Alabama Teaching farm receives PMA’s first Impact Award

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:46:34 GMT

The Produce Marketing Association has chosen Jones Valley Teaching Farm , Birmingham, Ala., as its first Impact Award recipient.

The new award, announced at last fall’s PMA Fresh Summit, honors “excellence and inspirational actions of people and organizations helping to grow a healthier world,” according to PMA board chairman Joe Don Zetzsche, when he introduced the Impact Award program at the show in Anaheim, Calif.

Jones Valley Teaching Farm reaches more than 3,500 students a year at seven fruit and vegetable farms, six of which are at Birmingham public schools. Many are concentrated in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood, according to a PMA news release, so students are involved in the program from pre-school to high school.

Full-time instructors at each farm work with teachers to customize curriculum to apply classroom learning to the hands-on farm experience.

“We know that one of the most powerful things a person can do to live a healthier life is to eat more fruits and vegetables, and establishing habits at a young age is key to lifetime produce consumption,” Lauren M. Scott, PMA chief strategy and membership officer, said in the release. “Jones Valley Teaching Farm has created a community movement that helps children access and learn about farming through a meaningful a hands-on experience that is shaping their relationship with food, providing a deep learning experience, and shaping their communities in a very important way.”

PMA established a webpage for the program, https://bit.ly/35KO2nt , and produced a video about the Jones Valley Teaching Farm.

One-fourth of the organization’s staff is former students who participated in the farm program, according to Amada Storey, Jones Valley Teach Farm executive director, said in the release.

“That is intentional and is shifting the paradigm of non-profit and that’s important,” she said in the release. “When it’s students who have been through the program and can then be able to direct it, that is community change. That is opportunity.”

PMA plans to announce two other Impact Award honorees in the coming weeks.

USDA designates Alabama as commercial citrus-producing area

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 19:47:08 GMT

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has revised the code of federal regulations ( 7 CFR Part 301 Subpart M – Citrus Canker ) to designate Alabama as a commercial citrus-producing area.

USDA said the Alabama Department of Agriculture informed the agency that commercial growers produce citrus in the state; adding Alabama to the APHIS list will update the regulations to provide the state with federal protections from citrus pests and diseases, which are afforded to all commercial citrus-producing areas, according to a news release .

Additionally, APHIS said it also updated the scientific name used in the regulations for citrus canker. Citrus canker is a citrus disease caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri. The updated regulations will use the most current scientific name, the release said.

Members of the public can review the final rule here or by visiting regulations.gov and entering APHIS-2023-0007 in the search field.