FruitGuys Community Fund reveal grant cycle for 2015

Jan 06, 2015

Eight grants given in Wisconsin, Illinois, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and California in 2014

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

The application process to receive grants from The FruitGuys Community Fund is now underway. Applications are due by midnight PST on Monday, February 16, 2015 and projects must be completed by December 1, 2015.

The FruitGuys Community Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives, was created in 2012. By April 2015, grants of up to $5,000 will be awarded to farms and agricultural non-profits impacting the environment, economy, and community health.

"We are committed to helping small farms become more sustainable and are confident that we will identify well deserving farms, farmers and projects,” said Mittelstaedt. “We firmly believe that supporting small farms bolsters communities in major ways."

More than 60 applicants submitted their names in 2014 after only 15 applicants came forward in 2013. Those who received grants in 2014 included Gabriel Farm from Sebastopol, California who will use their grant to build and install bat boxes and a bat belfry to improve natural pest control.

Bountiful Hope Farms out of Monroe, Wisconsin will use theirs to transition from hand watering to a drip irrigation system, build raised plant beds and a hoop house for their farm that donates all of their harvest to local food pantries.

Video: New colours and more durability for Case IH RB6 round balers

Farmers will see a new look and more efficiency and durability from Case IH's RB6 Series variable chamber round balers for model year 2026. In this report from the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois, Case livestock product specialist Brian Williams notes that the first thing farmers will notice is a new colour scheme. "For the tailgate, the frame, and also the pickup, we've changed to our Case IH red colour. One of the really nice things about changing that colour scheme is that you're able to see that crop flowing into the baler much better from the tractor." There's also changes to the pickup with the addition of a second roller. "On the 566 model, you can get it with the double windrower roller," says Williams. "For our customers that are baling corn stalks or large windrows, it helps to push that windrow down to let that feed into the chamber, so that they're able to bale a little bit faster, because everyone's looking for better efficiency." There are also modifications to the rollers in the bale chamber — the stripper roll and the fixed roll have been combined into a one-piece roller. "There's no welds on those rollers, so the dependability is going to be far greater than our previous model," adds Williams.