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| Ag Matters Online |
An OpEd written by Emile DeVito and Jay Kelly
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Emile D. DeVito is manager of Science & Stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. Jay Kelly is associate professor of Biology and Environmental Science at Raritan Valley Community College.
The coronavirus pandemic has wrought unprecedented levels of personal and professional upheaval upon many employees. It may irrevocably transform how we work, communicate, eat, shop, date, and travel. Clearly, these are not “normal” times. And yet, society continues to move forward.
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A new look into the priorities for rural America of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden is revealed in responses to a questionnaire distributed by the American Farm Bureau Federation. AFBF asked the Republican and Democratic candidates to respond with their stances on several topics directly affecting America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities, including trade, labor, regulatory reform and sustainability.
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You can see the questions asked by AFBF, and read the answers from both campaigns here.
The US Department of Agriculture has developed a website specifically to assist farmers whose operations have been directly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. The site includes a lot of helpful information, specifically about the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) which provides direct relief to producers who faced price declines and additional marketing costs due to COVID-19.
Click here to visit farmers.gov/cfap
NJFB presented testimony opposing S2602 – a wide reaching farm worker protection bill at a Senate Committee hearing yesterday. Despite opposition from both Farm Bureau and The State Board of Agriculture, the committee moved the legislation forward. The next voting session of the full Senate is July 30; others are planned during August. A companion Assembly bill to S-2602 has already been introduced (A-4404) and is poised for review in the Assembly Labor Committee. A special appropriations bill for $5 million to off-set farmer expenses of covid compliance accompanies S-2602.
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Click here to read NJFB’s full testimony.
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The Aug. 8 deadline for applying for a Paycheck Protection Program loan is quickly approaching and there’s still about $130 billion remaining of the $660 billion authorized by Congress. If you’re one of the millions of small-business owners who haven’t applied, then you could be making a big mistake.
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This Philadelphia Inquirer story explains why PPP is a program worth looking into.
The American Farmland Trust recently released a “State of the States” report on farmland conversion.
This report is part of American Farmland Trust’s multi-year initiative to document the status of and threats to U.S. farmland and ranchland and to identify policy solutions to ensure the protection and conservation of America’s diverse agricultural landscape.
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All NJ agricultural employers are invited to learn directly from NJ Departments of Health, Labor and Agriculture who will discuss expectations for implementation of the “NJ COVID-19 Guidance for Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers, Their Employers & Housing Providers” document in a Webex webinar hosted by Rutgers Cooperative Extension on Tuesday, June 16, 2020 from 7:30 PM- 9:30 PM.
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The webinar is free to attend but you must register.
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Register here or by going to https://go.rutgers.edu/zzz55vz3.
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The NJDOH partnered with the NJDA and the NJDOL to create this guidance for agricultural employers focusing on precautions to help protect farm employees from COVID-19 on New Jersey farms and in farm labor housing. This webinar will review these guidelines. Questions from participants will be taken and addressed during the webinar.
A new advisory document about action “to protect agriculture workers from the coronavirus” is available. It was developed jointly by the CDC and the US Department of Labor-OSHA.
To assist farm operators in the provision of COVID-19 education, the NJ Department of Health has created a set of signs that may be printed and hung in common areas on farms. The signs were developed with low literacy in mind, contain few words, and provide basic information about face coverings, hand hygiene, social distancing, and where to get more information about COVID-19. Each sign is available in English as well as Spanish, Creole, Cambodian, French, Simplified Chinese, and Portuguese.
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Please share these with the farm operators in your area. They can be found on the NJDOH at website https://www.state.nj.us/health/cd/topics/covid2019_community.shtml the section labeled “Information for Farmworkers.”
