Farmers Coop Begin Innovative Soil Project
The National Resource Conservation Service’s Conservation Innovation Grants program has awarded $75,000 to the Virgin Islands Farmers Cooperative for a project that will improve the soils at its 60-acre Estate Grange organic farm. The three year-project will produce 750 tons of compost and 60 tons of biochar annually that will be applied to maintain and improve soil productivity at the farm.
What makes the project innovative is its plan to combine compost, a well established organic farming technology, with biochar, an ancient soil improvement technology recently discovered in the Amazon. In the last twenty years archeologist and scientist have been unlocking the secrets of large pockets of soils known as “terra preta”, dark earth, that are spread throughout the Amazon. These soils had the unexplained ability to maintain their productivity with minimal inputs of fertilizer while at the same time delivering higher yields of fruits and vegetables than surrounding soils. Download details here!
Operation Breadbasket
The Virgin Islands Farmers’ Cooperative, Inc. (VIFC) recently received a sustainable agriculture technical assistance grant in the amount of $100,000.00 for the development of a Risk Management Project that will reduce the risk of limited resources to socially disadvantaged farmers in the United States Virgin Islands.
The goal of this project is to reverse our islands 42-year decline of agricultural production, and our 20-year demise of agricultural education by reducing the risk of farming in the U.S. Virgin Islands through training and community outreach, promoting the resurgence of St. Croix‘s agricultural industry. The technical assistance grant is necessary to develop limited resources for disadvantage farmers, create new farming entrepreneurs and educate the community on how vital it is to reduce the risk of farming in the United States Virgin Islands for the islands agricultural development. Download details here!
