Nearly $8.6 million in grants is available to farmers for training opportunities in risk management. The announcement, made today by the USDA Risk Management Agency, will provide limited-resource and underserved farmers and ranchers educational opportunities that will help them manage their business more effectively. Grants are available for crop insurance education, community outreach and commodity partnership small sessions program. Applications must be submitted electronically. Learn more.

Dukes and Nantucket Counties have been designated by USDA as natural disaster areas due to excessive rainfall that began last May and continues to cause further damage. Producers in Barnstable County also qualify for natural disaster assistance because it is contiguous. The weather-related damage caused losses to tomatoes and other crops. Farmers have eight months to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. Read more.

Statisticians at the USDA Agricultural Statistics Service are working to ensure accuracy of the surveys submitted by farmers detailing how much of what crops they plan on planting this year. Nearly 77,000 farmers were chosen to complete the survey and represent the 2 million producers that support the American food supply. The results — presented in the Prospective Plantings Report — will be released at the end of this month. (USDA Radio News).

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The USDA has designated eight counties in Kansas as natural disaster areas due to losses from prevented planting caused by frost, excessive rain, flooding and flash flooding. Producers in eight other Kansas counties along with contiguous counties in Missouri and Oklahoma also qualify for emergency disaster loans from the Farm Service Agency. Farmers have eight months to apply for loans to help cover part of their actual losses. Learn more.

Community Supported Agriculture, or CSAs, have come and gone in the past decade, but residents in Tennessee are seeing a rebirth. Since 2008, about 12 CSA farms have been launched in the Knoxville area alone. CSAs allow residents to support a farm by paying a subscription fee. In return, the farm provides its customers with a regular supply of weekly produce. (Knox News) Read more.

Thirteen counties in North Carolina have been designated natural disaster areas by USDA due to excessive rain and flooding that occurred last November through December. Farmers and ranchers in several counties in Tennessee and Virginia also qualify for natural disaster assistance from the Farm Service Agency because they are contiguous to the 13 counties in North Carolina. “This action will provide help to hundreds of farmers who suffered significant production losses to soybeans, cotton and winter wheat due to prevented planting,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

USDA is seeking nominations to fill five upcoming vacancies on the National Organic Standards Board. The 15-member board advises the agriculture secretary on all aspects of the national organic program and will be responsible for developing and recommending a proposed National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances that identifies synthetic substances that may be used, and the nonsynthetic substances that cannot be used, in organic production and handling operations. Written nominations should be e-mailed by the July 17 deadline. Learn more or e-mail nominations.