BY MATT COMBS FOR THE REGISTER HERALD

The West Virginia Department of Agriculture is urging all Mountain State farmers to participate in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2017 Census of Agriculture.

According to a press release, the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service began mailing out surveys at the end of November.

That survey is open to any agricultural operation that produced, sold, or normally would have sold $1,000 or more of agricultural product in 2017.

“The census allows the USDA and WVDA to get a clear picture on the status of agriculture in our state. Several funding streams are also dependent upon this data,” said WVDA Commissioner of Agriculture Kent Leonhardt in that release. “Producers should participate. It matters to West Virginia.”

According to the release, the census is the only source of uniform agriculture data for every state and county in the United States…

Read the full article on the Register Herald site »

From the Owl’s Nest Farm Facebook page

BY CAITLIN DEWEY FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Liz Whitehurst dabbled in several careers before she ended up here, crating fistfuls of fresh-cut arugula in the early-November chill.

The hours were better at her nonprofit jobs. So were the benefits. But two years ago, the 32-year-old Whitehurst — who graduated from a liberal arts college and grew up in the Chicago suburbs — abandoned Washington for this three-acre farm in Upper Marlboro, Md.

She joined a growing movement of highly educated, ex-urban, first-time farmers who are capitalizing on booming consumer demand for local and sustainable foods and who, experts say, could have a broad impact on the food system.

For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Census of Agriculture. Sixty-nine percent of the surveyed young farmers had college degrees — significantly higher than the general population…

Read the full article on The Washington Post site »

From Laramie’s Farm Wall website

BY JESSICA BRAUER FOR STRONG TOWNS 

Laramie, Wyoming’s brutal winters and short growing season leave little opportunity for green space, but a collaborative effort launched in the spring between Laramie Main Street Alliance (LMSA) and vertical farming company, Plenty, took on this challenge, using blank downtown walls as a canvas for growing food, creating conversation and activating overlooked spaces.

Plenty approached LMSA in June with hopes to put Laramie on the map as the Farm Wall capital of the United States, and with the support of the community, the project was launched by July. Local property owners provided wall space, and Plenty installed and maintained the walls, while LMSA assisted by finding funding through local business support and grants…

Read the full article on the Strong Towns website »

From the Sprouting Farms Facebook page

BY JORDAN NELSON FOR THE REGISTER HERALD

Sprouting Farms in Talcott is a place where those interested in growing things of all sorts can go and grow their own produce, while they also learn and grow within.

A farming resource and incubator program, Sprouting Farms is used as a destination to educate and train people on how to grow their own food and vegetation.

After its official grand opening back in June, Sprouting Farms began giving locals the opportunity to rent out the area’s high tunnels to not only begin their own projects, but learn while doing so.

With over 82 acres of farmland on the property and over 30 high tunnels to rent out, the farm has been a learning place for many, and locals hope it will continue to grow…

Read the full article on The Register Herald site »

By Jennifer Gardner, The Charleston Gazette-Mail

Where some residents see empty, abandoned buildings in McDowell County, Joel McKinney sees the future of food.

He sees rows upon rows of stacked beds of lettuce — floating on foam boards receiving light by LEDs.

He sees a way to feed his community’s schools and turn a profit at the same time.

He established Roadside Farms in 2014, using an untraditional farming technique to bring a localized food economy to McDowell and help provide more fresh food to his mother’s food bank.

Now, he plans to take it a step further.

McKinney grew up in McDowell, where his mother runs the Five Loaves and Two Fishes food bank in a former grocery store and where his father retired from the coalfields and gives tours of an abandoned mine on occasion…

Read the article on The Charleston Gazette-Mail website »

by Bob Workman

For the 5th consecutive year I have taken it upon myself to compare Bridgeport Farmers Market pricing with our local grocers. Again, I picked a Sunday during the peak season and gathered pricing info from all of our meat and produce vendors to arrive at an average price. Remember the word “average”, so some vendors are higher and some are lower than these prices. Like American capitalism itself, it’s a free market and the farmers set their own prices.

This year there is not much more for me to say about this that I haven’t already stated over the past 4 years. See the links at the bottom to look at those past surveys. The one thing I will explain are the changes I decided to make this year.

First off I decided to name names. It was really silly to keep using “Store A” and “Store B”. Everyone knows who I was referring to so this year it’s Wal-Mart and Kroger instead.

Secondly, this year is more of an apples-to-apples comparison…

Read the full story + see the price comparison at “Lets Get Fresh” from the Bridgeport Farmers Market »