Its Always Deeper Blog & Podcast
Blog talking about the Deeply Rooted Things
One of the ways that we help people gain more access to food is through education. Knowledge is power when applied, knowledge without application is useless. Here we are posting useful information that will give you tangible and practical know how around the food system. Don't hestitate to reach out at the contact information below to with any questions, comments, and/or requests.
Did you know that the USDA has an educational platform for farmers who want to grow organic!? and that all the classes are free!
Organic Integrity Learning Center
Certified operations play a vital role at every step along the organic supply chain. The organic integrity of the products they produce, handle, or process depends on how they carry out their respective roles.
The National Organic Program recently published a new course in the Organic Integrity Learning Center on how handlers and processors should maintain a product’s organic status. The Keep it Organic When Handling and Processing course addresses key activities implemented by certified operations that handle, process, package and store agricultural products. The course introduces elements of certification, including types of handling processes, product labeling categories and composition requirements, facility pest management, sanitation, commingling risks and prevention. Log in to use interactive media, including video recorded at actual organic operations, to build your knowledge and skills and apply course concepts to realistic scenarios.
Justice for Black Farmers Act
(Preview) On November 19th, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) announced landmark legislation aimed at addressing and correcting historic discrimination within the U.S. Department of Agriculture in federal farm assistance and lending that has caused Black farmers to lose millions of acres of farmland and robbed Black farmers and their families of hundreds of billions of dollars of inter-generational wealth.
The Justice for Black Farmers Act will enact policies to end discrimination within the USDA, protect remaining Black farmers from losing their land, provide land grants to create a new generation of Black farmers and restore the land base that has been lost, and implement systemic reforms to help family farmers across the United States.
Why is this important? (EXCERPT FROM MOTHER JONES)
After the US Civil War, newly emancipated Black growers won a share of the agricultural landscape. They did so despite fierce backlash and the ULTIMATELY FAILED PROMISES OF RECONSTRUCTION. By the 1910s, around 200,000 Black farmers owned an estimated 20 million acres of land, mostly in the South. * That turned out to be a peak. Since then, due LARGELY TO LINGERING white supremacy and racist MACHINATIONS within the US Department of Agriculture, the number of Black farmers has PLUNGED by 98 percent. The remaining few managed to hold on to just 10 percent of that HARD-WON ACREAGE.
Where are Michigan monies being allocated this year (2023-24)
Review this doucment to see what industries are being funded by the State of Michigan
Source: Data Driven Detroit
A note: Agriculture and Rural Development gets more than the government when it comes to budget allocations. This is why our work is so important...
Top Three Allocations (by $ amount):
(1) Agriculture & Rural Development
(2) Corrections
(3) Education
Child Nutrition Program Integrity Final Rule
We are not an official information hub for the USDA
USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service published a final rule on program integrity to ensure that child nutrition programs are properly operated and managed to protect federal funds and taxpayer dollars. The final rule impacts the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Special Milk Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program.
The final rule strengthens program integrity by modernizing how state agencies oversee child nutrition programs, including:
Introducing targeted flexibilities in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs that streamline monitoring requirements and lower administrative burden for states.
Finalizing provisions in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, also known as CACFP, that have already been in place. These provisions streamline processes, provide additional resources, and increase accountability.
Allowing more efficient use of state agency resources by ensuring that organizations at risk of serious management issues in CACFP receive more frequent oversight, and that financial transactions are appropriately reviewed.
Improving the ability of FNS and state agencies to address the rare instances of severe or repeated violations of program requirements in the child nutrition programs.
This rule is one of many steps that USDA is taking to ensure that federal child nutrition programs can serve the millions of children who depend on them to reach their full potential. Additional resources for state agencies will be shared soon.
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.