A record $80 million grant will fund a pilot program that will encourage producers to implement climate-smart practices on farms.
Virginia Tech received a record $80 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to help farmers implement climate-smart practices that could significantly reduce greenhouse gasses. This is the single largest grant in Virginia Tech’s history.
With the Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture, which is now underway, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will distribute more than $57 million of the grant to producers to enact climate-friendly practices and serve as a pilot program that pays producers to implement climate-smart practices on farms of all sizes and commodities, an initiative that could have significant impacts on curbing climate-changing gasses.
The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture incentivizes and rewards farmers and ranchers for adopting climate-smart agricultural practices. Under the three-year, $80-million pilot program, the Alliance and its partners will help producers in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Virginia prove the value of paying farmers and ranchers $100 per acre or animal unit for stewardship practices — delivering public value through carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas reduction, improved soil health, water quality, water conservation and other environmental services.
The pilot design, including the structure of producer incentive payments, was developed by Rural Investment to Protect the Environment (RIPE), a coalition of farmers, ranchers, agricultural trade associations and environmental organizations advancing a national policy that invests in rural America by enabling producers to earn a fair return for implementing voluntary conservation practices. RIPE is a former member of the Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture.
There are many components to starting a farm operation, with access to financing being one of the biggest challenges. To assist new agricultural producers in finding financial sources, the Virginia Secretariat of Agriculture and Forestry, in partnership with key lending institutions and state and federal agencies, will host a Farm Finance and Conservation Planning Seminar.
The educational workshop will be held on October 23 at Virginia State University’s Randolph Farm Pavilion in Petersburg, Va. New and beginning farmers are encouraged to register for this free networking and learning opportunity. Please register by October 19, by emailing Josie.Rao@Governor.Virginia.Gov.
“As agriculture is the Commonwealth’s top private industry, Gov. Glenn Youngkin is committed to the industry’s continued development as a growth engine and source of jobs throughout rural Virginia,” said Matthew Lohr, Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry. Lohr says the free seminar will provide critical farm financing and cost share conservation opportunities to help the next generation of agricultural producers find success.
FARM FINANCE & CONSERVATION PLANNING SEMINAR
Monday, October 23, 2023 · 9 am–2:30 pm
VSU Randolph Farm Pavilion, 4415 River Road, Petersburg, VA 23803
The Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s (DHCD) Office of Broadband is excited to announce the launch of a statewide survey to gather data that will inform the Virginia Digital Opportunity Plan. The Office of Broadband is currently in the process of developing the comprehensive Virginia Digital Opportunity Plan, the required output of Virginia’s Digital Equity Act Planning Grant from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). The Digital Opportunity Plan will enable the Commonwealth apply for Federal broadband funding from the Digital Equity Act Capacity Grant program, as well as for eligible entities to apply for funds from the Digital Equity Act Competitive Grant program. These grants will be used to improve the affordability of internet services in the Commonwealth, increase digital literacy programming and resources aimed at increasing digital adoption, and fund unique programs that address the digital divide beyond just access to physical broadband infrastructure.
We strongly encourage all Virginia residents to complete this quick, 10-minute survey to help our office better understand your digital needs. Together, we can foster digital opportunity in the Commonwealth by ensuring that residents have access to affordable, reliable, and high-speed internet, and have the skills necessary to use the internet to its full potential.
The Digital Opportunity Survey is currently available in English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Ukrainian. Paper copies of the survey are available in the resources tab.
If distributing paper surveys, please ensure that you collect them from participants once they are done. Completed surveys can be mailed or faxed to SIR Research. If possible, we recommend collecting the paper surveys and mailing them in one batch directly to SIR. If you find that you are receiving a significant amount (20+) of paper surveys each week, we recommend you send a weekly collection to SIR. If you would prefer to email or fax completed surveys in, please retain the hard copies to be returned at a later date for quality assurance.
DHCD is partnering with the Department of Social Services, the Virginia Community Action Partnership, and Community Action Agencies to develop Regional Digital Opportunity Plans. Across nine regions, Community Action Agencies are assessing the digital divide through stakeholder engagement, survey distribution and data analysis and community input sessions to develop regional plans that address identified community needs related to the digital divide. The nine regions, as well as the lead Community Action Agency for each regional plan, are listed in the map.
DIGITAL OPPORTUNITY CASE STUDY PILOT PROGRAM
PROGRAM PURPOSE
The intent of this program is to bring organizations working to close the digital divide into the state’s planning process. The objective of this grant opportunity is to identify best practices of initiatives/efforts that are addressing the digital divide in communities throughout Virginia. DHCD will provide grant funding to the organizations operating these programs, with the deliverable of a case study highlighting key findings, which DHCD will incorporate into the Commonwealth Digital Opportunity Plan.
Applications will be accepted and evaluated by DHCD on a rolling basis, until all available funds are committed. Interested organizations are encouraged to apply as soon as possible to begin development of their case study if selected.
Farmers, pesticide dealers, pest control firms, certified applicators, homeowners and golf course operators are encouraged to participate in the 2023 Virginia Pesticide Collection Program. The program collects unwanted, outdated or banned pesticides, at no cost to eligible participants, and disposes of them in a safe manner.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) Office of Pesticide Services, with participation from Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services, oversee the program, which has collected and destroyed more than 1.8 million pounds of outdated and unwanted pesticides since its inception. The program is funded through pesticide product registration fees collected by VDACS.
The following is a list of the 2023 collection sites and schedule. All locations are open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
September 28 – Meherrin Ag & Chemical, 1409 Vincent Store Rd., Charlotte Court House, Va.
October 3 – Nutrien Ag (Fertilizer Warehouse), 204 South Lunenburg Ave., South Hill, Va.
October 4 – Halifax County Agriculture Marketing Center, 1001 Farmway Ln., Scottsburg, Va.
October 5 – Piedmont Farmers Cooperative (Formerly known as Southern States Chatham Co-op), 485 Tightsqueeze Industrial Rd., Chatham, Va.
October 11 – National Guard Armory, 315 Commonwealth Blvd. W., Martinsville, Va.
In administering the Pesticide Collection Program, VDACS divides Virginia into five regions. Each year, the department conducts a collection in a different region. Once all five regions have been served, the program starts another cycle. Click here for the list of future collection localities.
Participants must transport their unwanted pesticides to the collection sites. If participants cannot safely containerize the unwanted pesticides for transport, VDACS may arrange assistance on a case-by-case basis. Only pesticides will be accepted. Pesticide contaminated material (for example, pesticide contaminated fertilizer) will not be accepted as part of the collection program. In addition, the program does NOT accept motor oil, paint, fuel, fertilizer or other chemicals.
Participants need to complete a pesticide collection registration form prior to the scheduled collection date and return the completed form to marlene.larios@vdacs.virginia.gov or mail to Office of Pesticide Services, VDACS, P.O. Box 1163, Richmond Virginia 23218. The form is available at www.vdacs.virginia.gov/pdf/disposalregistration.pdf or by contacting the program at 804.371.6561.
USDA has made available Milk Loss Program (MLP) assistance for eligible dairy operations for milk that was dumped or removed, without compensation, from the commercial milk market due to qualifying weather events and the consequences of those weather events that inhibited delivery or storage of milk (e.g., power outages, impassable roads, infrastructure losses, etc.) during calendar years 2020, 2021 and 2022. Administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA), signup for MLP opened September 11 and runs through October 16, 2023.
Background
On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act (P.L. 117-43), providing $10 billion for crop losses, including milk losses due to qualifying disaster events that occurred in calendar years 2020 and 2021. Additionally, the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023 (Pub. L. 117-328) provides approximately $3 billion for disaster assistance for similar losses that occurred in calendar year 2022.
Eligibility
MLP compensates dairy operations for milk dumped or removed without compensation from the commercial milk market due to qualifying disaster events, including droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, winter storms, freeze (including a polar vortex) and smoke exposure that occurred in the 2020, 2021 and 2022 calendar years. Tornadoes are considered a qualifying disaster event for calendar year 2022 only.
The milk loss claim period is each calendar month that milk was dumped or removed from the commercial market. Each MLP application covers the loss in a single calendar month. Milk loss that occurs in more than one calendar month due to the same qualifying weather event requires a separate application for each month.
The days that are eligible for assistance begin on the date the milk was removed or dumped and for concurrent days milk was removed or dumped. Once the dairy operation restarts milk marketing, the dairy operation is ineligible for assistance unless after restarting commercial milk marketing, additional milk is dumped due to the same qualifying disaster event. The duration of yearly claims is limited to 30 days per year for 2020, 2021 and 2022.
How to Apply
To apply for MLP, producers must submit:
FSA-376, Milk Loss Program Application
Milk marketing statement from the:
Month prior to the month milk was removed or dumped.
Affected month.
Detailed written statement of milk removal circumstances, including the weather event type and geographic scope, what transportation limitations occurred and any information on what was done with the removed milk.
Any other information required by the regulation.
If not previously filed with FSA, applicants must also submit all the following items within 60 days of the MLP application deadline:
Form AD-2047, Customer Data Worksheet.
Form CCC-902, Farm Operating Plan for an individual or legal entity.
Form CCC-901, Member Information for Legal Entities (if applicable).
Form FSA-510, Request for an Exception to the $125,000 Payment Limitation for Certain Programs (if applicable).
Form CCC-860, Socially Disadvantaged, Limited Resource, Beginning and Veteran Farmer or Rancher Certification, (if applicable).
A highly erodible land conservation (sometimes referred to as HELC) and wetland conservation certification (Form AD-1026 Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) Certification) for the MLP producer and applicable affiliates.
Most producers, especially those who have previously participated in FSA programs, will likely have these required forms already on file. However, those who are uncertain or want to confirm the status of their forms can contact their local FSA county office.
MLP Payment Calculation
The final MLP payment is determined by factoring the MLP payment calculation by the applicable MLP payment percentage.
The calculation for determining MLP payment is:
((Base period per cow average daily milk production x the number of milking cows in a claim period x the number of days milk was removed or dumped in a claim period) ÷ 100) x pay price per hundredweight (cwt.).
For MLP payment calculations, the milk loss base period is the first full month of production before the dumping or removal occurred.
The MLP payment percentage will be 90% for underserved producers, including socially disadvantaged, beginning, limited resource, and veteran farmers and ranchers and 75% for all other producers.
To qualify for the higher payment percentage, eligible producers must have a CCC-860, Socially Disadvantaged, Limited Resource, Beginning and Veteran Farmer or Rancher Certification, form on file with FSA for the 2022 program year.
Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) limitations do not apply to MLP, however the payment limitation for MLP is determined by the person’s or legal entity’s average adjusted gross farm income (income derived from farming, ranching and forestry operations). Specifically, a person or legal entity, other than a joint venture or general partnership, cannot receive, directly or indirectly, more than $125,000 in payments under MLP if their average adjusted gross farm income is less than 75% of their average AGI or more than $250,000 if their adjusted gross farm income is at least 75% of their average AGI.
More Dairy Information
In other FSA dairy safety-net support, Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program payments have triggered every month, January through July, for producers who obtained coverage for the 2023 program year. July 2023’s income over feed margin of $3.52 per hundredweight (cwt.) is the lowest margin since DMC program benefits to dairy producers started in 2019. To date, FSA has paid more than $1 billion in DMC benefits to covered dairy producers for the 2023 program year.
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