Historic Lewes Farmers Market awards eight scholarships to local farmers
The Historic Lewes Farmers Market announces that it has awarded eight scholarships to Delmarva farmers. This year, HLFM received more applications than ever before from farmers dedicated to sustainable farming methods hoping for these important scholarships. Each scholarship provides $500 to enable these farmers to attend conferences devoted to sustainable agriculture.
The HLFM provides these scholarships, as it has for the past seven years, to further its mission of promoting and strengthening sustainable farming through education and public outreach. Recognizing the importance of sustainable agriculture to the community, individual donors have again generously stepped forward to contribute to the HLFM scholarship fund.
Seven recipients will attend the PASA Pennsylvania Farming for the Future Conference Feb. 5-8 in State College, Pa. The Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the economic viability and environmental soundness of the local food and agricultural systems. Beginning in 2011, and thanks in small part to the HLFM, PASA began a discussion group for Delmarva and now includes a Delmarva Region. Participants from Delmarva hold an annual regional meeting at the PASA conference to discuss issues relevant to sustainable farming on Delmarva.
Another scholarship recipient will attend the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention in Hershey, Pa., Jan. 28-30. The Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Convention has been jointly sponsored by the State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association, the Maryland State Horticultural Society, and the New Jersey State Horticultural Society for the past 36 years. The National Peach Council, of special relevance to scholarship recipient Bennett Orchards, will meet at the convention for its annual meeting as well.
The 2014 recipients of the HLFM scholarships are The Bennett family, Bennett Orchards; Helen Waite, Black Hog Farmstead; Lisa Garfield, Calliope Farm; Elizabeth Thornton, Chesapeake Organic; Lauren Schaefer, The Delaware Center for Horticulture’s 12th & Brandywine Urban Farm; Christie McDowell, The Good Farm; Larry Armstrong, Heritage Oak Farm, and Cynthia Turner, Wisteria Lane Farm.
More information is available at www.historiclewesfarmersmarket.org and on Facebook.
