Producers of livestock, honeybees and farm-raised fish, who suffered certain losses in 2010 may be eligible for disaster assistance. In all $8 million in disaster assistance will be available through the USDA’s ELAP program.

A recent quote from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack:

“ELAP is an important tool to help producers of America’s livestock, honeybees and farm-raided fish stay in business after they experience significant losses because of natural disasters. A healthy livestock, honeybee and fish industry is vital to America’s food supply and economy.”

More information can be found in English here and in Spanish here. In addition to the online resource, you may visit your local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) for assistance.

Honey bee production is part of California’s commercial agricultural industry.

Ventura and Santa Barbara Youth Development Advisor, A. Michael Marzolla has been working with youth through environmental education throughout his career. Recently, one of his youth groups submitted a short video to the Green Shorts Film Festival. Submissions to this environmentally conscious film festival are open to residents of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties.

Mr. Marzolla is excited to announce the group has won a Green Shorts Award for the video "Fighting for Our Environment/Luciando por nuestro ambiente".  The cast and crew walked the Green Carpet to collect their award at the Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara on Thursday, April 14. Click here to view the winning video!

More information about the Agua Pura program and resources available to support environmental education activities can be found here. The Lunchiando Fotonovela can be viewed here.

Lunchiando Fotonovela cover page.

On May 5, 2011 from 9 to 11 am, representatives from the USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) will hold a meeting for strawberry growers at the Ventura County Cooperative Extension office.

There will be two simultaneous sessions. One will be in English and the other in Spanish. Both sessions will inform growers of the features and availability of the pilot crop insurance program for strawberries.

From the RMA:

“The program is based on the grower’s own historical crop revenues and protects growers against losses from low yield, low price, or any combination of these events. We will discuss how the program can work for you, requirements, sales closing dates, and how to purchase crop insurance.”

For more information or to RSVP contact Sandy Sanchez or Jessica Klaisner at: (530) 792-5870 or email: sandy.sanchez@rma.usda.gov or Jessica.klaisner@rma.usda.gov.

For those interested in attending, but unable to make the May 5 meeting in Ventura other locations are as follows:

May 4, 2011 from 2 to 4 pm in Santa Maria (English and Spanish)

May 10, 2011 from 2 to 4 pm in Monterey (English)

May 10, 2011 from 9 to 11 am in Watsonville (Spanish)

Designed for elementary and after-school gardening programs, UC ANR’s A Garden of Words/Un jardin de palabras: A Bilingual Gardening Dictionary will help verbal communication in any bilingual garden.

The author of this publication is Susan Spector, a Master Gardener volunteer from Santa Barbara County. The vocabulary is quite extensive and includes the following word categories

• Tools
• Measurements
• Gardening vocabulary
• Gardening phrases
• Plants
• Vegetables
• Herbs
• Fruits
• Garden helpers
• Garden pests

This resource can be accessed by clicking here.

Youth with vegetables harvested from school garden.

Photo by Suzanne Paisley.