Purpose
With the ongoing drought crisis in California, farmers face increased costs ranging from higher water and energy bills to installing new equipment. This is especially difficult for smaller farms, BIPOC and immigrant farmers, and other socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers.
Join the CCOF Foundation and the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) on January 14 from 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time for a webinar that reviews techniques for managing soil and irrigation during times of drought. Find out how to use your water resource most efficiently and hear about managing soil for best water absorption and storage.
Enrollment for the USDA Wildfire and Hurricane Indemnity Program Plus (WHIP+) began on September 11, 2019. More than $3 billion is available for producers affected by natural disasters in 2018 and 2019. Producers in 29 California counties are eligible for relief, including prevented planting payments for those unable to plant eligible crops in 2019. Crops that qualify for federal crop insurance or Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) coverage are eligible for the WHIP+ program.
We have taken the opportunity to reflect on our role and relationship with our certified members as major fires appear to occur more frequently and after learning of other tragic events affecting CCOF-certified operations.
We at CCOF are concerned about the potential effects of the current severe drought on organic livestock operations in California and elsewhere. To help us better understand the situation, we are asking organic livestock operations to complete this survey: www.surveymonkey.com/s/drought_2014.