07/01/2024
Urge USDA Support for Organic Dairy Farms!
Maine state and federal agencies are providing support to help some organic dairies hang on, but much more is needed, and a critical pool of emergency funding that Congress specifically designated for the organic dairy sector is being held up at a time when it’s needed most. Two years ago, Congress allocated $104 million of Commodity Credit Corporation funding as emergency relief for organic dairy farms and charged the U.S. Department of Agriculture with the job of distributing the funds. USDA quickly created the Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program (ODMAP) and began sending out relief grants. USDA got off to a great start, but the distributions stalled out and, thus far, less than a quarter of the funding has gone out to organic dairy farmers across the country. Please write a letter urging U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to release emergency funds for organic dairy farms now: https://bit.ly/4chZhmV
Photo credit: Annie Watson, Sheepscot Valley Farm, Whitefield, ME
