More Coverage of Drake Forum on New and Beginning Farmers

Tweet

From the Slow Food USA Blog:

“The strength of this gathering lay in a few key places:
1. The focus on discussing real, possible solutions, especially in the policy arena
2. The presence of US Agencies, especially the USDA (including Secretary Tom Vilsack delivering the opining keynote)
3. The focus on bringing together big ag and sustainable ag (though the deck was a bit stacked towards the sustainable ag folks)”

Full article at: https://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/slow_food/blog_post/drake_forum_discusses_getting_ne_wfarmers_on_the_land/

From Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.:

“Just before shelling out more USDA money for water-short California farmers, for cleaning up the Mississippi River Basin, and for rural broadband, and just before jetting to California to deliver the keynote address at Commodity Classic, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack mingled with a different crowd early Thursday morning. He was at a Drake University forum designed to link young, beginning and “begin-again” farmers and ranchers with USDA officials and non-profit organizations focused on smaller-scale agriculture and farmland protection.”

Full article at: https://www.agri-pulse.com/uploaded/20100304H4.pdf

From the DesMoinesRegister.com:

“The conference comes as the Obama administration is trying to promote small-scale agriculture and increased consumption of locally grown foods and fruits and vegetables. Despite the new markets for locally grown produce, access to land, credit and capital are still the biggest challenges facing aspiring farmers, according to a survey answered by 126 of the 200 or so conference attendees. The crowd included farmers, university specialists, representatives of farm groups, activists and congressional aides.”

Full article at: https://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100305/BUSINESS01/3050354/Locally-grown-foods-appeal-offers-would-be-farmers-hope