Farm Bill Draft Includes Much Needed Investment in Organic Research and Education
June 8, 2018 – We are extremely excited to share the news that the Senate Agriculture Committee’s Farm Bill draft, released today, includes a much needed increased investment in organic research and education. The Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), which was funded at $20 million annually in the last Farm Bill, has been increased to $40 million annually for the next two years and ramps up to $50 million annually by 2022. Since its inception, OREI has developed a substantial body of research-based information to address the challenges [...]
OFRF Board Approves New President
February 22, 2018—Today, longtime board member and organic farmer Jeremy Barker Plotkin, was approved by unanimous vote to serve as OFRF’s Board President. Jeremy has been a vegetable farmer for 19 years. After earning his M.S. in Plant and Soil Sciences from the University of Maine, he founded Simple Gifts Farm at the New England Small Farm Institute in Belchertown in 1999. Over the next seven years, he grew the farm tenfold, from a half-acre to five. In 2006 he moved his operation to the 37.8-acre North Amherst Community Farm and brought [...]
