September deadline to sign up for TAA for asparagus growers
Washington Ag Today August 10, 2010 Washington asparagus growers can tap into federal resources designed to help them remain competitive globally. The Trade Adjustment Assistance program for farmers offers various training opportunities and cash assistance to eligible producers, who must apply at their local Farm Service Agency office by September 23rd. John Nelson with the Western Center for Risk Management describes some of the training participating asparagus growers will receive. Nelson: “The main thing we are going to be doing is giving them some of the subjects like the farm financial decision making, labor management. Labor is a big part of their program so different aspects of labor and working with labor. But many of these things will be pieces of a business that we think it would be good for them to have a full comprehension of and will help them to build a business plan ultimately. Because once they take 12 hours of training and they do a two-page template business plan, their next challenge is to complete a complete business plan.” Up to 12-thousand dollars is available to producers in developing these business plans. Nelson says some smaller asparagus growers may not know they could be eligible for the assistance. Nelson: “Yeah, the smaller farmers that are producing for the community supported agricultural programs or the direct marketing to farmers market, that sort of thing.” I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.
