Producer advocates in North Dakota say it is something everyone should pay attention to, while warning about talk of major cuts. And these are good, high-paying, quality jobs, which is going to directly stimulate the economy.”Ĭongress wants to know what Americans would like to see in the next Farm Bill. “With this grant money, we will be able to produce another five to 10 more full-time positions. “Right now we have five employees,” Drevo stated. With consumers increasingly curious about where the meat they serve to their families comes from, Drevo said smaller lockers are uniquely positioned to help local farmers get a better price for livestock, and boost rural economies. Ryan Drevo, owner of Blue River Meats in Crete, has already filed his application.
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Grants are available to hire and train staff, modify or expand facilities, purchase equipment and upgrade technology to improve logistics and e-commerce. Hladik pointed out the program will help family-scale meat processors play a significant role in increasing supply, severely limited during the pandemic, and should bring down prices for consumers. “These are lockers that are typically located in the small towns, serving farmers in the area, and providing a product that consumers otherwise wouldn’t be able to access.” “The program is designed to help our small and mid-sized meat lockers expand in the state,” Hladik explained. Johnathan Hladik, policy director at the Center for Rural Affairs, said the agency is expected to distribute nearly $10 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to Nebraskans, in an effort to improve and expand the state’s meat-processing capabilities.
Ag Census recorded about 45,500 Black farmers, down from nearly 950,000 in 1920. And so, that is a significant challenge for many of the farmers we work with, particularly socially disadvantaged farmers.”īlack farmers in particular have seen a sharp drop in participation over the past century, largely due to discriminatory federal and state farm-aid programs prioritizing white farmers. “The biggest need that farmers have is access to land,” Reilly pointed out. Michael Reilly, co-founder and executive director of Foodshed Capital, a Virginia-based nonprofit which lends money to new farms, including New Roots, said finding and purchasing land can be a struggle for people new to farming. Department of Agriculture estimated the average cost of an acre of farmable land in Virginia is $4,700. The group places an emphasis on getting property into the care of farmers of color and other marginalized groups.Ī 2021 report from the U.S. The Agrarian Commons aims to lower barriers for new farmers by signing long-term leases, which “And also offered us an opportunity to really workshop this concept of what it means to operate on land held by another entity.” “We felt that brought more security and stability,” Wheeler explained. Susanna Wheeler, farm director of New Roots, said the group develops and transfers land to the Agrarian Commons, a nonprofit which permanently preserves land and leases it out to other farmers. As Virginia’s farms continue to cope with unstable economic markets, one operation is blazing a new trail for a more equitable and economically stable agricultural model.Įstablished in 2019, the West Virginia-based New Roots Community Farm aims to provide resources and opportunities, both for producers and consumers.
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