Gardening is something you might be getting excited about after a recent spurt of warm weather in March. If looking through seed catalogs and running your hands through the black dirt gets your heart pumping, you’ve been bitten by the gardening bug. However, I talked to a gardening expert who says don’t jump the gun on planting your garden because it could lead to problems.
Nancy Kreith is a horticulture expert with the University of Illinois Extension Service. (Photo from Illinois Extension website)
Nancy Kreith is an Extension Educator specializing in horticulture at the University of Illinois. She understands the excitement to get that garden growing but wants you to check your calendar first, specifically relating to the weather forecast and the final expected frost date. Most gardeners in the north are likely a couple of weeks away from working in the dirt.
“We could have as much as three weeks to go yet, depending on where you’re at,” Kreith said in a phone interview from her office in Matteson, Illinois. “You’ll want to find your local frost-free date, either through the National Weather Service or your local weather forecaster. That’s the last day they’re predicting frost.
“For example, the local frost-free date here in the Chicago area is on Mother’s Day, May 15,” she added. “For our cool-season crop varieties such as lettuce and root crops, you can plant those anywhere from four-to-six weeks before the frost-free date. We might be starting to plant in my area during the first week of April.”
The crops built to handle the cold weather include broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, leek, onions, peas, rutabagas, spinach, and turnips. Those are the hardiest crops you can plant in a garden, so as soon as a gardener can get out and work the soil, they can go in the ground.
Cabbage is one of the many hardy crops that can handle cold weather conditions. Nancy Kreith of the Illinois Extension Service says hardy crops can be planted 4-6 weeks before the final frost date in your area. (Photo from harvesttotable.com)
What makes these hardy plants so tough is good genetics. She’s seen ornamental kale planted in gardens during the fall for decoration, and the kale held up with snow sitting on top of it. The plant won’t be actively growing in that case, but rather it tolerates the cold and will sit in the garden until the weather perks up and the kale grows again.
What about the garden crops that don’t like frost?
“The best advice I can give you when planting the less-hardy crops in your garden is to give yourself a little wiggle room,” Kreith says. “I mentioned that the frost-free date in my area is May 15, but you never really know with the weather, so a little extra time doesn’t hurt.”
Kreith says she tries to wait an extra week past that last frost date when planting the warmer weather garden crops like tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Those kinds of garden crops are very tender and won’t tolerate any frost. Plus, waiting a week or two after that date will still leave you enough time in the growing season to get a good crop from your garden.
In between the hardy and the tender crops is what she calls the “half-hardy” garden crops. That includes a lot of root crops like beets, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, mustard greens, parsnip, Swiss Chard, and radishes.
“Those plants can go in the ground two or three weeks before that frost-free date,” she says.
Soil temperature is one of the most important factors in deciding when to plant your garden. (Photo from gardeningknowhow.com)
Gardening crops are like traditional commodities because you need to consider soil temperatures in deciding to plant your produce. “For example, the half-hardy vegetables will want soil temperatures above 40 degrees Fahrenheit,” she says. “Get an inexpensive soil thermometer, stick it in the ground, and document the soil temps for around five days in a row.
“That will give you an idea of how the seeds will germinate,” Kreith added.
While it’s still too early to plant, it’s more than all right to get out and do some work on the garden soil. General cleanup of the garden area after winter is a good place to begin.
“Go ahead and remove any debris from your vegetable garden,” Kreith said. “If you’re starting new, you want to kill off any existing vegetation where the garden is going to go. If grass and weeds are growing, I use a method that doesn’t require any chemicals to remove them.
“I use cardboard from shipping boxes,” she adds. “I remove the tape, but you don’t have to remove the label. Once I’m out gardening, I lay the cardboard down as a weed barrier, get it wet, and then put compost on top of the cardboard. I then allow it to decompose for one to two months.”
If she runs into areas of the garden that are hard to dig, Kreith cuts through the cardboard with a knife and then plants into that spot.
It’s important to remember that cardboard is rich in carbon, so she recommends adding some nitrogen to balance that out in the soil. While the compost will add a little to the soil, it’s important to put down some nitrogen fertilizer. “As the cardboard breaks down, it robs some nitrogen from the soil,” Kreith said.
“If all the weeds and plant debris are removed from your garden bed, go ahead and spread about two inches of compost on it,” Kreith says. “That’s something I recommend you do every year in your garden to get it ready to go.”
Minneapolis is one of my favorite places to explore. It’s nice to see the city trying to get back on its feet after drawing national attention due to the days of rioting that hit the downtown area hard. Driving down 394 East and heading into the city regularly, I kept passing this giant structure that really got my blood pumping.
The Basilica of St. Mary’s in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was built between 1907-1915. (Photo by Chad Smith)
That giant structure is the Basilica of St. Mary’s. Anyone who knows me or follows my explorations, knows I love architecture. It’s one of my favorite things to photograph, especially in the big city where styles can vary widely, sometimes from block to block. St. Mary’s is considered one of the finest examples of Beaux Architecture in the nation.
The big structure was built between 1907 and 1915. They laid the cornerstone of the building was laid at the intersection of 16th Street and Hennepin Avenue. While I don’t pretend to understand exactly what this means, the building was elevated to the rank of minor basilica by Pope Pius XI in 1926. The basilica was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Church leaders have done a lot of restoration work as time went by, a costly task because of the structure’s enormous size. By the 1980s, water had begun to leak through dome and into the roof after each snowfall or rainfall. By the mid 1980s, repairs were obviously needed as copper blew off the dome during a storm and plaster chunks fell into the rectory.
St. Mary’s Basilica in Minneapolis. How long did it take for the craftsmen to do something that intricate? (Photo by Chad Smith)
The copper dome and roof were replaced from 1991-1992. The church also restored the paintings and the plasterwork in the dome’s interior.
One of the other highlights of the restoration projects over the years included Christmas Eve in 1998. New church bells forged in the Royal Eijsbouts Foundry in the Netherlands. Christmas Eve was likely the perfect time for those bells to ring out over the city for the first time. I managed to capture a little bit of the bells at the beginning of the video.
My only disappointment with the Basilica had nothing to do with the church itself. I couldn’t get inside and do justice to the interior renovations because of COVID, of course. But I’ll get in there and show it to you someday.
Can you imagine building that type of structure that high off the ground? Amazing… (Photo by Chad Smith)
The front doors at the Basilica of St. Mary’s in Minneapolis. (Photo by Chad Smith)
No-Till November? Is that like No Shave November? Yes and no. The Natural Resources Conservation Service is asking farmers to keep your stubble – out in the fields, that is. NRCS is encouraging South Dakota farmers to “keep the stubble” on their harvested crop fields and improve soil health during No-Till November.
The three-year-old “No-Till November” Campaign kicks off soon, encouraging farmers to “keep the stubble” in their fields. (Photo from cropwatch.unl.edu)
First launched in 2017, the NRCS project is, of course, mirrored after the national cancer awareness No Shave November campaign that encourages people not to shave during the entire month. The NRCS campaign encourages farmers to keep tillage equipment in their machine sheds this fall and keep the crop stubble on their fields.
The campaign has reached more than 1.5 million people through Twitter and local media since 2017.
“No-till farming is a cornerstone soil health conservation practice, which also promotes water quality while saving farmers time and money,” said South Dakota NRCS State Conservationist Jeff Zimprich. “One of the first soil health principles is ‘do not disturb’. This campaign is a fun way to remind farmers about the important relationship between tillage and soil health. Utilizing cover crops and leaving residues on the soil surface improve soil health while increasing soil biological activity, providing erosion control and adding beneficial nutrients.”
Terry Ness has been farming in central South Dakota for 42 years. He describes the changes he and his wife Mary have made to improve their soil health helped to give their soils more resilience. After utilizing tillage for the first 14 years of his career, he switched completely to a no-till system and noticed that many challenges became easier to overcome.
To see Terry and Mary’s full Profile in Soil Health video feature, visit: bit.ly/TerryNess.“With all these good things I’m doing, you can see it in the insect population, the bird population – healthy soil makes healthy animals, makes healthy food – all this ties together.” – Terry Ness
More InformationTo learn more about soil health and no-till in South Dakota, visit your nearest NRCS service center, visit bit.ly/contactnrcssd, or ask questions from a local soil health mentor! E-mail Rachel.Giles@usda.gov to receive a digital copy of the “Building Connections” SD soil health mentor network directory, or have one mailed to you at no cost.
Minecraft. The chances are good that you know what it is if you have kids. Would it surprise you if I said the dairy industry was thinking outside the box and turning to a video game such as Minecraft to help promote its products? Dairy Management Incorporated held a press conference recently to announce a partnership with four of the most influential gamers in the world to promote itself to people in “Gen Z (early teens to early 20s).”
The idea started growing late in 2019 when the dairy industry found out that per-capita dairy consumption hit its highest level in 60 years. America hasn’t consumed this level of dairy products since 1960, so the question is how to keep this trend going into the future? Dairy Management Incorporated CEO Tom Gallagher says you reach out to younger people on platforms where they already engage with each other.
The U.S. dairy industry is partnering with four of the most popular Minecraft gamers in the world to promote their products to the next generation of consumers. (Photo from theverge.com)
Dairy industry sustainability is another key driver in the new idea. “The businesses of dairy, such as the co-ops, the processors, and the manufacturers, have collectively set the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050,” Gallagher said.
“Dairy Management’s role in that is to support the environmental science, communications, and other relationships in achieving that goal,” he added. “While sustainability is important, it also has to be profitable for the industry. We are working on several different test cases on various farms to prove that profitability is possible, or what might need to change to make sustainability profitable.”
Gallagher said there is no sustainability without profitability. Without improving sustainability, farmers and the entire industry will likely be subject to very pejorative regulations in the future. It’s a chance for the industry to be proactive and avoid excessive regulations.
So how does Minecraft fit into the discussion? DMI had five college interns over the past summer who were in their low 20s and MBA students. DMI gave them the challenge to figure out how they would promote dairy sustainability to Gen Z if they had 10 million dollars to do the job. The students came up with the idea of promoting dairy through the video games that Gen Z plays.
Dairy Management Incorporated is thinking “outside the box” in coming up with new methods to promote dairy to the next generation of consumers, one of which is using the popular video game Minecraft. (photo from lakenormanpublications.com)
Joanna Hunter is the Executive Vice President of Communications with DMI, who says the dairy industry will work with four of the most well-known Minecraft gamers in the world. It’s a chance to reach the Gen Z audience through a platform they’re already engaging in.
“We are going to work directly with four gamers who combine for more than 120 million followers,” she said. “Each of the influencers will take part in a virtual visit to dairy farms of different sizes and locations across the country, and every farm will have its own sustainability practices.
“After that virtual visit, the gamers will take what they learned and build a dairy farm in Minecraft,” Hunter added. “They may challenge each other, or they may challenge their followers to build the best dairy farm.”
The overall goal is for the gamers to engage others in that sustainability story and how dairy farmers are working hard to bring a nutritious and sustainable product to their audience. The gamers will be putting out dairy-related content through November. Hunter says it’s a great time to use the platform for a unique two-way engagement with the intended audience.
This kind of work doesn’t get off the ground without direct support from dairy farmers. Aric DeJager owns and operates Icon Holsteins in Kersey, Colorado. His role will be to provide on-site dairy farm education for the four gamers through FaceTime. Like a lot of folks older than Gen Z, he’s learning about Minecraft from younger relatives.
“I’m learning a lot about the scale of this from my nieces and nephews,” he said. “I’m just figuring out exactly how popular this stuff is. These gamers will have 40 million young and impressionable people watching them build their dairy farms on Minecraft. I’m really excited to see how this goes forward from here.
“I think this is a great step in the right direction,” Jager added.
Gallagher says things are changing, and the industry has to change with the times. The days of three cable TV channels are over, and it’s a new generation of marketing.
“Things like traditional television and cable news just don’t present the same marketing opportunities they once did,” Gallagher said. “We have to go where the people are. Over the next year, we’re going to test some new things, including Minecraft.
“Through GenYouth and Fuel Up to Play 60, we’ll be doing some things with NFL Madden,” he added. “Retailers are starting to create their own media cloud as the more traditional forms of advertising have declined in their reach a bit. Companies like Quaker have gone to 70 percent digital advertising, with more and more retailers following suit.
“As retailers continue to test their own channels, we’ll be doing more and more testing with them,” Gallagher added.
Dairy industry sustainability is another key driver in the new idea. “The businesses of dairy, such as the co-ops, the processors, and the manufacturers, have collectively set the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050,” Gallagher said.
“Dairy Management’s role in that is to support the environmental science, communications, and other relationships in achieving that goal,” he added. “While sustainability is important, it also has to be profitable for the industry. We are working on several different test cases on various farms to prove that profitability is possible, or what might need to change to make sustainability profitable.”
Gallagher said there is no sustainability without profitability. Without improving sustainability, farmers and the entire industry will likely be subject to very pejorative regulations in the future. It’s a chance for the industry to be proactive and avoid excessive regulations.
So how does Minecraft fit into the discussion? DMI had five college interns over the past summer who were in their low 20s and MBA students. DMI gave them the challenge to figure out how they would promote dairy sustainability to Gen Z if they had 10 million dollars to do the job. The students came up with the idea of promoting dairy through the video games that Gen Z plays.
Joanna Hunter is the Executive Vice President of Communications with DMI, who says the dairy industry will work with four of the most well-known Minecraft gamers in the world. It’s a chance to reach the Gen Z audience through a platform they’re already engaging in.
“We are going to work directly with four gamers who combine for more than 120 million followers,” she said. “Each of the influencers will take part in a virtual visit to dairy farms of different sizes and locations across the country, and every farm will have its own sustainability practices.
“After that virtual visit, the gamers will take what they learned and build a dairy farm in Minecraft,” Hunter added. “They may challenge each other, or they may challenge their followers to build the best dairy farm.”
The overall goal is for the gamers to engage others in that sustainability story and how dairy farmers are working hard to bring a nutritious and sustainable product to their audience. The gamers will be putting out dairy-related content through November. Hunter says it’s a great time to use the platform for a unique two-way engagement with the intended audience.
This kind of work doesn’t get off the ground without direct support from dairy farmers. Aric DeJager owns and operates Icon Holsteins in Kersey, Colorado. His role will be to provide on-site dairy farm education for the four gamers through FaceTime. Like a lot of folks older than Gen Z, he’s learning about Minecraft from younger relatives.
“I’m learning a lot about the scale of this from my nieces and nephews,” he said. “I’m just figuring out exactly how popular this stuff is. These gamers will have 40 million young and impressionable people watching them build their dairy farms on Minecraft. I’m really excited to see how this goes forward from here.
“I think this is a great step in the right direction,” Jager added.
Gallagher says things are changing, and the industry has to change with the times. The days of three cable TV channels are over, and it’s a new generation of marketing.
“Things like traditional television and cable news just don’t present the same marketing opportunities they once did,” Gallagher said. “We have to go where the people are. Over the next year, we’re going to test some new things, including Minecraft.
“Through GenYouth and Fuel Up to Play 60, we’ll be doing some things with NFL Madden,” he added. “Retailers are starting to create their own media cloud as the more traditional forms of advertising have declined in their reach a bit. Companies like Quaker have gone to 70 percent digital advertising, with more and more retailers following suit.
“As retailers continue to test their own channels, we’ll be doing more and more testing with them,” Gallagher added.
Organic farming in the U.S. is a blossoming business opportunity for farmers across the country. Overall industry sales totaled $1 billion in 1990 when the nation’s organic laws passed, and then reached a recent high of $55 billion. Unfortunately, there are some unintended loopholes in the regulations that allow non-organic products to be labeled as organic. The industry is concerned about the effect on the credibility of their label.
The U.S. organic industry is concerned about the credibility of the label and are looking to strengthen enforcement rules governing the industry. (photo from geneticliteracyproject.org)
The Organic Trade Association is one of several groups working on closing the loopholes and making enforcement of the regulations more uniform. They’ve been working on it since 2017 when the Washington Post reported on 36 million pounds of fraudulently labeled soybeans that entered the United States.
“We started our legislative work in 2018 when the new farm bill went into effect,” said Gwendolyn Wyard, the Vice President of Regulatory and Technical Affairs. “That gave the National Organic Program the support, funding, and the authorization to do its work.”
The USDA released a proposed rule last July designed to detect and deter the kind of fraud the industry is fighting. The National Farmers Union points out that millions of dollars of non-organic products have been intentionally mislabeled and sold in the U.S. The scale of the problem is large and requires equally large solutions.
Wyard says this is the largest single piece of rule-making since the USDA organic regulations first went into effect in 2002. She calls it a complete overhaul of the rules that will strengthen the oversight and enforcement of rules governing the production and sale of products. “It will close gaps in the supply chain and strengthen regulations to prevent fraud,” Wyard added.
“We must do this, and we do it right,” she said. “Shoppers need to know that organic standards are strong. Fraud takes the value out of the supply chain and hurts producers wherever they farm. We rely entirely on consumer trust.”
Crookston Lumber Company wasn’t actually located in Crookston, Minnesota, but in Bemidji. It was a big company that processed a lot of lumber during the boom in Minnesota during the 1900s. Crookston Sawmill #1 opened up in 1903.
Lumber barons back in the second half of the 1800s poured millions of dollars into lumber claims in northern Minnesota. Can you imagine being able to pour millions of dollars into ANYTHING back during the 1800s?
There isn’t much left of the Crookston Lumber Company in Bemidji, Minnesota. However, what’s left and the operation’s history are very interesting. (Photo by Chad Smith)
Thomas Shevlin and Frank Hixon purchased several claims and a sawmill from lumber baron Thomas Barlow Walker, calling the operation the Crookston Lumber Company. They opened up 13 logging camps, with each housing as many as 100 lumberjacks.
The year 1903 was when the first sawmill took off. They opened up the lumber mill in a beautiful spot on the south shore of Lake Bemidji. The owners hired 450 mill workers and ran an around the clock operation that is said to have processed 40 million board feet of prime lumber during its first year in existence. Kind of impressive, isn’t it?
I was a little taken aback by how green Lake Bemidji was. Not sure what caused it? (Photo by Chad Smith)
Some competition came along in 1905 for the CLC in the form of the Bemidji Lumber Mill. The location sprang up on the southeast side of Lake Bemidji, so we’re taking very close to the CLC. It didn’t take long for CLC to annex the competition, buying the Bemidji Lumber Mill and naming it Crookston Sawmill #2. Went out on a creative limb, didn’t they?
The height of the operation peaked around 1910 as the Crookston Sawmill drew honors as the second-largest sawmill in the nation. However, the good times weren’t going to last much longer.
This is the remains of Mill #1, which burned down and was rebuilt in the early 1900s. Mill #2 burned down a few years later and wasn’t rebuilt. (Photo by Chad Smith)
As the calendar turned to 1914, fortune took away her smile as Sawmill #1 burned right to the ground. The owners would go on to rebuild the structure soon after the incident. A few short years later, Sawmill #2 also burned to the ground, but the owners would choose not to rebuild the facility.
The end was in sight just a decade later when another fire destroyed about 24 million board feet of prime lumber on November 9, 1924. The retail value on the destroyed white pine was $750,000, an insane amount of money in the early 1900s. The truly-unfortunate piece to the story is 2,000 employees immediately found themselves with no jobs.
The end came in October of 1928 when the Crookston Lumber Mill shut down for good. As it turns out, most of the prime lumber in Minnesota had been harvested, so investors moved their operations out to the Pacific Coast.
This small site is all that remains of what once was the second-largest lumber mill in the United States. (Photo by Chad Smith)
The city of Bemidji sure made a nice little park out of the remains of a once-grand structure. I only wish we didn’t have people who felt the need to tag a building like that. While I usually admire good street art in the Twin Cities, it just doesn’t belong at a place like this. Plus, the fast-food wrappers and empty cigarette boxes don’t add much to the ambiance.
Nevertheless, I still recommend you go see the place.
Anyone familiar with my exploring knows I like taking colorful pictures of street art. This is not the same. We really didn’t need to tag a small sandstone building like this, did we? (Photo by Chad Smith)I’ve seen vegetation grow in the strangest places, including up through a sandstone structure. (Photo by Chad Smith) The Crookston Lumber Company site sits on the southern Shore of Lake Bemidji. (Photo by Chad Smith)
Birthdays don’t mean much after you turn 21, do they? Oh, wait. They do when you turn 50 years old. September 2 is the day I mark a half-century of existence. Do you want to know the interesting part? I didn’t expect to live this long.
I was born with what’s called Wolf-Parkinson-White Syndrome. When your heart beats, the nerve impulse from your brain travels in a circuit around your heart, which constitutes one beat. Yes, I’m oversimplifying, but that’s how it was explained to me.
So, those born with WPW have a defect that allows the nerve pathway to short-circuit itself, which plays hell with your heartbeat. The spells of irregular heartbeats could have done some serious damage, especially as I got into my teenage years. At one point, the top half of my heart was motoring along between 250-300 beats a minute, while the bottom half hit hyper speed at more than 500 beats a minute.
My wife describing me after 50 years worth of birthdays.
When that happens, blood clots form easily inside the heart. If that clot should get out of the heart, make a circuit around the body and hit the brain, you’re done. You drop dead on the spot. So, long story short, surgery was scheduled on June 3, 1986.
I remember the gap between making the decision to have surgery and the operation being longer than I wanted. That was hard to live with as an awkward teenager. At one point, my stress level was so high I jumped into the middle of a pickup basketball game over the lunch hour at Castlewood High School. Best basketball I’d ever played in my life.
Remember the movie “White Men Can’t Jump?” I’ve always considered that autobiographical. I am as gravity-bound as the movie described white guys. I was a whirling dervish, running up and down the court as fast as my slow-dude legs could carry me. At one point, I came up behind someone going up for a short jump shot and swatted it to the other side of the room. The only blocked shot of my life. I played that whole game wondering if it was going to kill me and I’m not making that up. Fear of death really adds zip to your game, no matter what you’re playing.
So, the surgery came and went, and lo and behold, it was successful. June 3, 1986, was a monumental day in this guy’s life. The one thing I remember the most vividly came after I was in recovery. They were making final plans to get me ready for release only three days after the operation and there was one important thing left to do.
After the surgeon sowed me up, he made two small horizontal slits right underneath the big scar. The doctor then inserted a suction tube in each slit to clear the body cavity of excess blood, preventing peritonitis, which you do NOT want. The doc says, “It’s going to be uncomfortable.” Right. Let me tell you how it felt.
It was totally worth all the birthdays, too!
Try to imagine that someone was able to pull your shoulders and collarbones down through your chest cavity and then yank them through your skin and out of your body a few inches above your belly button. The pain was unlike anything I’ve ever felt. Every nerve was on fire, my vision went white, and my mom said I was screaming bloody murder. She was being kind. I was screaming my little white butt off and thought I might be dying. I hope I never have to hurt that bad again.
So, there I was, suddenly assured of a much better chance of seeing more birthdays go by. I’m not making it up when I say at one point during those early years of heart trouble, I literally prayed to God to let me live a full life. That’s all I asked for. He answered.
So, what does the second half of my life look like? I don’t know for sure. I’d like to make an impact for the Kingdom before I leave this world. I don’t know when that will be. You see, several years ago, I had to undergo ANOTHER heart operation as I developed an irregular heartbeat problem apart from the WPW I was born with.
Make every day count. You just don’t know which of your birthdays will be your last. If you haven’t had any kind of problems that threaten your ability to keep breathing, it might be hard to truly understand.
Look at Chadwick Boseman. The world-famous actor passed away recently. What we thought was a picture of health in the Black Panther costume wasn’t the case. He had cancer for the last four years of his life and no one knew he was on borrowed time. It. Can. Happen. To. You.
I can tell you one thing for sure. The two biggest commands in the Bible are a good place to start. Jesus Himself said, “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” I think that’s a good place to start for the second half of my life, however long that may be.
CFAP continues to expand its assistance to American farmers and ranchers.
Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that his agency is making more commodities eligible for assistance under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The USDA is also extending the application deadline for the program to September 11. After the agency looked through over 1,700 public comments and other data, the move means more farmers and ranchers will get the assistance they need to help keep their operations afloat through tough times.
USDA announced that the list of eligible commodities for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program is expanding. (Photo from USDA.gov)
“We are standing with America’s farmers and ranchers to ensure they get through this pandemic and continue to produce enough food and fiber to feed America and the world,” Perdue says. “That is why he authorized this $16 billion worth of direct support in the CFAP program and today we are pleased to add additional commodities eligible to receive much needed assistance. CFAP is just one of the many ways USDA is helping producers weather the impacts of the pandemic. USDA is leveraging many tools to help producers, including deferring payments on loans and adding flexibilities to crop insurance and reporting deadlines
Background:
USDA collected comments and supporting data for consideration of additional commodities through June 22, 2020. The following additional commodities are now eligible for CFAP:
· Specialty Crops – Aloe leaves, bananas, batatas, bok choy, carambola (star fruit), cherimoya, chervil (French parsley), citron, curry leaves, daikon, dates, dill, donqua (winter melon), dragon fruit (red pitaya), endive, escarole, filberts, frisee, horseradish, kohlrabi, kumquats, leeks, mamey sapote, maple sap (for maple syrup), mesculin mix, microgreens, nectarines, parsley, persimmons, plantains, pomegranates, pummelos, pumpkins, rutabagas, shallots, tangelos, turnips/celeriac, turmeric, upland/winter cress, water cress, yautia/malanga, and yuca/cassava.
· Non-Specialty Crops and Livestock – Liquid eggs, frozen eggs, and all sheep. Only lambs and yearlings (sheep less than two years old) were previously eligible.
· Aquaculture – catfish, crawfish, largemouth bass and carp sold live as food fish, hybrid striped bass, red drum, salmon, sturgeon, tilapia, trout, ornamental/tropical fish, and recreational sportfish.
· Nursery Crops and Flowers – nursery crops and cut flowers.
Other changes to CFAP include:
· Seven commodities – onions (green), pistachios, peppermint, spearmint, walnuts and watermelons – are now eligible for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stability (CARES) Act funding for sales losses. Originally, these commodities were only eligible for payments on marketing adjustments.
· Correcting payment rates for onions (green), pistachios, peppermint, spearmint, walnuts, and watermelons.
To ensure availability of funding, producers with approved applications initially received 80 percent of their payments. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) will automatically issue the remaining 20 percent of the calculated payment to eligible producers. Going forward, producers who apply for CFAP will receive 100 percent of their total payment, not to exceed the payment limit, when their applications are approved.
Applying for CFAP:
Producers, especially those who have not worked with FSA previously, can call 877-508-8364 to begin the application process. An FSA staff member will help producers start their application during the phone call.
On farmers.gov/cfap, producers can:
Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that his agency is making more commodities eligible for assistance under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. The USDA is also extending the application deadline for the program to September 11. After the agency looked through over 1,700 public comments and other data, the move means more farmers and ranchers will get the assistance they need to help keep their operations afloat through tough times.
“We are standing with America’s farmers and ranchers to ensure they get through this pandemic and continue to produce enough food and fiber to feed America and the world,” Perdue says. “That is why he authorized this $16 billion worth of direct support in the CFAP program and today we are pleased to add additional commodities eligible to receive much needed assistance. CFAP is just one of the many ways USDA is helping producers weather the impacts of the pandemic. USDA is leveraging many tools to help producers, including deferring payments on loans and adding flexibilities to crop insurance and reporting deadlines.”
Background:
USDA collected comments and supporting data for consideration of additional commodities through June 22, 2020. The following additional commodities are now eligible for CFAP:
· Specialty Crops – aloe leaves, bananas, batatas, bok choy, carambola (star fruit), cherimoya, chervil (French parsley), citron, curry leaves, daikon, dates, dill, donqua (winter melon), dragon fruit (red pitaya), endive, escarole, filberts, frisee, horseradish, kohlrabi, kumquats, leeks, mamey sapote, maple sap (for maple syrup), mesculin mix, microgreens, nectarines, parsley, persimmons, plantains, pomegranates, pummelos, pumpkins, rutabagas, shallots, tangelos, turnips/celeriac, turmeric, upland/winter cress, water cress, yautia/malanga, and yuca/cassava.
· Non-Specialty Crops and Livestock – liquid eggs, frozen eggs, and all sheep. Only lambs and yearlings (sheep less than two years old) were previously eligible.
· Aquaculture – catfish, crawfish, largemouth bass and carp sold live as food fish, hybrid striped bass, red drum, salmon, sturgeon, tilapia, trout, ornamental/tropical fish, and recreational sportfish.
· Nursery Crops and Flowers – nursery crops and cut flowers.
Other changes to CFAP include:
· Seven commodities – onions (green), pistachios, peppermint, spearmint, walnuts and watermelons – are now eligible for Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Stability (CARES) Act funding for sales losses. Originally, these commodities were only eligible for payments on marketing adjustments.
· Correcting payment rates for onions (green), pistachios, peppermint, spearmint, walnuts, and watermelons.
To ensure availability of funding, producers with approved applications initially received 80 percent of their payments. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) will automatically issue the remaining 20 percent of the calculated payment to eligible producers. Going forward, producers who apply for CFAP will receive 100 percent of their total payment, not to exceed the payment limit, when their applications are approved.
Applying for CFAP:
Producers, especially those who have not worked with FSA previously, can call 877-508-8364 to begin the application process. An FSA staff member will help producers start their application during the phone call.
On farmers.gov/cfap, producers can:
· Download the AD-3114 application form and manually complete the form to submit to their local USDA Service Center by mail, electronically or by hand delivery to their local office or office drop box.
· Complete the application form using the CFAP Application Generator and Payment Calculator. This Excel workbook allows customers to input information specific to their operation to determine estimated payments and populate the application form, which can be printed, then signed and submitted to their local USDA Service Center.
· If producers have login credentials known as eAuthentication, they can use the online CFAP Application Portal to certify eligible commodities online, digitally sign applications and submit directly to the local USDA Service Center.
All other eligibility forms, such as those related to adjusted gross income and payment information, can be downloaded from farmers.gov/cfap. For existing FSA customers, these documents are likely already on file.
All USDA Service Centers are open for business, including some that are open to visitors to conduct business in person by appointment only. All Service Center visitors wishing to conduct business with FSA, Natural Resources Conservation Service or any other Service Center agency should call ahead and schedule an appointment. Service Centers that are open for appointments will pre-screen visitors based on health concerns or recent travel, and visitors must adhere to social distancing guidelines. Visitors are also required to wear a face covering during their appointment. Our program delivery staff will be in the office, and they will be working with our producers in the office, by phone and using online tools. More information can be found at farmers.gov/coronavirus.
· Download the AD-3114 application form and manually complete the form to submit to their local USDA Service Center by mail, electronically or by hand delivery to their local office or office drop box.
· Complete the application form using the CFAP Application Generator and Payment Calculator. This Excel workbook allows customers to input information specific to their operation to determine estimated payments and populate the application form, which can be printed, then signed and submitted to their local USDA Service Center.
· If producers have login credentials known as eAuthentication, they can use the online CFAP Application Portal to certify eligible commodities online, digitally sign applications and submit directly to the local USDA Service Center.
All other eligibility forms, such as those related to adjusted gross income and payment information, can be downloaded from farmers.gov/cfap. For existing FSA customers, these documents are likely already on file.
Minnesota sweet corn is one of our biggest summer traditions, right up there with grilling, baseball, and back-to-school commercials.
The freshest Minnesota sweet corn is now available from local growers around the state. The recent heat has led to a great crop of sweet corn and many growers say harvest is going to be fantastic.
Here’s a way to combine a couple big Midwest summer traditions, both sweet corn and grilling.
“Our sweet corn looks fantastic!” said Brian Schiltgen, of Schiltgen Farms in Afton, Minnesota.
The sweet corn is ready and waiting at Schiltgen Farms of Afton, Minnesota, as well as other farms across the state. (Photo from Facebook.com)
The season starts in late July and continues through early September. Veteran farmers often plant in stages so they can offer fresh corn throughout the second half of summer.
Eating this summertime favorite just after it has been picked ensures the best flavor. As time passes after harvest, the sugars in the corn convert to starch and the sweet flavor diminishes.
You’ll find the freshest sweet corn in the state when you buy directly from a Minnesota farmer. Locally grown corn is often available at farmers’ markets, farm stands, and as well as at retailers who feature local produce.
The Minnesota Grown director is a great place to find sweet corn, farmers markets, and everything in between. (Photo from minnesotagrown.com)
Be sure to call ahead or look up a farm or farmers’ market online to confirm any adjustments due to COVID-19. Best practices include wearing a mask, social distancing, and washing hands frequently when you visit a farm or farmers’ market.
The Minnesota Grown Directory is available in print and online, and is a great resource for finding local farmers or farmers’ markets. The 2020 Directory includes 91 sweet corn growers and 195 farmers’ markets. Free, printed copies of the Directory may be ordered online or by calling 1-651-201-6469.
Seed packages that Minnesotans didn’t order are still coming into the state in steady numbers from China. Many of the seeds are non-invasive species. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t carry some kind of a pest or disease with them.
This is what a typical package of the mystery seeds with a Chinese postmark look like. (Photo from the MDA)
Reports are still coming into the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) that say citizens continue getting unsolicited seed packages in the mail. To date, over 700 Minnesotans found the seeds in their mailboxes and reported it to the MDA.
The packages contain a variety of seeds. Seed analysts at the MDA Laboratory say some of the seeds are cosmos, radish, mung bean, juniper, basil, cucurbit, and zinnia. Seeds like these are not invasive plants. However, they can carry disease and pests can hide in packaging. The unsolicited seeds likely haven’t gone through proper inspection channels to enter the country legally. The labels typically say something like jewelry is inside.
The MDA is working with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on the issue. Minnesota is sending all the collected seeds to the USDA for additional identification and destruction. Federal officials are investigating the source of the seeds, and the USDA is currently referring to the situation as a “brushing scam.” In that type of scam, people get unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false customer reviews to boost sales. Their latest statement on the seed packages can be found here.
Those receiving the packages have indicated they either never made an online seed order or they purchased seeds online earlier in the year but never got them. Their order information indicates it is still unfulfilled.
Minnesotans should take the following steps to deal with unsolicited packages of seeds.
Save the seeds and the package they came in, including the mailing label.
Do not open the seed packets.
Do not plant any of the seeds.
In case the package is already open, place all materials (seeds and packaging) into a tightly-sealed plastic bag.
If you have planted the seeds you received, please destroy any plants that have germinated. Plants and soil aren’t eligible for most trash collection. However, in this unusual situation, pull up the plants, double bag them and the surrounding soil, and dispose of everything in the trash. Do not compost the seeds, plants, or soil. Please notify the MDA if you have disposed of any seeds or plants through our contact form.
You should always buy seeds from a reputable source. Minnesota law says all seeds sold in the state need correct labels. People selling seeds need to have a permit from the MDA. You can look up seed permit holders on the MDA website. Never plant unlabeled or unknown seeds.
