Agriculture

Jori Lewis is an award–winning journalist who writes about agriculture and the environment. Her new book "Slaves for Peanuts: A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History," weaves together the natural and human history of a crop that transformed the lives of millions. Americans consume over 1.5 billion pounds of peanut products every year. But few of us know the peanut’s tumultuous history, or its intimate connection to slavery and freedom.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is the latest New York representative calling on the federal agriculture department to quickly implement the farm debt relief provisions included in the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.

The New York Farm Laborers Wage Board has formally sent its recommendation that farmworker overtime be lowered to the state labor commissioner.

The Inflation Reduction Act, passed last month, includes a number of agricultural provisions including conservation and energy programs and farm debt relief.

Governor Phil Scott has declared August as Agritourism Month in Vermont.

New York’s agriculture commissioner will be in the North Country Friday to hear from local farmers.

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources Commissioner will visit farms in Berkshire County next week.

Jori Lewis is an award–winning journalist who writes about agriculture and the environment. Her new book "Slaves for Peanuts: A Story of Conquest, Liberation, and a Crop That Changed History," weaves together the natural and human history of a crop that transformed the lives of millions. Americans consume over 1.5 billion pounds of peanut products every year. But few of us know the peanut’s tumultuous history, or its intimate connection to slavery and freedom.

Hancock Shaker Village is a landmark destination with 20 historic Shaker buildings, and thousands of Shaker artifacts. On the National Historic Register, it is the most comprehensively interpreted Shaker site in the world, and the oldest working farm in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. The 20th Anniversary of Hancock Shaker Village’s Baby Animals Festival opens tomorrow - Saturday, April 16. I went there earlier this week and met with Director and CEO Jennifer Trainer Thompson and Livestock Manager, Christine McCue.

The New York Farm Bureau outlined its national priorities this week.