Lewes Farmers Market announces scholarship program
The Historic Lewes Farmers Market announces its scholarship program for 2014 to provide educational opportunities for Delmarva farmers wishing to learn sustainable agriculture techniques and methods.
Several $500 scholarships will be awarded to Delmarva farmers meeting the criteria to attend either the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture Annual Farming for the Future Conference or a similar conference such as Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. In 2014, the PASA Conference will be held Feb. 5-8 in State College, Pa. The SSAWG Conference will be held Jan. 15-18 in Mobile, Ala.
Both conferences draw farmers interested in education about sustainable agriculture practices from a broad section of the East Coast, the Mid Atlantic and the South with similar growing conditions to Delmarva. For more information about the conferences go to www.pasafarming.org or www.ssawg.org.
To be eligible for the scholarship the farmer must currently be developing a sustainable farming enterprise or currently farming on Delmarva; currently be operating a small farm, low-sales, as defined by the Economic Research Service for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (less than $250,000 gross in agricultural sales) on Delmarva; be able to demonstrate financial need to attend this conference; or currently be a farmer/grower who sells what they grow, raise or produce on their own farm.
A farmer/grower may be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, or a corporation and shall include family members and employees who assist in the production and/or sales and marketing of the farm products. Lastly, farmers must be willing to share what they learn at the conference at the HLFM workshop held in spring so market members may disseminate this information to other farmers.
To receive an application and more information about the conference, call 302-644-1436 or email HistoricLewesFarmersMarket@comcast.net.
Completed applications are due no later than Thursday, Dec. 16. All scholarship applicants will be notified of awards by Jan. 6, 2014.
