NSAC's Blog
July 26, 2017
Yesterday, Senate Agriculture Committee hunkered down for an epic farm bill hearing, during which 17 witnesses gave testimony on three of the bill’s most significant titles – the Commodity Title (Title I), Credit Title (Title V), and Risk Management Title (Title XI). Witnesses at the hearing included representatives from commodity groups, banks, general farm organizations, […]
July 25, 2017
Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog by Kristina Hubbard, Director of Advocacy and Communications with NSAC member group, Organic Seed Alliance (OSA). OSA attended the Intellectual Property Rights for Public Plant Breeding Summit last year, and works independently as well as with NSAC on public plant breeding policy. Public plant breeding programs, as their […]
July 24, 2017
Now that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new food safety rules have been finalized and the compliance clocks have begun ticking, one of most common questions we hear at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is: Who is going to be enforcing these new rules on farms, and how? While many of the details […]
July 21, 2017
Following closely on the heels of the House Agriculture Appropriation Subcommittee’s funding bill, which was approved by the full House Appropriations Committee last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced its agriculture appropriations funding measure for fiscal year (FY) 2018. The Senate bill moved quickly through the Subcommittee and full Committee approval process, with just […]
July 21, 2017
Wetland Reserve Easements, like those funded as part of the Wetland Reserve Enhancement Partnership (WREP), provide private landowners with the resources they need to help protect and conserve vulnerable wetlands. Funding from WREP enables landowners to reduce the impact of flooding, enhance and conserve wildlife habitat, improve groundwater quality, and create space for outdoor recreational […]
July 21, 2017
We need a hero! You won’t catch the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s (NSAC) Senior Strategic Advisor Ferd Hoefner riding a tractor to victory the way Kevin Bacon did in Footloose, but you will find him working hard every day for America’s family farmers and food producers. Ferd was recently awarded the North Central Region Sustainable […]
July 20, 2017
Late in the evening of July 17th, following over twelve hours of debate and markup, the House Budget Committee passed its budget parameters for fiscal year (FY) 2018. The budget, which was voted out of Committee along partisan lines (22 Republicans voting in favor and 14 Democrats against), includes an immediate $10 billion 10-year cut […]
July 19, 2017
Editor’s Note: This is the latest in a series of periodic blog posts on the happenings in each of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) regions, focusing on project solicitations and grant award announcements. The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program funds farmer-driven research and education through competitive grants. SARE is the only […]
July 17, 2017
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of a four-part series explaining the background budget information that will be used to craft the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill. In this series on the new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline for the major farm bill programs, we have explored the significance of the overall numbers, delved in on […]
July 14, 2017
Editor’s Note: This is the third of a four-part series explaining the background budget information that will be used to craft the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill. In this post we look in more detail at the smaller, more innovative programs that receive direct farm bill funding but will need to have their funding renewed in […]
