we have more information about these developments, we will share it on our social media, and website! https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/.../maryland-launching.../

For reference, updates, and information about the COVID-19 vaccine, visit  coronavirus.baltimorecity.gov/covax.

Baltimore hydroponic farm City Hydro was featured on the January 19 episode of Maryland Farm and Harvest. You can watch the segment on YouTube, or Maryland Public Television. 

Excerpt from the episode press release below: 
 

• The Local Buy: City-Hydro (Baltimore City). Segment host Al Spoler heads indoors and learns how Larry and Johanna Hountz grow all their crops in one room at City-Hydro in Baltimore. This vertical growing operation in a Fells Point row house produces 85 varieties of microgreens, which supply local restaurants and farmers markets. A former cybersecurity consultant, Larry is now all in on indoor farming and even produces and sells vertical farming kits to people across the country interested in starting their own operations. A recipe using fresh vegetables and microgreens will be available at mpt.org/farm