Crop Insurance, a.k.a. CSA This Week's Share Fall CSA? CSA is 75
Volume 8, Issue 15
17675 SW 14th • Martell, Nebraska • 68404 • 402.794.4025 • [email protected] September 6th, 2017 The best our fall fields have ever looked! Gorgeous broccoli under the rising, smoky sun. Fires in the Pacific Northwest are giving the Plains some gorgeous sunlight this week.
This Week’s Share Potatoes Cherry Tomatoes Head Lettuce Bok Choy Radishes Eggplant
Crop Insurance, a.k.a. CSA Somewhere on the federal legislative agenda is renewing the Farm Bill for 2018 and that promises to be an uphill battle for farm advocates at a time when farm income is quite low. One particularly important question that “real” farmers are wondering about is crop insurance, which, along with farm subsidies, have been target practice for budget hawks every four years when the Farm Bill rolls around. Insuring crops from environmental disasters (drought, flood, hail, etc) has been around for some time, but in the 2014 Farm Bill “counter-cyclical” farm payments — a.k.a. subsidies — were replaced with “crop revenue protection” so that now farmers insure the yields from both weather damage and their income from low crop prices. The most controversial part of current crop insurance programs is that the premiums are subsidized by taxpayers. Some on the left don’t want to support certain production practices by subsidizing the insurance, and the far
right doesn’t want government support for agriculture at all. The 2014 Farm Bill created “Whole Farm Revenue Protection,” which is aimed at small, diversified farms like ours, but we have yet to jump in. For us, CSA is both crop and revenue protection — protection that we’ve thankfully never had to use! One could certainly see federal crop insurance programs as a sort of “community” supported agriculture, but CSA as we know it gives the sort of connection and control that we wish everyone had over the food they eat. CSA isn’t perfect, but it supports farmers through the rough patches while giving members a chance to vote with their dollars for the production and conservation practices that they want to see — easier said than done when it comes to influencing federal Ag policy! CSA has guided us through some really tough times and we’re doing our best to improve upon a model we feel strongly about, so stay tuned!
Spaghetti Squash Cucumbers Squash/Zucchini Tomatoes
CSA is 75% Over Believe it or not, this is our 15 week of CSA, and there are 5 more pickups remaining. The last Mini A pickup is on October 4th, and the last pickup for everyone else is October 11th.
Fall CSA? Fall CSA was cancelled in 2015 and 2016, but we’re hoping to offer one this year! Please stay tuned as we hope to finalize plans by midSeptember.
Cooking Ideas and Recipes Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Eggplant Puttanesca
Ingredients • 3 lb Spaghetti Squash- ( or sub pasta noodles) • 4 tablespoon olive oil- divided • 1 small eggplant - cut into a small dice ( 4 cups) • 1 red onion- diced • 4 cloves garlic- rough chopped • 1 red bell pepper- diced • 14 ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes • 1 teaspoon salt • ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes • Splash red wine • 2 tablespoons capers • 2 tablespoons slice olives ( like green or Kalamata) • Garnish: fresh Italian parsley, grated Romano or Parme-
blespoons oil over med-high heat. 5. Add diced onion and eggplant, and saute, stirring often for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and red bell pepper, turn heat down to medium and continue cooking until eggplant is tender, about 10 more minutes. 6. Add crushed tomatoes, a generous splash of wine, chili flakes, salt, pepper, and simmer on low heat 5-10 more minutes. Add capers and olives. 7. When squash is tender, scoop it out into a bowl and fluff and toss well with salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Place spaghetti squash on a platter( or divide among bowls) and top with the eggplant puttanesca. Sprinkle with fresh Italian parsley and grated cheese or a drizzle olive oil. Alternatively you can serve this right out of the spaghetti squash shell ( making sure to season the squash, mixing with a fork before topping with the putttanesca. •
Spaghetti Squash Basics
san cheese, or a drizzle olive oil
•
Stir-Fried Bok Choy or Sturdy Greens
Instructions 1. Pre heat oven to 425F 2. Cut squash in half, scrape out seeds with a spoon and
•
Pesto, Radish and Sea Salt Crostini
•
Using up Summer Squash/Zucchini
•
Ghurma Aloo (Spiced Tomatoes and Potatoes)
•
Using Bok Choy Raw in Salads
place open side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the oven and roast for 30- 40 minutes or until tender. (You could this the night before and then refrigerate and reheat.) 3. While squash roasts make the Puttanesca sauce. 4. In a large heavy bottom skillet or dutch oven, heat 3 ta-
Changes on the farm! We are investing in modernizing and streamlining our production and vegetable processing, so a new wash station is underway. We hope to have this building up and running by late fall, and possibly an attached greenhouse as well that would be the center for our expanding micro greens production. Someday Chloe will get a break, but not until all this new infrastructure is at capacity!
17675 SW 14th • Martell, Nebraska • 68404 • 402.794.4025 • [email protected] September 6th, 2017 The best our fall fields have ever looked! Gorgeous broccoli under the rising, smoky sun. Fires in the Pacific Northwest are giving the Plains some gorgeous sunlight this week.
This Week’s Share Potatoes Cherry Tomatoes Head Lettuce Bok Choy Radishes Eggplant
Crop Insurance, a.k.a. CSA Somewhere on the federal legislative agenda is renewing the Farm Bill for 2018 and that promises to be an uphill battle for farm advocates at a time when farm income is quite low. One particularly important question that “real” farmers are wondering about is crop insurance, which, along with farm subsidies, have been target practice for budget hawks every four years when the Farm Bill rolls around. Insuring crops from environmental disasters (drought, flood, hail, etc) has been around for some time, but in the 2014 Farm Bill “counter-cyclical” farm payments — a.k.a. subsidies — were replaced with “crop revenue protection” so that now farmers insure the yields from both weather damage and their income from low crop prices. The most controversial part of current crop insurance programs is that the premiums are subsidized by taxpayers. Some on the left don’t want to support certain production practices by subsidizing the insurance, and the far
right doesn’t want government support for agriculture at all. The 2014 Farm Bill created “Whole Farm Revenue Protection,” which is aimed at small, diversified farms like ours, but we have yet to jump in. For us, CSA is both crop and revenue protection — protection that we’ve thankfully never had to use! One could certainly see federal crop insurance programs as a sort of “community” supported agriculture, but CSA as we know it gives the sort of connection and control that we wish everyone had over the food they eat. CSA isn’t perfect, but it supports farmers through the rough patches while giving members a chance to vote with their dollars for the production and conservation practices that they want to see — easier said than done when it comes to influencing federal Ag policy! CSA has guided us through some really tough times and we’re doing our best to improve upon a model we feel strongly about, so stay tuned!
Spaghetti Squash Cucumbers Squash/Zucchini Tomatoes
CSA is 75% Over Believe it or not, this is our 15 week of CSA, and there are 5 more pickups remaining. The last Mini A pickup is on October 4th, and the last pickup for everyone else is October 11th.
Fall CSA? Fall CSA was cancelled in 2015 and 2016, but we’re hoping to offer one this year! Please stay tuned as we hope to finalize plans by midSeptember.
Cooking Ideas and Recipes Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Eggplant Puttanesca
Ingredients • 3 lb Spaghetti Squash- ( or sub pasta noodles) • 4 tablespoon olive oil- divided • 1 small eggplant - cut into a small dice ( 4 cups) • 1 red onion- diced • 4 cloves garlic- rough chopped • 1 red bell pepper- diced • 14 ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes • 1 teaspoon salt • ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes • Splash red wine • 2 tablespoons capers • 2 tablespoons slice olives ( like green or Kalamata) • Garnish: fresh Italian parsley, grated Romano or Parme-
blespoons oil over med-high heat. 5. Add diced onion and eggplant, and saute, stirring often for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and red bell pepper, turn heat down to medium and continue cooking until eggplant is tender, about 10 more minutes. 6. Add crushed tomatoes, a generous splash of wine, chili flakes, salt, pepper, and simmer on low heat 5-10 more minutes. Add capers and olives. 7. When squash is tender, scoop it out into a bowl and fluff and toss well with salt, pepper and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Place spaghetti squash on a platter( or divide among bowls) and top with the eggplant puttanesca. Sprinkle with fresh Italian parsley and grated cheese or a drizzle olive oil. Alternatively you can serve this right out of the spaghetti squash shell ( making sure to season the squash, mixing with a fork before topping with the putttanesca. •
Spaghetti Squash Basics
san cheese, or a drizzle olive oil
•
Stir-Fried Bok Choy or Sturdy Greens
Instructions 1. Pre heat oven to 425F 2. Cut squash in half, scrape out seeds with a spoon and
•
Pesto, Radish and Sea Salt Crostini
•
Using up Summer Squash/Zucchini
•
Ghurma Aloo (Spiced Tomatoes and Potatoes)
•
Using Bok Choy Raw in Salads
place open side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the oven and roast for 30- 40 minutes or until tender. (You could this the night before and then refrigerate and reheat.) 3. While squash roasts make the Puttanesca sauce. 4. In a large heavy bottom skillet or dutch oven, heat 3 ta-
Changes on the farm! We are investing in modernizing and streamlining our production and vegetable processing, so a new wash station is underway. We hope to have this building up and running by late fall, and possibly an attached greenhouse as well that would be the center for our expanding micro greens production. Someday Chloe will get a break, but not until all this new infrastructure is at capacity!
