Grants aid low-income families with farming
TRAVERSE CITY — A program to help low-income families get started in farming is available through the Michigan Land Use Institute.
The Farmer Individual Development Accounts program is part of the Michigan Saves program through the Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency.
Private contributions of up to $1,000 are matched by private funds available through Cherry Republic and federal funds, providing up to $3,000 to start or upgrade a farm or food business.
Applicants must have incomes within 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines, or a maximum annual income of $44,700 for a family of four. The NMCAA reviews applications for eligibility requirements.
More information is available from Jim Sluyter, coordinator of the Get Farming program at the institute. Contact him at 941-6584, ext. 15.
USDA will survey Michigan producers
TRAVERSE CITY — Farmers and ranches across Michigan will be contacted in the coming months for a resource management survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service will contact about 450 agriculture producers in Michigan to collect information on operating expenditures, production costs and household data.
Individual survey results will be kept confidential and used as baseline information for developing federal agriculture policies and programs.
Nearly 35,000 producers will be surveyed nationwide.
Collective results from the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) will be used for the USDA's annual Farm Production Expenditures report to be released on Aug. 2. Economic data will be used for several reports to be issued by the USDA later this year.
More information on agriculture surveys and reports is available from the USDA's Michigan Field Office at 1-800-453-7501.
Vegetable production down, but value is up
TRAVERSE CITY — Fresh market vegetable production in Michigan dipped in 2011, but produce value increased, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The state produced 7.89 million hundredweight (cwt) of fresh market vegetables last year, down 6 percent from 2010. The figures include asparagus, snap beans, cabbage, carrots, celery, sweet corn, cucumbers, onions, bell peppers, pumpkins, squash and tomatoes.
Despite the production decrease, the farm-level value of the vegetables increased 2 percent to more than $178 million. That kept Michigan ranked eighth in the U.S. for the value of fresh market vegetables, said Jay Johnson, director of the National Agriculture Statistics Service's Michigan Field Office.
Fresh market vegetable and melon production in the U.S. was estimated at 435 million cwt for 2011, down 2 percent from a year earlier. The value of the 2011 crop is estimated at $11.1 billion, up 1 percent.
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