Wild Blueberry Newsletter, January 2017

January 2017

2017 Wild Blueberry Spring Meetings

Wild Blueberry Spring meetings will be held in Waldoboro on Tuesday, March 21, and in Ellsworth on Thursday, March 23, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. and in Machias on Saturday, March 25, 2017 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. We will be discussing the current crop situation and suggesting strategies to address it. Program details will be provided in the February Wild Blueberry Newsletter.

Cavendish Agri Services Invites You to the 2017 Blueberry Meeting

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 14, 2017, in the morning at the Bangor Motor Inn, 701 Hogan Road, Bangor, Maine and in the evening at the Columbia Falls Elementary School, 8 Addison Road, Columbia Falls, Maine (see attached agenda).

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Crop Insurance

Given the low prices, we have been experiencing you may want to consider the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) policy. It is a new crop insurance program that protects the farmer’s adjusted gross revenue from production losses or drops in market prices due to natural causes (see WFRP attachment for details of the program).

NASS Assistance Request

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) is asking for your assistance. We are preparing the mail list for the 2017 Census of Agriculture. A major challenge is having as complete of list of Maine farmers as possible; especially when we have many new farmers. NASS has received lists from several of the University of Maine Extension staff and the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. NASS will also have access to contact information for certified organic growers via the USDA Agricultural Marketing Services Organic Integrity Database.

If your organization maintains a list of farmers that you are allowed to share, then I would appreciate it if you could send them to Gary R. Keough, State Statistician, U.S. Department of Agriculture|National Agricultural Statistics Service Field Operations|New England Field Office, 53 Pleasant Street, Room 3450, Concord, NH 03301, Gary_Keough@nass.usda.gov. The lists can be in any format but need to have at minimum an operator name and mailing address. NASS will check the lists for duplication and check them against our current list.

If you can’t share your organization’s list or the list contains only names and email addresses, then could you encourage your contacts to use NASS’s web page where farmers can provide their contact information, the Make Sure Your Farm or Ranch Counts! page (USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service website).

Sincerely,

Dave
David E. Yarborough
Extension Blueberry Specialist

Wild blueberry fact sheets, past newsletters, contacts, resource links, calendar of events, and more can be found on the Cooperative Extension’s Maine Wild Blueberries website.

Information in this publication is provided purely for educational purposes. No responsibility is assumed for any problems associated with the use of products or services mentioned. No endorsement of products or companies is intended, nor is criticism of unnamed products or companies implied.

Call 800.287.0274 (in Maine), or 207.581.3188, for information on publications and program offerings from University of Maine Cooperative Extension, or visit extension.umaine.edu.

The University of Maine is an EEO/AA employer, and does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information or veteran’s status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Director of Equal Opportunity, 101 Boudreau Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469-5754, 207.581.1226, TTY 711 (Maine Relay System).