DEM to expand role with grant program for farmers

When Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee put pen to paper and signed the Agriculture and Seafood Act into law on April 26 – Rhode Island Agriculture Day – he changed the way the R.I. Department of Environmental Management operates.
No longer will it act exclusively as a regulatory agency; now it can be an economic supporter of agriculture as well.
The new act increases DEM’s ability to assist in marketing and outreach for local agriculture and seafood products. It also establishes a state Food and Nutrition Policy Advisory Council and allows the state Division of Agriculture, part of the DEM, to begin a grant program for farmers and organizations that support the state’s agricultural and commercial-fishing industries.
“It’s something the Department of Environmental Management had asked me to sponsor in the House,” said Rep. Deborah L. Ruggiero, D-Jamestown. “I’m a big proponent of agriculture and the fishing industry.”
There are more than 1,200 farms in the state and the industry is worth $1.7 billion, according to the “Economic Impact Study for Rhode Island Green-Related Industries,” issued in April. In all, agriculture provides 12,300 jobs.
The premise of the new law is simple; agriculture plays a key role in the state’s outdoor economy. And the state “plays a really big role in supporting local food production,” Ruggiero said.
Noah Fulmer, executive director of nonprofit Farm Fresh Rhode Island, said “One of the key parts of the bill was allowing DEM to retain some of the funds that it raises through permitting programs that it has in place. Agriculture has a lot of licenses and fees that are involved but DEM hasn’t been able to keep that money outside of the general fund.”
Fulmer said DEM collects several million dollars in fees each year and the state has advocated using those funds to assist the industry by establishing a grant program. “That was half the battle, trying to create an environment in which it was possible for DEM to make strategic investments in agriculture,” he said. Any grant under this program shall not exceed $20,000 per year.
The state does already administer funds to help farmers, but its origin stems from federal dollars distributed to the state. For example, the state distributes funds under a federal specialty-crop block grant to help promote fruits, vegetables and other specialty crops. In 2011, the state received $221,007 for eight specialty-crop projects.
According to the 2007 USDA Census of Agriculture, Rhode Island had $6.3 million worth of agriculture sales sold directly to the public, equal to 9.5 percent of all agriculture market sales, which ranked Rhode Island first in the nation for percentage of direct-market sales. The state was also ranked third in the nation for direct-marketing sales of fruits and vegetables from farms to consumers, on a per-farm basis.
The state’s agricultural resources are part of a well-organized industry, as evidenced by entities such as Farm Fresh Rhode Island, www.farmfreshri.org, and Rhody Fresh, www.rhodyfresh.com.
These groups support and organize farmer’s markets and community-supported agriculture. Their Market Mobile farm-to-business delivery allows local food to be shipped to restaurants and institutions across New England. According to DEM’s data the program is rapidly expanding, selling $225,000 of food in its first year, 2009, $685,000 in 2010 and over $1 million in 2011.
The Rhode Island Agricultural Partnership and DEM have developed a Five-Year Strategic Plan for Rhode Island’s agriculture. “It’s a good blueprint for DEM in terms of working with food producers on where to make those investments,” Fulmer said. The partnership oversees the long-term prosperity of both the agricultural and seafood industries. Part of that oversight will involve a DEM report detailing the performance of the grants program, followed by one or more public meetings to solicit input on whether the program is meeting its intended purposes on an annual basis.
“One objective is to roll seafood into the energy that’s surrounding the local food movement and local agriculture,” said Kenneth Ayars, chief of the Division of Agriculture. “The second was to create a capacity for us to have a fund to be used for local agriculture and fishing; what we created was a restricted-receipt account. There’s no money yet to go into it. That will be our next task, to find sources of funding,” he said.
“We are pleased that the bill was very much supported by the governor and by the General Assembly. … There was mutual effort on both sides, by DEM and the Assembly,” he said. “It was very smooth. I think it shows the interest in local agriculture and fishing.”
A mechanism used to judge and prioritize grant funds is being developed by DEM.
The Assembly has certainly been responsive to the state’s commercial fishery. Last year the Rhode Island Seafood Marketing Collaborative was formed to help provide resources and information to help local fishermen and small businesses. Their annual report was submitted to the Assembly in April and the collaborative has its own new website, www.seafoodri.com.
The collaborative has a five-year plan to maximize agricultural opportunity, including obtaining and protecting farmland and open space as outdoor natural resources. •

No posts to display