Spotted Wing Drosophila program on April 25

Adult SWD on raspberry. Photo by Ed Show.Thu, April 25 at 6:30 pm
Knox-Lincoln Cooperative Extension Office
377 Manktown Road, Waldoboro

Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water is bringing David Handley to Waldoboro for a program on Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD), a new insect pest of soft fruits.

Everyone is invited to attend this talk to learn about the spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) a new pest of soft fruits, which is a concern for anyone who grows raspberries, blueberries, day neutral strawberries, and many other soft fruits. SWD recently came into the U.S. from northern Asia and caused problems with many berry crops on the east coast in 2011. SWD is a small fruit fly, similar to those that fly around over-ripe bananas in your kitchen. However, this species lays its eggs in fruit before it ripens, resulting in fruit contaminated with small white larvae just as it is ready to pick. Infested fruits quickly rot. SWD can complete a generation in less than two weeks, with each adult female laying hundreds of eggs. Millions of flies can be present soon after the introduction of just a few into a field, which makes control difficult. It is likely that spotted winged drosophila can successfully over winter in Maine, although it may not build up to damaging levels until late summer.

We are inviting gardeners and growers to learn about this pest to learn management strategies to manage i, as it appears that it will be a problem in Maine for the foreseeable future. Dr. Handley will present results of research into the spread of this insect in Maine based on his experience as UMaine Cooperative Extension Vegetable and Small Fruit Specialist and a Cooperating Professor of Horticulture for the University of Maine. Dr. Handley has been based at the Highmoor Farm Agricultural Experiment Station since 1983, where he carries out applied research regarding berry and vegetable variety evaluation, production techniques, and pest management strategies. He is the author of numerous Extension fact sheets, articles and newsletters, and co-editor of two regional small fruit production guides.

There is no charge for this program (donations appreciatively accepted), but please call Knox-Lincoln Soil & Water Conservation District to register as space is limited.

For more information, contact the District at 596-2040, info@knox-incoln.org.

USDA Proposes Simplified Application Process for Renewable Energy Funding

WASHINGTON, April 15, 2013 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed a series of changes to make it easier for agricultural producers and rural small businesses to apply for renewable energy and energy efficiency funding. USDA remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty. Today's announcement is one part of the Department's efforts to strengthen the rural economy. "These changes are intended to help agricultural producers and rural small businesses throughout America," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. "They will streamline and simplify the application process and give businesses more time to do what they do best: innovate, create jobs and serve their rural communities." The proposed changes would affect applications for loans and grants through USDA Rural Development's Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). They would: Reduce paperwork, especially for projects under $80,000; Implement a more objective and uniform system to score applications; Authorize funding for refurbished and retrofitted renewable energy systems; Reduce certain reporting requirements; Establish a quarterly application period for applicants seeking only guaranteed loans. This change is intended to make the program more appealing to lenders and to ensure that funds are available year-round. REAP is one of USDA's most popular renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. From the passage of the 2008 Farm Bill through the end of Fiscal Year 2012, REAP funded more than 6,800 renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, feasibility studies, energy audits and renewable energy development assistance projects. In 2012, for example, USDA Rural Development provided ARC Technology of Whitewater, Kan., a $9,945 REAP grant to assist with installing a 12.2 kilowatt solar array. As a direct result of the USDA grant, the company expects to save approximately $1,300 per year on its electric bill and see a return on its investment in only two years. USDA is accepting comments on the proposed rule through June 11, 2013. For details on how to submit comments, or for additional information, see Page 22044 of the April 12 Federal Register, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-04-12/pdf/2013-07273.pdf. President Obama's plan for rural America has brought about historic investment and resulted in stronger rural communities. Under the President's leadership, these investments in housing, community facilities, businesses and infrastructure have empowered rural America to continue leading the way - strengthening America's economy, small towns and rural communities. USDA's investments in rural communities support the rural way of life that stands as the backbone of our American values. President Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are committed to a smarter use of Federal resources to foster sustainable economic prosperity and ensure the government is a strong partner for businesses, entrepreneurs and working families in rural communities. USDA has made a concerted effort to deliver results for the American people, even as USDA implements sequestration - the across-the-board budget reductions mandated under terms of the Budget Control Act. USDA has already undertaken historic efforts since 2009 to save more than $700 million in taxpayer funds through targeted, common-sense budget reductions. These reductions have put USDA in a better position to carry out its mission, while implementing sequester budget reductions in a fair manner that causes as little disruption as possible. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).

Liberty's Last Dairy Farm Sells Its Herd

Bangor Daily News via Maine Farm Bureau Reading Round-Up

LIBERTY, Maine - The smell has changed at Rocky Acres Farm.
 
Alan Millay and his wife, Linda, notice it as they walk on a recent afternoon among the barns at what was the last remaining dairy farm in Liberty - a small, rural community in Waldo County. Fresh air has replaced the sweet smell of cow dung and the sour scent of fermenting silage that would have been pulled out to feed the dairy cows.
 
But the cows are all gone; the barns are all empty.
 
Alan, 62, and his brother Doug, 60, were forced to sell their herd of dairy cows this month, victims of an industry that's been squeezed between the high costs of grain feed, which has risen more than 60 percent in the past two years, and fuel, which has increased as much as 30 percent during that period, and the relatively low price dairy farmers receive for their milk.
 
The morning of March 1, the brothers milked 31 cows, but by 2 p.m. the cows were gone, purchased on the spot when a representative of the Flood Bros. farm in Clinton, the state's largest dairy farm, visited that morning.
 
"That happened awfully quick," Alan said while standing in the milking room with his brother. Visible through an open door are rows of empty stalls where Holsteins had lived for the past 60 years. "A little too quick, actually."
 
George Millay, 89, who founded Rocky Acres in 1951 before turning it over to his sons in the 1980s, still lives on the farm with his wife, Margaret, who is 90. Dairy farmers are in the worst predicament he's seen in his 60 years of farming, he said.
 
"We've seen it all haven't we, Margaret?" he said, turning to his wife, who nodded.
 
It's "about as bad as it could get," he said. "Everything has changed."

When George founded Rocky Acres, there were farms up and down his road and throughout Liberty that milked dairy cows. In 1950, the year before George started the farm, there were nearly 5,000 dairy farms in the state, according to data from the Maine Milk Commission. Now there are about 300, and Rocky Acres was the last one in Liberty.
 
Selling the cows was a blow for George. When asked how he felt about it, he clammed up and looked away.
 
"I didn't like it," he said. "I didn't like to see the cows go."
 
Later, Doug said his father sometimes dreams the cows have come back. Doug wants to lease out the pasture land to a cattle farmer so his father will again have the comforting view of grazing cows.
 
But the farm's demise didn't completely surprise anyone in the family, including his father, Alan said.
 
"He has actually known that this has been coming for about a year," Alan said. "Every time you sit down and write out checks after the milk check comes, and you have nothing left when you're done, and you don't know where the next dollar is coming from to pay the next bill... I've been grumbling about that for a year now and tapping into what little bit of savings we had. ... The past three years, you keep picking at it and picking at it and picking at it, and finally it's gone."
 
While the Millay brothers didn't want to go into debt to keep the farm running, many of Maine's dairy farmers are.
 
"We've been lucky," Doug said. "We've bought what we needed as we went and tried to pay for it."
 
But, Alan added, "Some of them guys are probably buried so deep, I don't know how they're ever going to get out."
 
John Nutting, a dairy farmer in Leeds and a former legislator who was on the agricultural committee for 16 years, said Rocky Acres isn't the only dairy farm that's been forced to close. He receives calls from farmers throughout the state as a result of his years in the Legislature, and he's heard of several farms forced to sell their herds during the last few months.
 
"I've never seen anything like it," Nutting said. "The price of grain is so high right now because of the drought out West that it's sucking the life right out of every dairy farmer in Maine."
 
The Legislature will take up the plight of Maine's dairy industry, which has an estimated annual economic impact of $570 million, in the coming month. Rep. Russell Black, R-Wilton, introduced LD 789, An Act To Lessen the Impact of High Feed and Fuel Costs on Maine Dairy Farmers. The bill's wording hasn't been finalized - Black said he introduced it as a "placeholder" on behalf of the Maine Dairy Industry Association, which is working on the language - but its public hearing is set for April 25 in Augusta.
 
Julie-Marie Bickford, executive director of the Maine Dairy Industry Association, met with the governor's office Thursday, and has been working with staff from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources to come up with ideas for how to provide short-term relief to these farmers as they

head into the critical spring season, when they need cash and operating loans to seed their fields and fuel up their tractors.
 
Maine does have a safety net for dairy farmers, called the tier program, that's designed to help make up the difference between what it costs them to produce milk and what they get paid for it. But the gap between the two has become so vast in the past year that the program's cost has become touchy in the political realm. Last spring, the Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry rejected the Maine Milk Commission's recommendation, which was based on the most recent cost-of-production study, that the tier program help farmers reach the realistic "break-even" point - which ranged from $28 per hundredweight for the small farms and $21 for the very large farms. Instead, the committee set the break-even points as $21 for the small farms and $17.83 for the very large ones.
 
The Millays in February received 75 cents per hundredweight from the tier program. If the committee had adopted the milk commission's recommendation, they would have received closer to $7 or $8 per hundredweight.
 
While Bickford believes fully funding the tier program, which is expected to cost $2.6 million this fiscal year, is politically unrealistic in this budget climate, she is hopeful that some relief will be provided.
 
When asked what her message is to Maine dairy farmers who are holding out hope for help from Augusta, Bickford was pragmatic.
 
"When I talk to farmers, the message I have to tell them is, 'Do what you got to do,'" she said. "Because as much as we are working hard - and I'm confident we have support coming out of the administration and the Legislature - I don't know every farm's individual finances, and everyone will have to make their own decision. I'm not going to mislead anybody by painting an overly rosy picture, just like I don't want to paint an overly bleak picture."
 
But any assistance from Augusta would have come too late for the Millays.
 
The money Alan and Doug received for their cows, equipment and leftover hay will last the families for a little while, but Alan, who's now drawing Social Security, is not sure for how long.
 
"As of right now, I'm going to enjoy it for a bit, and down the road I might have to find something to supplement what I get from Social Security," he said.
 
While closing down the farm is the end of an era for the family, Alan and Doug don't regret their decision.
 
"It's a constant struggle when things aren't going the right way," Alan said. "It's a headache I don't miss."

ME Eastern Golden Eagle Working Group Recognized by U.S. Forest Service

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is part of a group that was recently recognized by the U.S. Forest Service for its efforts to bolster the golden eagle population in eastern North America.

Adult golden eagle leaves a frozen Oxford County lake, with adult bald eagle in background. Credit: Bill Hanson and Tim Welch

IFW Biologist Charlie Todd collaborated with biologists and wildlife managers from 19 other institutions from Quebec to Florida as part of the Eastern Golden Eagle Working Group, which was awarded the 2013 Research and Management Partnership Award.

The award, part of the U.S. Forest Service’s Wings Across the Americas program, was given to the group on March 27.
 
Maine is one of only a few places in the East where golden eagles can be seen any month of the year. Only a few individuals are observed in the breeding season, winter or spring/fall migration periods. The last recorded nesting by golden eagles in Maine was in 1997, and the only golden eagles currently nesting in the region are in the provinces of eastern Canada.
 
Since it was formed in 2010, the working group has monitored the golden eagle’s status, prioritized research needs, promoted science-based conservation and management actions and raised awareness of the threats golden eagles face, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
 
IFW prepared a species plan in 2004 that detailed the historic demise of golden eagles in the eastern U.S. The species may never have been abundant in forested regions like Maine, but Piscataquis County nests noted in 1689 and 1736 are among the earliest written records of a golden eagle nest anywhere in North America. Abenaki Indian lore suggests a long-standing presence before settlement and written records.
 
In Maine, voluntary contributions provide the only state funds for conservation of endangered and threatened species, other fish and wildlife “at risk” in the state, or any conservation effort not related to game and sport fish. Hunters and anglers have historically shouldered the cost of fish and wildlife management. Soaring interest in conservation for Maine’s rich resource heritage has not yet translated into stable funding. Contributions to Maine’s Endangered and Nongame Wildlife Fund are derived only from sales of the loon plate conservation option for vehicles, the Chickadee Check-off donation on state income tax returns or direct contributions which can be done at any time.
 
For more information on the Eastern Golden Eagle Working Group, visit www.egewg.org
 
To find out more about Maine’s Endangered and Nongame Wildlife Fund, go to www.mefishwildlife.com

Niche farmers thank Obama for FSA microloans

(Knox and Lincoln producers: Contact FSA at the Augusta Service Center, 207-622-7847)

When Kathy Patterson and Stacey Schuett decided to write President Obama a letter, it wasn’t about the economy or climate change. They didn’t give their views on gun control and they didn’t express their feelings about the gridlock in Congress. They simply said thank you.

“We are writing to express our heartfelt appreciation for the microloan program that was put into place in January,” the letter stated. “While $35,000 is tiny compared to other programs, for a two-family farm like ours, it is a game changer.”

Kathy and Stacey, owners of Sebastopol Microgreens, were the first in Northern California to receive the new microloans developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) to help beginning, small and niche farmers. The loans ease certain requirements, streamline the application process and provide a faster turnaround time for approvals, when compared to regular operating loans.

“This program is like having a partner give you a boost when you need it most,” said Kathy.

When traditional financing proved difficult for their three-year-old company, they sought the advice of a local grant writer who heard about the FSA microloan program.

In less than two weeks, the business partners were approved and received the maximum $35,000, which they will use to purchase an automatic flat filler.

“We currently fill the flats by hand, scooping the soil, leveling it, wetting it and seeding it. It’s terribly time consuming,” said Stacey. “The automatic flat filler will accomplish in a half an hour what takes us a week to do.”

It also bumps their business plan up by one year. Initially, the two had planned on saving up to purchase the flat filler next year. Now they are able to purchase the filler and hire someone to operate it while they focus more on marketing and further streamlining the business. “We had planned to hire next year when we saved up enough money to buy the flat filler, but with the loan we are able to produce enough to expand our business this year,” said Stacey.

Sebastapol MicroGreens delivers up to 40 different varieties of microgreens — that include cress, fennel, mustard, sorrel, cilantro, arugula — to top Michelin-starred restaurants and four-star hotels in the Bay Area. The greens are delivered in their growing trays, or flats, allowing chefs to harvest them fresh daily.

“Not every hotel or restaurant has access to a chef’s garden or farmers market, so we are providing an alternative to cut and packaged greens,” said Kathy. “The advantage is that they stay fresh, maintain their color, crispness and nutritional content, and they continue to grow until they are used up.”

The business partners expect to add more clients to their growing list this year, telling President Obama in the letter that they will add two new job positions and increase production.

“These borrowers are exactly the kind of customer FSA intended for microloans,” said Jacque Johnson, Farm Service Agency district director who assisted Kathy and Stacey with the loan. Generally, district directors don’t work directly with new applicants, but because this was the first microloan written in the eight counties covered by the Ukiah FSA office, Johnson was hands on.

“I don’t routinely work up new loan applications,” said Jacque, who was amicably mentioned in the letter to the President for her assistance.  “This reminds me of why I love working for this agency.”