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newstfionline · 4 years

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Monday, January 11, 2021

The workers hit hardest during Covid-19’s first wave are getting pummeled again (Yahoo Finance) Since the beginning of the pandemic, one group of workers has been hurt far more than others: those working in the service industries, specifically in leisure and hospitality jobs. And in December after some progress, that industry lost jobs once again. “The most recent surge in coronavirus cases is once again battering the US labor market,” Indeed’s economic research director Nick Bunker wrote in a note. “The economic fallout from this wave of cases is hitting the industries and workers pummeled hardest by the initial damage before they fully bounced back from that first hit.” The latest hit isn’t as bad as the spring, as vaccines are rolling out and certain measures are in place, but restaurants, bars, and other jobs that depend on people interacting still cannot do business in a pandemic environment.

Squelched by Twitter, Trump seeks new online megaphone (AP) One Twitter wag joked about lights flickering on and off at the White House being Donald Trump signaling to his followers in Morse code after Twitter and Facebook squelched the president for inciting rebellion. Though deprived of his big online megaphones, Trump does have alternative options of much smaller reach. The far right-friendly Parler may be the leading candidate, though Google and Apple have both removed it from their app stores and Amazon decided to boot it off its web hosting service. Trump may launch his own platform. But that won’t happen overnight, and free speech experts anticipate growing pressure on all social media platforms to curb incendiary speech as Americans take stock of Wednesday’s violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol. Facebook and Instagram have suspended Trump at least until Inauguration Day. Twitch and Snapchat also have disabled Trump’s accounts, while Shopify took down online stores affiliated with the president and Reddit removed a Trump subgroup. Twitter also banned Trump loyalists including former national security advisor Michael Flynn in a sweeping purge of accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory and the Capitol insurrection. Some had hundreds of thousands of followers.

Navy’s Priciest Carrier Ever Struggles to Get Jets On, Off Deck (Bloomberg) Aircraft takeoff and landing systems on the USS Gerald R. Ford remain unreliable and break down too often more than three years after the $13.2 billion carrier was delivered, according to the Pentagon’s top tester. The latest assessment of the costliest warship ever built “remains consistent” with previous years, director of testing Robert Behler said in his new summary of the program obtained by Bloomberg News before its release in an annual report. The Ford’s new systems—which propel planes off the deck and into the sky and then snag them on landing—are crucial to justifying the expense of what’s now a four-vessel, $57 billion program intended to replace the current Nimitz class of aircraft carriers. The continuing reliability woes with the carrier systems built by General Atomics of San Diego are separate from another continuing challenge: the installation and certification of elevators needed to lift munitions from below deck. As of November, six of 11 “advanced weapons elevators” that should have been installed when the ship was delivered in May 2017 are now operational.

In Central America, tensions rise as soldiers aim to stop migrants (Reuters) Guatemalan and Honduran soldiers will be deployed to prevent new U.S.-bound migrant caravans from advancing, military officials said, amid growing desperation among those seeking to cross and signs that some groups will depart later this month. Two devastating hurricanes late last year along with severe economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic have pushed millions of people in the already-poor region closer to hunger, leading to a steady rise in U.S.-bound migration through Mexico. In online forums, many Honduras have indicated they plan to leave next weekend in a new caravan, which has caught the attention of U.S. officials who have called on the region’s governments to stop them. Many migrants in recent years have chosen to travel by caravan because being part of a large group offers protection from criminals who might prey on them, even though traveling alone is often faster.

Johnson under fire as UK again faces onslaught of COVID-19 (AP) The crisis facing Britain this winter is depressingly familiar: Stay-at-home orders and empty streets. Hospitals overflowing. A daily toll of many hundreds of coronavirus deaths. The U.K. is the epicenter of Europe’s COVID-19 outbreak once more, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government is facing questions, and anger, as people demand to know how the country has ended up here—again. Many countries are enduring new waves of the virus, but Britain’s is among the worst, and it comes after a horrendous 2020. More than 3 million people in the U.K. have tested positive for the coronavirus and 81,000 have died—30,000 in just the last 30 days. The economy has shrunk by 8%, more than 800,000 jobs have been lost and hundreds of thousands more furloughed workers are in limbo. Even with the new lockdown, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Friday that the situation in the capital was “critical,” with one in every 30 people infected. “The stark reality is that we will run out of beds for patients in the next couple of weeks unless the spread of the virus slows down drastically,” he said.

In the Cold and Rain, India’s Farmers Press Their Stand Against Modi (NYT) Under a rain-slick tarpaulin, half a dozen elderly women bake roti on a wood-fired griddle—flattening dough, flipping browned bread from dawn until the sun retreats into Delhi’s evening smoke. Anyone who walks in gets served rice and cooked vegetables and, to wash it down, a cumin-flavored yogurt drink. Across the road, Jagjeet Singh, a burly man with a large fanny pack and a light purple turban, churns a hefty pot of milk coffee from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. The scenes stretching for miles around the Indian capital don’t come from a fair. They make up one of the largest sustained protests the country has seen in decades, persisting through steady rains and dozens of deaths that farmers and the Indian media have attributed to the weather, illness or suicide. For six weeks now, tens of thousands of farmers have choked the city’s four main entry points. They are challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has crushed all other opposition and stands as the country’s dominant political force, over his effort to reshape how farming in India has been done for decades. “They sold everything else. Only the farmers are left,” said 18-year old Ajay Veer Singh, who has been at the protest with his 67-year-old grandfather since it began in November. “Now they want to sell the farmers to their corporate friends too.”

China sees growing outbreak south of Beijing (AP) More than 360 people have tested positive in a growing coronavirus outbreak south of Beijing in neighboring Hebei province. The outbreak has raised particular concern because of Hebei’s proximity to the nation’s capital. Travel between the two has been restricted, with workers from Hebei having to show proof of employment in Beijing to enter the city. Almost all of the cases are in Shijuazhuang, the provincial capital, which is about 260 kilometers (160 miles) southwest of Beijing. A handful have also been found in Xingtai city, 110 kilometers (68 miles) farther south. Both cities have conducted mass testing of millions of residents, suspended public transportation and restricted residents to their communities or villages for one week.

Pompeo voids restrictions on diplomatic contacts with Taiwan (AP) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Saturday that the State Department is voiding longstanding restrictions on how U.S. diplomats and others have contact with their counterparts in Taiwan, another move that is expected to upset China as the Trump administration winds to an end. The Trump administration has sought to strengthen bilateral relations with Taiwan. It announced Thursday that U.N Ambassador Kelly Craft would go to Taiwan, a move that sparked sharp criticism from Beijing and a warning that the U.S. would pay a heavy price. In August, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar became the first Cabinet member to visit Taiwan since 2014. Pompeo said that the State Department has created complex restrictions when it comes to contacts between the two parties. He said those actions were taken to appease the Communist regime in Beijing. “No more,” Pompeo declared in a statement. “Today I am announcing that I am lifting all of these self-imposed restrictions.” The Chinese government maintains that mainland China and Taiwan are parts of “one China.” China has been stepping up its threats to bring the self-governing island under its control by military force with frequent war games and aerial patrols. It has been using its diplomatic clout to stop Taiwan from joining any organizations that require statehood for membership.

Japanese pray for end to pandemic in annual ice bath ritual at Tokyo shrine (Reuters) Men wearing traditional loin clothes and women dressed in white robes clapped and chanted before going into an ice water bath during a Shinto ritual at a Tokyo shrine on Sunday to purify the soul and pray for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only a dozen people took part in the annual event at Teppou-zu Inari Shrine, scaled down this year due to the health crisis, compared to over a hundred in early 2020. After doing warming-up exercises and chanting under a clear sky with outside temperatures at 5.1 degree Celsius (41.18 Fahrenheit), the nine male and three female participants went into a bath filled with cold water and large ice blocks. Fewer participants at the Shinto ritual made the water extra cold, participant Naoaki Yamaguchi told Reuters. “Normally we have more participants and it makes the water temperature a little bit warmer. But this year, there were just twelve people, so it (the cold) was crazy,” the 47-year-old said.

Indonesian divers find parts of plane wreckage in Java Sea (AP) Indonesian divers on Sunday located parts of the wreckage of a Boeing 737-500 at a depth of 23 meters (75 feet) in the Java Sea, a day after the aircraft with 62 people onboard crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta. Earlier, rescuers pulled out body parts, pieces of clothing and scraps of metal from the surface. It’s still unclear what caused the crash. There was no sign of survivors. Fishermen in the area between Lancang and Laki islands, part of an archipelago around Thousand Islands north of Jakarta’s coast, reported hearing an explosion around 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

At a Yemen hospital wracked by U.S. funding cuts, children are dying of hunger (Washington Post) Her infant son, weakened by hunger, needed a better-equipped hospital in the capital, Sanaa, roughly 30 miles away. But Hanan Saleh could no longer afford even the $30 taxi fare. Before, she depended on a Western aid organization, Save the Children, for funds, drawn from money donated by the United States, to cover the travel costs, said employees of the organization and hospital officials. But last year, the United States slashed its funding to United Nations groups and others such as Save the Children. So Saleh had to raise money to treat her son, Mohammed, in Sanaa until those funds ran out, too. Her last option was a small hospital in this northern Yemen market town, a 15-minute walk from their home. The staff tried to build up his skeletal, malnourished 9-month-old body. “He died two months ago,” Saleh recalled in November, breaking down in tears. Aid cuts by the Trump administration and other Western countries, intended to prevent Yemen’s Houthi rebels from diverting or blocking funds, are worsening the country’s humanitarian crisis, already considered the most severe in the world. Last year’s pledges totaling $1.61 billion were less than half of 2019’s funding, and hundreds of millions of dollars committed by donors have not yet been paid, according to the U.N.’s humanitarian office for Yemen. At least 15 of the U.N.’s 41 major programs have been scaled back or closed, and additional programs could shutter in the months to come, if more funds are not received, U.N. officials say.

The Tiny Satellites That Will Connect Cows, Cars and Shipping Containers to the Internet (WSJ) Scientists who track the health of Adélie penguins on the ice-covered wastes of Antarctica are managing their cameras from thousands of miles away—via tiny satellites orbiting above our heads. Energy companies are exploring using the same technology for monitoring hard-to-reach wind farms; logistics companies for tracking shipping containers; and agribusiness companies for minding cattle. It even helped National Geographic track a discarded plastic bottle from Bangladesh to the Indian Ocean. In the near future, it isn’t unreasonable to imagine this evolving satellite technology could put a distress beacon in every automobile, allow remote monitoring of wildlife in any environment on earth, and track your Amazon shipment—not just when it’s on a truck, but backward, all the way to the factory that produced it. And it could be done at a fraction of the cost of earlier satellite tracking systems. These novel networks of nanosats—aka cubesats—are a result of a number of factors. First, the satellites themselves are smaller, cheaper and more capable than ever. Just as important, there’s the rollout and adoption of new long-distance, low-power wireless communication standards that can work just as well in outer space as they do on the ground. In the next year, hundreds of satellites from more than a dozen companies are set to launch.

#headlines #news

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gigglesndimples · 6 years

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The Meteoric Rise of Canada’s Legal Cannabis Industry

While the US boasts the largest economy and stock market in the world, with giants Apple, Netflix and Google, Canada offers the largest cannabis companies for now.

To be sure, US cannabis companies such as MedMen Enterprises Inc. and Terra Tech Corp. have been expanding quickly. But Canada’s Tilray Inc., Canopy Growth Corp., Aurora Cannabis Inc., Aphria Inc., Cronos Group Inc. and others have bulked up significantly. The leading Canadian company, British Columbia-based Tilray, is currently valued at $14.4 billion.

With adult-use sales scheduled to begin in Canada on October 17, the spigot of capital has opened as investors pour money into the nation’s top pot stocks. The total cannabis market in Canada, including medical and recreational products, may yield up to $5.4 billion (C$7.2 billion) in sales next year, according to estimates from Deloitte.

With an eye on this growth, financiers and executives have been eager to offer investors new options. Tilray’s shares jumped 30% in their stock market debut on the NASDAQ on July 19, giving the company a total market value of $2.7 billion at the time. It’s a rich price tag for a business on track to earn just $80 million this year.

But that’s the kind of valuation pot stocks have been receiving as investors rush in with an eye on huge growth. In the last year, Canopy Growth shares have risen from $8 to its current $53. The company now lists its shares on the New York Stock Exchange after trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE). Tilray’s stock has leapt to an incredible $221 after the announcement that the company would be providing cannabis for research purposes in the US. Aurora Cannabis stock has tripled to $9 and Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd. stock also doubled to $6 since its shares went on the TSE in May.

Eager to get on the bandwagon, US-based cannabis companies have been listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) as well. MedMen (MMEN:CN) started trading in May. Acreage Holdings, another US cannabis company, plans to list its shares on the CSE in the next few months.

GreenWave Advisors’ Matt Karnes

Beware of Reverse Mergers and Risky Businesses

These and other companies get listed through reverse mergers involving a shell company that already has public stock that’s trading. Matt Karnes, founder of GreenWave Advisors and a former Wall Street analyst, says companies that go public in Canada through reverse mergers may pose an additional layer of risk because the process avoids many of the traditional disclosure requirements to guide investors.

“They’re not subject to normal filings, so it’s a bit like getting in through the back door,” he tells Freedom Leaf. “It’s riskier because the companies are not subject to the same scrutiny. The traditional public filing process is a lot more rigorous than a reverse merger. That’s where the difference is. But once the company is established, additional disclosures are often made.”

Investors should remain cautious about reverse mergers, Karnes explains, “because it’s so easy to do, there are some shady characters claiming they have cannabis businesses. It’s slowly going away though, as investors weed them out.”

MATT KARNES: “Some of the prices are rather steep. You’re really betting on the future.”

Canada is the top choice for pot investing in the midst of the legal adult-use market about to take off nationally. “Any young industry is going to present challenges and some volatility,” he points out. “There may be an oversupply at some point, since there are a lot of growers. You’re not going to need all these producers, so that’s a big risk.”

Larger companies such as Canopy Growth and Aphria are seeking sales outside Canada in the US and other countries. “The bigger players are teed up for international opportunities,” Karnes says. “Canada will be able to export its products. It’s well positioned for the recreational market.”

Another challenge for investors is to avoid overpaying for a stock, given the lofty valuations that may deflate at some point. “You have to determine the intrinsic value of the stock based on growth prospects for the company,” he states. “Some of the prices are rather steep. You’re really betting on the future.”

Quadron Cannatech’s Rosy Mondin at ICBC Vancouver in June (photo by Matt Emrich)

Optimism in the Great White North

Among Canadian companies, Vancouver-based cannabis extractor Quadron Cannatech Corp. (QCC:CN) has the distinction of hiring the first female cannabis CEO, Rosy Mondin, among companies on the CSE. She may also be the first pot stock CEO in the world (MPX Bioceutical has a female chief operating officer, but not a CEO).

“We’re the first G7 country to legalize adult-use cannabis,” Mondin boasts. “Canada already has a robust medical-use market. BC Bud is an internationally known strain, similar to the reputation of the varieties in Northern California. That’s one reason why Canada is such a big deal in the space.”

Quadron Cannatech’s business model is similar to the wine industry. With wine, consumers don’t usually follow the grower of the grapes, but the brands that are created from the grapes. The same may happen with cannabis.

ROSY MONDIN: “The amount the industry is going to evolve come October and thereafter is huge.”

“Entrepreneurs and investors have been jumping into the space because we’re developing a new commercialized industry,” Mondin comments. “It’s a very exciting business. Cultivation has been the first one out of the gate, attracting substantial investment dollars. But in 2014, my business partners and I entered the extraction market. We saw the future of cannabis moving toward oils. At the time, it was difficult to communicate the enormity of the cannabis concentrates market. People thought we had feet growing out our heads as not many were thinking about concentrating cannabis into a value-added product.”

With 113 licensed medical-cannabis producers (LPs), the Canadian industry has already come a long way, and adult-use sales are just around the corner. “This is an industry that, until recently, even the government licensed producers were having difficulty obtaining banking services, and institutional lending was virtually non-existent,” she says. “It’s not a great commercialized environment yet. However, as legalization progresses with the establishment of the regulatory framework, we’re seeing more business sectors coming into this space.

“If you think about all the segments that are needed to service the legalized cannabis industry, the amount the industry is going to evolve come October and thereafter is huge,” Mondin predicts. “People are not really grasping the scope of it and how immature it is right now.”

Expect Growing Pains

Quadron Cannatech president Leo Chamberland thinks many companies in the cannabis space will not succeed. Larger firms like Canopy Growth will likely survive, but he expects the industry “will face consolidation and severe adjustments to valuations” that will likely leave smaller players vulnerable.

Entrepreneurs need to have some kind of track record and not just a compelling story behind their businesses. With cultivation in the spotlight, everyone claims they’re the best farmers, but that may not guarantee success.

“Very few can do it on a large, commercial scale,” Chamberland says. “Do they have the management skills? Have they done this before? You may be able to grow the best weed, but it’s a business and it has to work like that.”

Despite these hurdles, the country known for hockey and maple syrup will continue to get behind cannabis. “People are excited to invest in the sector,” Chamberland adds. “It’s not very often that something like this happens. Cannabis has been around for a long time. It’s known. It’s tangible.”

The leaf on the Canadian flag may be cannabis after all.

The Top 12 Canadian Pot Stocks

What You Need to Know About High Times’ Public Offering

If you enjoyed this Freedom Leaf article, subscribe to the magazine today!

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billgsoto · 7 years

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Racial Equity in the Farm Bill: Barriers for Farmers of Color

From left: Linda Newkirk, Farm Services Agency, Arkansas State Executive Director, Mildred Barnes-Griggs, consultant, East Arkansas Enterprise Community, Inc., Charlie Williams, United States Department of Agriculture, Arkansas Strike Team Leader and Hillary Haddigan, Heifer International look at a turnip grown at the EAEC in Forrest City, Arkansas. The EAEC is a beneficiary of technical assistance available for crop production, management, harvesting, food security, value added products and marketing options through the Seeds of Change Implementation Plan. The Seeds of Change Implementation Plan was organized to use sustainable agriculture to build food systems in the Arkansas Delta. The program has evolved into the Arkansas Delta Seeds of Change Initiative. USDA photo by Bob Nichols

Editor’s Note: This blog post is the second in a multi-part series by NSAC Policy Intern Noah McDonald that explores how the next Farm Bill can advance racial equity in food and agriculture. The first post in this series focused on the historical context of racial equity and the farm bill and highlighted some of the historical policies that have contributed to the food and farming system we have today. This second post explores how historical inequities and injustices have carried over into the present day, and the challenges that farmers and food/farm advocates continue to face in accessing federal programs and resources. The content within this blog was the result of a series of interviews that took place with National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) members between October and November 2017.

Farming has always been a risky business – results are never guaranteed, hard work is always required, and the potential challenges can change daily. Farmers of color – including immigrant, refugee, tribal, and farmworker communities – face an additional set of barriers, both to entering and to sustaining successful careers in agriculture. Some of these barriers have been broken down over the years, however, many obstacles have also intensified and new ones have also cropped up.

Historically, farmers of color have not participated in U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs (e.g., conservation, disaster, and loan assistance programs) to the same extent as other farmers, due in part to a combination of inadequate outreach and assistance and discrimination towards these communities.

Both individual farmers and organizations that support farmers of color continue to face challenges in expanding access to these valuable USDA assistance programs and resources. But what exactly are the barriers these farmers and organizations face, and why do they persist? This blog post explores how both institutional racism (as opposed to interpersonal racism) and marginalization* contribute to inequitable access to federal resources.

*Marginalization is when people/organizations/groups are excluded from accessing resources held by a privileged group based upon their judged ideological, cultural, political, and/or social proximity to a privileged group. Marginalization is one of the many forms of inequity. This post will use the terms ‘marginalized’ or ‘marginal’, and we must understand it within this context.

Along with Resources, Outreach Is Key

In speaking with our members, one of the most important themes that emerged is that federal programs, regardless of their specific focus on or priority for socially-disadvantaged farmers, serve a fundamental role in supporting farmers of color and their farming operations. Some of the most cited farm bill programs include: Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans, federal crop insurance, the Conservation Stewardship Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program, as well as a host of other outreach and research programs.

Programs that are specifically targeted towards socially disadvantaged farmers, including the Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers (“2501 program”) as well as funding set-asides within other programs, primarily serve as a mechanism for increasing access to USDA programs. As discussed in the last post, funding set-asides are critical to making sure that already limited federal resources are accessible to farmers of color and other underserved farmers whose participation rates are disproportionately low. Many farmers and organizations would face further marginalization without these set-asides and targeted assistance.

The Southeastern Michigan Producers Association (SEMPA), a farmer group that is affiliated with NSAC member, Michigan Integrated Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS), knows first-hand the importance of targeted funding and programs for farmers of color.

Cary Junior, co-founder and acting director of SEMPA, spoke to NSAC about the challenges still faced by farmers of color, despite the progress made over the years:

“Although USDA has done a pretty good job at outreach with our [mostly Black] farmers, as of now, there’s still a lot of distrust we’re still having to work through.”

Many of the farmers Junior works with in southeastern Michigan, especially older Black farmers, are still unwilling to work with USDA because of the Department’s legacy of discrimination. They feel that in the past, USDA had not made a sincere effort to support them in the manner in which they supported other farmers (for more information on that legacy read the following article).

The distrust and hesitancy that Junior’s farmer constituents feel is an embodiment of why outreach programs are a critical part of changing the relationship between USDA and farmers of color. Programs like Section 2501 support farmer and farm advocate organizations in helping to form and better solidify these connections, and they serve to fill longstanding gaps in resources, communications, and technical assistance services. In some cases, organizations supported by Section 2501 grants go beyond just providing outreach and resources by adding hands-on work with local farmers. For instance, many organizations will connect farmers with advocates who can accompany them in person to meetings with USDA offices or with lenders, and who can also help them understand contracts or fill out program applications.

Compounded Challenges for Beginning Farmers

Challenges for farmers of color are compounded when they are also just starting or seeking to start careers in agriculture. Much of this struggle is caused by a large and persistent wealth gap between White Americans and African Americans – on average, Whites hold 13 times more wealth than African Americans, a gap that holds across income and class levels (for more information on the racial wealth gap click here).

Tyler Nesbit is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for Florida Organic Growers (FOG), an NSAC member organization based in Gainesville FL. During his interview with NSAC, Nesbit made some particularly pointed observations about the potential for organic and urban agriculture to create economic opportunity for communities of color.

“One of the things I’ve encountered while working in the Learning Garden [a space at a local community garden where FOG holds training workshops] is that there is a lot of ‘untapped’ informal knowledge around farming and gardening in the surrounding community,” Nesbit said. “There is a lot of intergenerational [agricultural] knowledge in the community.”

In spaces like FOG’s Learning Garden, beginning farmers have the opportunity to learn and gain skills directly from those in their community. In these types of environments, they are able to get started on their path to a career in agriculture without putting forward substantial resources of their own.

“Neighborhood association leaders [in Gainesville, FL] have communicated to us that there is a need for local economic development in the area – so FOG is incorporating that piece into our outreach activities,” said Nesbit. “[Organic farming] is a way to gain valuable skills in an industry that is continually growing – folks can begin to think of organic farming as a career path and as a viable way of producing economic security. That is part of our objective and goal at FOG.”

In addition to their education resources, FOG also operates an organic cost share program, which provides financial assistance to producers and handlers of agricultural products who are obtaining or renewing their certification under the National Organic Program (NOP). This assistance is especially critical for many beginning farmers and farmers of color, who often do not have the up-front capital to pay for costly organic certification. FOG is also considering applying for a Community Food Project (CFP) grant through USDA in the future. Many other organizations around the country have used funds from CFP to launch programs that support tribal food sovereignty, community garden development and urban agriculture, youth food justice, and healthy food access. Click here to see project abstracts from past awardees.

While barriers to entry in agriculture exist for all new and aspiring farmers, it is critical that organizations and governmental programs also recognize the unique barriers experienced by farmers of color, which include distrust resulting from historic discrimination. If that distrust persists, then programs like the Section 2501 program will never fully be able to bridge gaps in access and quality of services. Additionally, more must be done to increase the accountability, transparency and enforcement of a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination in the administration of federal programs.

Barriers for Low-Capacity Organizations

Just as beginning and aspiring farmers face unique challenges, so too do many of the organizations that serve those farmers and communities. This can true in both rural and urban areas, and can be especially acute for organizations that lack non-profit status, which in many cases prohibits them from even applying for many federal grant programs. There are many unincorporated community-based groups that are committed to farm viability and increasing food access to marginalized individuals — in particular people of color and low-income individuals in urban areas.

Qiana Mickie, Executive Director of the a NYC-based non-profit and NSAC member organization Just Food, talked to NSAC about the struggles urban farms or farm organizations without nonprofit status face:

“[These organizations] are unable to access funding, and so cannot fund or sustain themselves financially. These same organizations, however, are also the ones doing incredibly valuable work in the community. We face persistent challenges that are rooted in systemic inequity. That [inequity] looks like land displacement, unfair/illegal labor practices, economic/wealth disparities, and the devaluing of community-based work. More concretely, this leads to under-resourced grassroots organizations trying to meet their issue, and have an impact in their communities.”

As the Executive Director of Just Food, an NYC-based food justice and food access non-profit and NSAC member, Mickie is acutely familiar of these challenges on the organizational level, as well as being informed by their network of CSAs, community-run farmers markets, and small-mid scale sustainable rural and urban farmer partners. Even organizations like Just Food that have nonprofit status can still struggle with the federal grant process. According to Mickie, Just Food has actually had to pass on opportunities to apply for a CFP grant, even though CFP would greatly benefit Just Food’s grassroots capacity building efforts.

“There are multiple times in which we have had to pass on applying for federal grants even though we were eligible and the funding would have helped tremendously,” said Mickie. “Many times it came down to capacity. We simply couldn’t apply. I had to decide between applying for the grant; a process that looks like balancing the metrics and grant application requirements, RFA (Request for Applications) window, and deciding how to devote the time, as opposed to direct programming and other fundraising. I know I am not alone. I have heard from other urban based agriculture leaders around the country that also felt that the application barriers were too high to access these critical USDA grants. It is an even harder decision for the leaders that run community-based groups that are volunteer-led or do not have dedicated paid staff.”

Mickie also noted that many federal grants include requirements for organizations to provide matching funds, something that often discourages otherwise qualified lower-resourced organizations from applying.

Structural Challenges Require Structural Changes

Many NSAC member groups have experienced similar challenges to the ones outlined in this post, challenges which USDA can and should address through concerted and intentional policy change. The administrative burden placed upon both farmers and organizations in accessing federal resources is also an issue. This burden oftentimes leads to very qualified organizations that provide crucial services being overlooked or boxed out of federal resource and training opportunities. In order to avoid further marginalizing these already underserved farmers and communities, we – both public and private institutions – must make structural changes to the way we approach and conduct policy work and programming.

In our final post in this series, we will dive into some of the structural changes that would be needed to address these longstanding barriers and begin to dismantle historic discrimination and institutional racism in our food and farm systems.

For more information on racism in the U.S. food system, we strongly encourage folks to read An Annotated Bibliography on Structural Racism Present in the U.S. Food System. This amazing resource, created by Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems, is a compilation of essays, writing, and media on structural racism in the food system, ranging from agricultural guestworker programs to land use policy.

The post Racial Equity in the Farm Bill: Barriers for Farmers of Color appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

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billgsoto · 7 years

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Path to the 2018 Farm Bill: Beginning and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers

Workers harvesting sweet potatoes on Scott Family Farms International in Lucama, N.C. Photo credit: USDA, Preston Keres.

Editor’s Note: On October 24, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) released its 2018 Farm Bill policy platform, An Agenda for the 2018 Farm Bill, which provides a comprehensive vision for a more sustainable farm and food system based on the recommendations and experience of American family farmers and the organizations that represent them. This is the second post in a multipart series that breaks down NSAC’s policy platform for the 2018 Farm Bill.

It makes sense that agriculture has historically been an intergenerational industry – farming isn’t about short-term gains; farmers know that in order to be successful, they have to plan months, years, and even decades into the future. Passing on a farm operation from parent to child, therefore, makes sense because each generation can build upon the skills and successes of the one before it.

Today, however, keeping the farm in the family is no longer a sure thing. In the coming years, American farmers – the average age of which has risen to nearly 60 – will be retiring in increasingly higher numbers. Of even more concern, is the fact that few of these aging producers have succession plans in place to ensure the longevity of their operations and continued stewardship of the land for generations to come.

The good news is that interest in starting careers in agriculture is on the rise, including from those who don’t come from a farm family. In order to usher in our next generation of farmers and ranchers, however, we have to break down the barriers that prevent them from entering and succeeding in the industry. Aspiring farmers, particularly those considered young and/or socially disadvantaged, struggle with some very real challenges, including: the limited availability of affordable and desirable farmland, difficulty acquiring start-up capital and financing, and inadequate access to hands-on training and risk management tools.

One of the many roles of the farm bill is to ensure a vibrant and sustainable future for American agriculture by facilitating the transfer of skills, knowledge, and land between current and future generations of family farmers. Over the last few farm bills – thanks in no small part to the advocacy of groups like NSAC and our members – the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has made some significant progress in opening doors to aspiring farmers and ranchers. However, given the industry’s growing need for skilled producers, it is clear that a greater investment and a more coordinated national strategy are needed.

NSAC’s Farm Bill Platform lays out an ambitious agenda for how Congress and USDA can address the critical issues beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers by:

Expanding access to credit, crop insurance, and affordable farmland

Increasing technical assistance and outreach services to underserved communities

Empowering farmers and ranchers with the skills to succeed in today’s agricultural economy

Encouraging a heightened commitment to advanced conservation and stewardship

Expanding Access to Credit, Crop Insurance, and Affordable Farmland

Nearly 100 million acres of farmland (enough to support ~250,000 family farms) is set to change hands over the next five years – during the course of our next farm bill. Of this farmland, just 23 percent is expected to be sold to a non-relative. If we do nothing, new, non-heir farmers will be left with extremely narrow prospects for acquiring the land needed to start their farm businesses. Because farmland is scarce, prices for what little farmland is available to aspiring farmers is becoming increasingly unaffordable, Over the past 15 years, farmland inflation rates have increased by nearly 150 percent; in some states that are facing high development pressure or investor interest this has caused land prices to reach well over $10,000 per acre (USDA-NASS, 2016).

To improve access to affordable farmland for the next generation of farmers, the 2018 Farm Bill will need to help connect retiring farmers interested in passing on their farm businesses with aspiring farmers looking to enter the field. Policies that would help to facilitate this exchange in ways that benefit both generations of producers include:

Increasing the flexibility and effectiveness of land-link programs like the Transition Incentives Program by removing the current funding limitation and expanding eligibility to all Conservation Reserve Program contract holders

Launching a new farmland data initiative to support on-going data collection and analysis of national trends on farmland ownership, tenure, transition, barriers to entry, profitability and viability of beginning farmers

Protecting farmland affordability for conservation easements purchased under the Agriculture Conservation Easement Program

In addition to land, access to credit is particularly critical for those just beginning their career in agriculture. Rarely do young, aspiring, and beginning farmers have the cash to outright to purchase the equipment, land, and other inputs needed to launch their businesses. By expanding access to credit options, beginning farmers are able to purchase the supplies they need in order to plant (and then harvest) the fruits of their labor.

Effective risk management strategies are also especially important during a farmer’s first few years – a time during which they may have few assets or savings to fall back on in case of a crop failure or lower-than-anticipated revenues.

The federal crop insurance program plays an important role in shielding farmers against unforeseen disasters and downfalls, but currently the program does not serve all producers equally or adequately. Federal risk management programs must be modernized so that they adequately meet the needs of historically underserved farmer populations, including: beginning, socially disadvantaged, organic, and diversified farmers, as well as operators of small and mid-sized farms.

The 2018 Farm Bill must increase equitable access to financial capital and risk management options for beginning and underserved producers by:

Ensuring that farmers are able to finance new farm purchases by raising the cap on FSA Direct Ownership Loans to $500,000, adjusted annually by regional farmland inflation rates

Preserving the current loan limit on FSA Direct Operating Loans to ensure funding remains available to beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers to cover annual operating expenses

Expanding beginning farmer crop insurance incentives to all new farmers with under 10 years of production history

Creating an on-ramp to Federal Crop Insurance for beginning farmers with no revenue history through the Non-insured Crop Assistance Program

Increasing Technical Assistance and Outreach Services to Underserved Communities

Farming is a risky business in general, but farmers of color often face even greater challenges in launching and sustaining their operations. Although federal resources are an important part of the farm safety net, farmers of color have not historically participated in, or benefitted from USDA programs to the same extent as other farmers. This disparity in participation not only disadvantages these individual farmers, it also stifles the growth and prosperity of entire rural communities.

Over the past 20 years, federal initiatives like the Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers program (the 2501 program) have invested millions of dollars to develop and strengthen innovative outreach and technical assistance programs targeted at historically underserved producers. Recognizing that returning military veterans face their own unique challenges when trying to start successful farming businesses, the 2014 Farm Bill expanded the scope of the program to also include military veterans. In the same bill, however, program funding for the 2501 program was also inexplicably cut in half.

Underinvestment in the 2501 program has shortchanged our nation’s most vulnerable and chronically underserved farmers and ranchers and has slowed the progress of the American agricultural economy. Given the need for the critical services the 2501 program provides and the expanded scope authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill, it is essential that Congress scale up – not cut back – support for our nation’s most underserved communities. We can accomplish this in the 2018 Farm Bill by:

Reauthorizing and providing permanent mandatory funding for the 2501 program

Increasing program transparency, accountability, and efficiency by requiring an external peer review and public reporting on project outcomes

Empowering New Farmers with the Skills to Succeed in Today’s Agricultural Economy

Our nation’s farming population has dwindled from nearly half of the U.S. workforce at the turn of the century, to only two percent of our workforce as of the last Census of Agriculture. This means that fewer people are growing up on farms, and that many aspiring farmers today are first generation farmers who have not had the opportunity to acquire the skills to run a successful operation through hands-on experience or mentorship.

In order to give the next generation of farmers and ranchers the skills they need to succeed in agriculture, the 2018 Farm Bill must support innovative initiatives that help meet the needs of today’s modern producers, and also expand support for existing, successful programs, such as the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP). The NSAC farm bill platform recommends that Congress accomplish these goals by:

Securing permanent support for BFRDP to ensure sustained investments in new farmer training and expand priorities on succession planning, farm transfer, and transition planning

Launching a new matched savings asset-building and financial training Individual Development Account program

Increasing funding for the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program to support 1:1 technical assistance and start-up capital to foster new farm businesses

Encouraging a Heightened Commitment to Advanced Conservation and Stewardship

Included in the farm bill’s conservation title are a handful of special incentives that specifically target support to beginning and socially disadvantaged producers. While these initiatives have had some success in connecting aspiring and beginning farmers with conservation, there are still significant barriers to the adoption of on-farm conservation activities that must be dismantled. The 2018 Farm Bill can make conservation programs more accessible and useful for beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers by:

Increasing the existing set-aside for beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers from 5 to 15 percent within the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program

Simplifying the EQIP Advance Payment Option to ensure automatic enrollment for beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers

Adding a priority on beginning, socially disadvantaged, limited resource, and veteran farmer projects within Conservation Innovation Grants

Beginning Farmers and the Farm Bill

As Congress ramps up work on the 2018 Farm Bill, conversations about how federal programs and policies can best support the next generation of farmers will heat up as well. Even at this early stage, there have been several beginning farmers bills introduced in both chambers that are setting the stage for the farm bill conversations ahead.

Last week, Representatives Tim Walz (D-MN) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) introduced the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act (H.R. 4316), which lays out a comprehensive national strategy to address the critical issues new farmers face in accessing land, building skills, managing risk and financial security and investing in conservation. NSAC worked closely with both offices on this important legislation, and will be urging Congress to include this bill in its entirety in the 2018 Farm Bill.

Also in the House, Representatives Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) and Ryan Costello (R-PA) have recently introduced complementary legislation aimed at addressing the unique challenges faced by young farmers. The Young and Beginning Farmers Act includes policies to protect farmland, improve access to programs that assist young farmers, and support local and regional food systems.

For more information on NSAC’s 2018 Farm Bill work, click here.

The post Path to the 2018 Farm Bill: Beginning and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

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