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: Is China Buying US Soybeans + USDA Nov 14th Crop Report could be “Game Changing”

After a week of a U.S./China trade truce, markets/trade is skeptical that we have not seen a signed agreement nor heard much from China or seen any details. There are rumors that China is buying soybean futures & not the physical. Trust in Trump?
12 MMT of U.S. soybean purchases by China by year-end is better than 0 but we all need to give it more time and give it a chance to unfold. China did lower the tariffs on Ag and is buying U.S. wheat and sorghum.
U.S. supreme court could rule against Trumps tariffs, but the Trump administration does have a plan B.
U.S. government shutdown is now the longest in history at 38 days.
But despite a U.S. government shutdown we will be getting a USDA November crop report next Friday and it could be “game changing.” If the USDA provides a bullish surprise with lower U.S. corn and soybean yields and ending stocks that are lower than expected both corn and soybean futures will break out above their ceilings at $4.35/bu and $11.35/bu respectively.
The funds continued their selling in live and feeder cattle futures on continued fears that the Trump administration want to lower U.S. beef prices. The fundamentals have not changed, only market psychology has.
Stocks markets continue to worry about a weak U.S. job market, but you can blame ChatGPT for that. In the future, we will have a more efficient, productive and growing economy with a higher unemployment rate until we have more skilled AI workers.
After 34 new record highs in the S & P 500 and 124 new records in the NASDAQ in 2025 we are back to a correction and investor profit taking as AI valuations may have gotten too stretched near-term ahead of NVDA’s 3rd quarter earnings announcement on Nov. 19th. But this is not an AI bubble.
75% of Tesla shareholders approved a $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk!
It has rained in South America in the last 7 days, but both the American and European models agree that Central Brazil remains dry in the next 14-days!

The worlds of reality TV and farming meet in this season of The Bachelor

17th annual Pacific Agriculture Show scheduled from January 29 – 31, 2015