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Written by Jen Rojas on Wednesday, March 13, 2024
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José Lorenzo Jimenez Palacios

In memory of José Lorenzo Jimenez Palacios 
Engineer Agronomist Specialist in Phytotechnics
25/03/1960   -    14/02/2024

“Nature is inexhaustibly sustainable if we take care of her.”

José was a promoter of coexistence with nature, always recommending organic crop treatment to farmers and fruit growers in the southern region of Sinaloa. From 2000 to 2022, he worked with the company Mazazul Organics S.A. of C.V. Until the day of his death, he worked in recent months with the company Familia Andrade Nava S.P.R. by R.L. 
Rest in peace.
 

Written by Jane Sooby on Wednesday, March 13, 2024
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Field Inspection

CCOF is gathering input from our members on their marketing practices, challenges, and needs so that we can develop tools and resources to help your organic business succeed. These marketing tools will be available at no cost to all CCOF members in fall 2024.

Please take the survey online. It should take three minutes or less to complete. The survey is intended primarily for small to midsize organic farmers, ranchers, dairy producers, and “multi” operations, and we also invite organic processor/handlers to take the survey.

All responses are completely confidential. The…

Written by Guest Blogger on Wednesday, March 13, 2024
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wilted crops

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Risk Management Agency (RMA) has published a directory of crop insurance agents that specialize in selling Whole-Farm Revenue Protection. 

This resource—for which CCOF’s colleagues at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) have advocated—will be an important tool to help farmers locate crop insurance agents who have experience selling Whole-Farm Revenue Protection and Micro Farm insurance in their state. 

Background

The Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) program is a novel crop insurance product that…

Written by Gaea Denker on Wednesday, March 13, 2024
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Andrea Davis-Cetina, Quarter Acre Farm

Andrea Davis-Cetina is the founder of Quarter Acre Farm. She serves on the CCOF Board.

Andrea grew up in Maryland, surrounded by disappearing farmland, where the fields and barns of her childhood showed her the importance of sustainability and community. While attending Hampshire College (where her studies focused on local food systems), she began working on the college farm and fell in love with agriculture. Andrea spent her summers apprenticing on farm operations up and down the East Coast. 

After graduating, Andrea moved to Sonoma, California, and started creating edible…

Written by Hanali Lopez-Tapia on Wednesday, March 13, 2024
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Future Organic Farmer, Finley Telvin

Starting the journey into agriculture is no easy feat, and the fear of not knowing enough can be extremely nerve-racking. But for Finley Tevlin, 2023 Future Organic Farmer, this feeling fueled his passion and set him on a quest for knowledge. Tevlin writes, “I have found purpose in farming, and I want to do it for the rest of my life … in a way that supports farmers and ranchers who are growing food in a way that benefits their community and the planet.” Traveling catalyzed his curiosity for organic agriculture. During a cross-country bike trip, he discovered the prevalence of U.S.…

Written by Jessy Beckett Parr on Friday, March 8, 2024
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Undersecretary Jenny Lester Moffitt

Headed to Natural Products Expo West? 

Join CCOF for a panel discussion about Transition to Organic: How Brands & Organizations Can Support Farmer Success. 

The USDA Undersecretary Jenny Lester Moffitt, together with Daily Harvest CEO Ricky Silver, Ryan Laur from American Farmland Trust, and CCOF’s Jessy Beckett Parr will talk about creative strategies to support successful organic transition efforts through public & private partnerships.  

The USDA, Daily Harvest, American Farmland Trust, and CCOF create programs that support farmers' transition to organic…

Written by Guest Blogger on Tuesday, March 5, 2024
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Cows

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced loan interest rates for March 2024, which are effective March 1, 2024. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans provide important access to capital to help agricultural producers start or expand their farming operations, purchase equipment and storage structures, or meet cash flow needs.

“I encourage our lenders and borrowers alike to work with our local offices and our cooperators to capitalize fully on the existing flexibilities in these important programs,” said FSA Administrator Zach Ducheneaux. 

Operating, Ownership,…

Written by Rebekah Weber on Tuesday, March 5, 2024
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Basket of Grapes

Are you a regenerative farmer?

That’s the question the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) is answering by defining regenerative agriculture. We need you to share your answer.

Join the virtual listening session on Wednesday, April 3 at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time and tell CDFA that regeneration starts with organic.

Go to CDFA—Defining Regenerative Agriculture for State Policies and Programs (ca.gov). Scroll down to Timeline and register for Listening Session #4—Wednesday, April 3 at 5:30 p.m. Log into the Zoom link on April 3.  Raise your hand to make a…
Written by Jane Sooby on Tuesday, March 5, 2024
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Picking Grapes in Vineyard

CCOF has received a grant to launch an organic market development campaign, and one part of the project is to develop marketing tools for small and underserved organic farmers (which includes beginning farmers and military veterans as well as historically excluded groups). 

CCOF is soliciting assistance in conducting Spanish language outreach to our certified organic producers to gather their responses to a survey on marketing practices and needs.

We are seeking bids for the following three outreach activities:

Activity 1: Review a professionally translated Spanish…

Written by Guest Blogger on Tuesday, March 5, 2024
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healthy lunchbox w fruits and veg

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) 2023 to 2024 California Farm to School Incubator Grant Program will award competitive grants to support projects that cultivate equity, nurture students, build climate resilience, and create scalable and sustainable change. 

Track 4 (the California Farm to School Producer Grant) will fund California food producers and public-serving aggregation and distribution enterprises to increase production, processing, and/or distribution capacity to sell California-grown or -produced, whole or minimally processed foods to the…

Written by April Vasquez on Tuesday, March 5, 2024
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Photo by Friedrich Haag via Wikicommons

Photo by Friedrich Haag via  Wikicommons

The Department of Pesticide Regulation shared this about the award: Gina Bella Colfer, a pest control advisor (PCA) with more than 30 years of experience in organic agriculture, primarily on California's Central Coast, will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her work developing and implementing safer, more sustainable integrated pest management (IPM) practices in agriculture.

The Lifetime IPM Achievement Award recognizes individuals with 20 or more years of research, professional practice, or outreach in IPM-related…

Written by Michelle Caraballo on Tuesday, March 5, 2024
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Orange Slices

CCOF is offering a 16-hour, virtual-led course to provide growers of plants with key insights and understandings of the GLOBALG.A.P. requirements for the Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) Plants Version 6 SMART and GFS. Come join CCOF to learn about the various certification options, requirements, and how to prepare your operation for the transition to GLOBALG.A.P. Version 6 audit in the 2024 season. Mandatory audits to v6-GFS could come as early as September of 2024.  

Join us for the GLOBALG.A.P. Integrated Farm Assurance (IFA) Plants v6 GFS FV training hosted by CCOF and conducted…

Written by Guest Blogger on Tuesday, March 5, 2024
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Smoke from the Smokehouse Creek Fire

Producers across the Texas Panhandle are experiencing the largest wildfire in Texas history. 

The National Center for Appropriate Technology has collected the following resources and opportunities to help. CCOF is also monitoring the situation for impacts on our members in the region. 

Please donate to any of the organizations below and/or others across your networks. 

Animal Supply Points through AgriLife 

To donate hay, feed, fencing materials, or equipment, contact any of the following: 

Marcus Preuniger, (806) 669-8033 or (325) 728-0477 Clyde…
Written by Gaea Denker on Monday, February 26, 2024

Yadira Mendiola, Queen of Vegetables farm owner/operator and CCOF Organic Transition Program grantee

This year at Natural Products Expo West, Daily Harvest’s new CEO Ricky Silver will join CCOF Chief Program Officer Jessy Beckett Parr and program leads from the American Farmland Trust (AFT) for a panel discussion about the trio’s multi-year program that supports small-scale BIPOC farmers' transition to organic with direct financial support, one-on-one technical assistance, market access support, and mentorship. 

Join us on Thursday from 12:45 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at…

Written by Guest Blogger on Tuesday, February 20, 2024
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Dairy Cow Herd on Alexandre EcoDairy Farm

Dairy Cow Herd on Alexandre EcoDairy Farm

Applications from dairy processors in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington will be due February 29 for grants that will provide funding for pandemic recovery and for modernizing, specializing, expanding, investigating and/or marketing regionally produced higher-value milk products.

According to information provided by the Pacific Coast Coalition’s Dairy Business Innovation Initiative, the majority of available funding is for pandemic recovery grants, which can address price declines and additional…