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Committed to the future of rural communities
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/ssdpg/ssdpg.htm
· Approximately $1.463 million in competitive grant funds for fiscal year (FY) 2009 is available for cooperatives or associations of cooperatives to assist small, socially-disadvantaged agricultural producers to fund technical assistance to small, socially-disadvantaged agricultural producers in rural areas. The maximum award per grant is $175,000.
· Must be postmarked and mailed, shipped, or sent overnight no later than August 10, 2009 to the USDA Rural Development State Office.
· Cooperative—A farmer- or rancher-owned and -controlled business, organized and chartered as a cooperative, from which benefits are derived and distributed equitably on the basis of use by each of the farmer or rancher owners whose primary focus is to provide assistance to small, socially-disadvantaged agricultural producers and where the governing board and/or membership is comprised of at least 75 percent socially-disadvantaged producers.
· Small, Socially-Disadvantaged Agricultural Producer—Socially-disadvantaged persons or 100% socially-disadvantaged producer-owned entities, including farmers, ranchers, loggers, agricultural harvesters, and fishermen, that have averaged $250,000 or less in annual gross sales of agricultural products in the last 3 years.
· Socially-Disadvantaged Producer—Individual agricultural producers who have been subjected to racial, ethnic or gender prejudice because of their identity as members of a group, without regard for their individual qualities.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2009
TARO TASK FORCE HOLDS COMMUNITY MEETING IN KÄNE‘OHE
HONOLULU – The public is invited to express concerns about taro-related issues at a Taro Security and Purity Task Force community meeting in Käne‘ohe on Sunday, June 28, 2009.
The O‘ahu meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the YWCA’s Camp Kokokahi, located at 45-035 Käne‘ohe Bay Drive. Attendees are encouraged to contribute a dish for the meeting’s potluck dinner.
Act 211, which was signed by Gov. Linda Lingle in July 2008, created the Taro Security and Purity Task Force and placed it under the administration of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA). The aim of the task force is to bring together the various taro stakeholder groups, including farmers, Native Hawaiians and state agency representatives, for the common goal of helping the plant once again thrive.
The task force will make recommendations to the Legislature to help resolve problems facing the crop, while avoiding the divisive issue of genetic modification research.
Recently named Hawai‘i’s state plant, taro, or kalo, is used to make poi, the staple of the traditional Hawaiian diet, and is traditionally considered to be the elder sibling of the Native Hawaiian people.
However, taro production fell to just 4 million pounds harvested in 2007, a record low since statistics were first documented in 1946. This shortage has been blamed on a number of factors, including diseases and alien species, such apple snails, as well as the lack of water and taro land.
The 18-member Taro Security and Purity Task Force has been meeting regularly since December and is now visiting taro farming communities on each island to learn about the various issues affecting farmers from across the state.
For more information and for a copy of the agenda, please contact OHA at 594-0247.
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