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Archives for January, 2009

Towards a National Organic Action Plan

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Come to the Summit
Make Organic History! 

Five years of grassroots dialogue to shape a National Organic Action Plan (NOAP) for the U.S. will culminate in La Crosse, Wisconsin on February 25th and 26th when farmers and organic activists gather for the NOAP Summit. Summit participants will prioritize the many objectives that emerged from the 11 listening sessions held all across the country and discuss how best to shape an action plan for organic agriculture that preserves organic integrity and maintains farmer and customer confidence.    
 
Organic agriculture offers concrete solutions to many of our societal, environmental and rural development challenges.  Organic practices contribute a long list of positive attributes:  mitigation of global climate change; improved soil, animal and human health; improved quality of life; water quality and rural economic development just to name a few.  These multiple benefits are clearly not lost on the European Union which not only has an Organic Action Plan but is also working to incorporate a broad range of objectives for organic agriculture relating to climate change, rural development, and public health into the Common Agricultural Policy.
 
Meanwhile, the U.S. Government has completely failed to provide a coherent vision to guide the fast growing organic sector beyond purely retail or market based considerations.   The administration of our National Organic Program has been characterized by a lack of consistent oversight, compliance and enforcement and an utter failure to recognize the multiple benefits of organic beyond its place as a niche market.   The NOAP Summit will establish objectives and benchmarks for achieving the full promise of organic agriculture in the areas of health, environment, social and cultural change, research, organic integrity and other categories. 
                
Five major goals emerged during the dialogue sessions and will frame the Summit agenda: 

• To ensure organic integrity and continued organic quality improvements.
• To ensure a fair marketplace for U.S. family farmers and workers.
• To ensure access to healthy organic food for all U.S. income levels.
• To maximize U.S. organic production potential to ensure an increasing U.S. produced share of the U.S. organic marketplace and ensure that each state maximizes its potential to meet in-state organic demand.
• To move U.S. organic food and agricultural policy from its focus on the marketplace to encompass significant goals associated with the public good, including social change, public health, and environmental protection.  

Post Summit, organizers will continue to engage the grass roots to achieve local, state, and regional policy goals and engage coalition partners and allies around federal policy goals and the next federal Farm Bill.  The Summit will reconvene periodically to revaluate goals and benchmarks in the National Organic Action Plan

Download a copy of the National Organic Action Plan Summit Discussion Paper  and get registration information here.

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Weekly Update, January 23, 2009

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

THIS WEEK

NSAC Urges Vilsack to Rescind Misleading “Naturally Raised” Meat Claim: As we reported last week, the Bush Administration went final on a new “naturally raised” meat marketing label claim on its final day in office. The new rule appeared in the Federal Register this Wednesday, the first full day of the Obama Administration. There was a catch, however. While the rule was a final rule, it was not effective immediately due to missing Paperwork Reduction Act information. NSAC immediately issued a press release calling on the new Administration to rescind the rule rather than allowing it to become effective once the Paperwork Reduction Act information is finalized. The press release is on our website.

Stimulated Yet? The House this week marked up the $825 billion economic stimulus bill, with the Appropriations Committee conducting its work on Wednesday, and Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce following on Thursday and Friday. Last week’s Weekly Update provided a full list of provisions and their respective costs, including the details of the rural development portion of the bill.

Very few changes were made to the appropriations portion of the bill. No amendments were made to add funding to make up the huge shortfall in the WIC feeding program, as sustainable agriculture advocates have been calling for. Agriculture Appropriations Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) did successfully amend the bill to add $150 million to help re-stock food bank shelves. She did not, however, try to add money for WIC.

Action now turns to the Senate, where the draft bill for the Finance Committee was issued today, but as of this writing, the draft bill for the Appropriations portion of the bill is still under development or at least under wraps. We continue to hold out hope that three issues ignored in the massive House bill – funding for the WIC shortfall, stimulus funding for the Value-Added Producers Program and Rural Microentpreneur Assistance Program, and emergency funding for Farm Service Agency direct and guaranteed loans – will be included in whole or in part in the Senate bill.

Some leading anti-hunger and school food groups are pressing the Senate to put major funding into school dinner programs (for aftercare programs) and they remain silent or nearly silent on WIC funding. From their internal strategic standpoint, they assume the shortfall for WIC will be made up in the regular FY 2009 agricultural appropriations bill and that if the offset for that extra money is cuts to farm bill programs for conservation, specialty crops, organic, beginning farmers, renewable energy and the like, that is our problem, not their problem. Broad progressive public interest alliances on food, farm, hunger, rural development, and conservation issues, once upon a time alive and well, appear to remain dormant.

Both House and Senate Democratic leaders continue to say they will get the bill finished and on the President’s desk before leaving town for the President’s Week recess in February. The same is true for the regular FY 2009 appropriations bills. So there is only a little time left to attempt to get our key concerns addressed.

* Please note, as we reported last week, the House bill does double the size of the Business and Industry loan program for the next two years, a move that would have the effect of doubling the size of guaranteed loan availability under the Local Food Enterprise Guaranteed Loan Program from $50 million to $100 million. If it stays in the package, this could be an important opportunity for rebuilding local and regional food system infrastructure, one that will need to be broadly publicized. Stay tuned!

Broadband Dust-up: At the House Energy and Commerce Committee markup this week, disagreement broke out over how economic stimulus funding for broadband access should be divided between unserved and underserved areas, with rural members generally favoring changes to have the bulk of the money go to unserved areas rather than the other way around. Republican amendments to focus funding on unserved areas were turned back, with Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) arguing in that half of the total broadband funding in the stimulus will be dealt with by the Agriculture Committee and all of that half will already go solely to rural areas. In the end, the $3 billion for broadband and wireless under Energy and Commerce control stayed split with 75 percent for underserved areas, including urban and suburban areas, and 25 percent for unserved areas.

Obama Administration Puts the Brakes on Some Midnight Regulations: Upon President Obama’s inauguration on Tuesday, his chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel issued a memo with a plan for reviewing and managing the flurry of last minute regulations issued by the Bush Administration. The memo directs federal agencies to:

• cease submitting proposed or final regulations to the Federal Register;

• withdraw from the Federal Register any proposed or final regulations that have not been published so that they can be reviewed by the agency head;

• consider extending for 60 days the effective date of regulations that have been published in the Federal Register but have not yet taken effect in order to review the regulations for questions of law and policy; and

• open a 30-day comment period for these regulations to take public comment on the law and policy issues.

The memo provides exceptions from this review for regulations for emergency situations or urgent circumstances relating to health, safety, environmental, financial or national security matters.

On Wednesday, the new OMB Director Peter Orszag issued a follow-up memo which
directs federal agencies to base a decision to postpone the effective date for rules not yet in effect based on whether:

• the rulemaking process was procedurally adequate;

• the rule reflected proper consideration of all relevant facts;

• the rule reflected due consideration of the agencyís statutory or other legal obligations;

• the rule is based on a reasonable judgment about the legally relevant policy considerations;

• the rulemaking process was open and transparent;

• objections to the rule were adequately considered, including whether interested parties had fair opportunities to present contrary facts and arguments;

• interested parties had the benefit of access to the facts, data, or other analyses on which the agency relied; and

• the final rule found adequate support in the rulemaking record.

The memo also noted that under the Administrative Procedures Act, federal agencies may also postpone the effective date of an agency action pending judicial review where justice requires. This could potentially implicate a key NSAC concern with the midnight regulatory giveaway to the CAFO industry. Lawsuits have been filed against a number of midnight regulations which have taken effect, including the revised Clean Water Act CAFO regulations and an EPA regulation providing CAFOs with exemptions from selected air emission reporting requirements of federal hazardous substance laws.

We will keep a watchful eye on what other rules for programs on the NSAC agenda will be affected. Two are already known. The regulation for mandatory country-of-origin labeling will reviewed and possibly revised before taking effect. The rule as issued has two major loopholes – one to exempt slightly processed foods and one to allow a multiple-country label (see last week’s edition for more information).

In addition, the request for proposals for the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI), which did not quite make it to the Federal Register prior to the change in Administrations, has been temporarily pulled will be subject to review and revision by the Obama USDA. Our hope is the CCPI request will be quickly improved and then sped to the Federal Register for publication in its new and improved form.

Secretary Vilsack Sets up Shop: Tom Vilsack was confirmed by the Senate as the new Secretary of Agriculture on Tuesday and set up shop at USDA on Wednesday. Among the first orders of business was putting some key staffers in place, including:

• John Norris, Chief of Staff – served as chief of staff for Governor Vilsack in Iowa; chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board; National Field Director for the Kerry-Edwards campaign in 2004; married to Jackie Norris who is Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama.

• Carole Jett, Deputy Chief of Staff – recently retired from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, where she served as farm bill coordinator, and before that many other roles including State Conservationist; served as co-leader of the Obama Transition Team USDA Review Group

• David Lazarus, Special Assistant – former farm and rural legislative aid to Senator Dick Durbin (D-IA) and a member of the Obama Transition Team USDA Review Group.

The new Secretary also named all of the interim acting leaders for USDA mission areas and agencies, many though not all of whom have already been serving as the acting heads for the past several weeks. Among the notables for NSAC issues, Dave White, who had just recently returned to NRCS headquarters after serving as Montana State Conservationist and also as Senate Agriculture Committee staff for the 2008 Farm Bill, has been named Acting Chief of NRCS. Kitty Smith, the Administrator of the Economic Research Service, and former researcher for the Henry Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, is Acting Deputy Undersecretary for Research, Education and Economics.

New Members of Senate Agriculture Committee: Last week we listed all the new members of the House Agriculture Committee. This week we turn our attention to the Senate. As we have previously reported, there were two open seats on the Democratic side of the aisle in the Senate Agriculture Committee. We are still awaiting final confirmation, but it appears that the two most recent newcomers to the US Senate (and the youngest Senators) will fill those seats: Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, a 44-year old former Denver school chief appointed to fill the seat vacated by now Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, and Kirsten Gillibrand, a 42-year old Congresswoman from upstate New York who championed the Conservation Stewardship Program and Organic Conversion Assistance on the House Agriculture Committee, appointed to fill the seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. On the Republican side of the aisle, new Senator and former USDA Secretary Mike Johanns also has joined the Agriculture Committee.

Organic Research RFA Now Available: Last Friday, USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) released the Request for Applications for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), USDA’s flagship competitive grants program specifically dedicated to organic research and extension. As a result of the almost five-fold funding increase secured in the 2008 Farm Bill, CSREES estimates that $17.3 million will be available to fund OREI projects in FY 2009. The deadline to submit proposals is March 9, 2009.

Conservation Program Rules: Please see last week’s Weekly Update for a complete listing of and links for all the farm bill conservation program interim final rules that were released in the last week of the outgoing Bush Administration. These included Regional Equity, Healthy Forests Reserve, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Farmland Protection Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, Grasslands Reserve Program, and Technical Service Providers. The NSAC Conservation, Energy, and Environment Committee has begun the process of analyzing the rules and will be alerting readers to opportunities to improve the rules during the public comment periods in coming weeks.

Conservation Innovation Grants: Last Friday, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) issued a request for applications for FY 2009 national Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG). The program is a component of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The full CIG program announcement, a checklist for the application, and other information are posted on the CIG website. Grant applications must be received at NRCS National Headquarters by 5 p.m. EST on March 2, 2009. To submit your application electronically, visit www.Grants.gov-Apply for Grants and follow the instructions.

Approximately $20 million will be awarded through a nationwide competitive grants process. The funding will be divided among four grant categories as follows: National Natural Resource Concerns Category – up to $5 million; National Technology Category – up to $6 million; National Grant Leveraging Category – up to $4 million; and Chesapeake Bay Watershed Category – up to $5 million. NRCS State Conservationists will be announcing request for applications for state CIG funding later this year. These state level announcements will also be posted on the CIG website. Check with your NRCS State Conservationist for more information on the state CIGs.

Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative: In addition to the targeted funding in the CIG program, on Thursday, NRCS announced the availability of $23 million in technical and financial conservation funding under the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Initiative. The Initiative was newly established by the 2008 Farm Bill to provide conservation funds to farmers in the watershed in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia. For FY2009, NRCS determined that the Initiative will be carried solely through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Individual farmers apply for the Initiative through their local NRCS office.

NSAC Comments on Sodsaver Regulation: On Friday, NSAC submitted comments to USDA’s Federal Crop Insurance Corporation with recommendations to strengthen the protections of grasslands under the 2008 Farm Bill’s sodsaver provision. The comments are on the NSAC website. The comments include recommendations for strengthening the Sodsaver program and also urge USDA to adopt additional changes as part of the final rule that would reduce or eliminate taxpayer subsidies that encourage landowners to destroy native prairie and other important grasslands, regardless of location. One key administrative action would be to amend the ìadded landî provision of crops insurance rules to require land without production crop history prior to 2009 that is subsequently planted to a crop to establish a full four to ten year actual production history prior to becoming eligible for insurance.

Lawsuits Challenge EPA Midnight Regulation on CAFO Hazardous Air Emissions Reporting: Last week we reported that the environmental law firm Earthjustice has filed a lawsuit on behalf of numerous environmental groups challenging the EPA midnight regulation which exempts hazardous air emissions from on-farm animal waste from important reporting requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation & Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA). The air emissions of most concern from CAFO animal waste are ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. The regulation exempted reporting under CERCLA of all hazardous air emissions from on-farm animal waste and exempted reporting under EPCRA except for hazardous air emissions from animal waste on large-scale CAFOs.

On Monday, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) filed a lawsuit challenging the regulation, not for its exemptions, but for the EPCRA reporting requirement that was not exempted by the regulation. The regulation requires large-scale CAFOs that release more than 100 pounds of ammonia or hydrogen sulfide in 24-hr period to call state and local emergency response authorities to inform them of the release and to provide a written estimate of the emissions. CAFOs may make a one time report of continuous release of these emissions. This information could be used by communities to estimate the overall impacts of large-scale CAFOs on air quality.

The exact legal grounds for the NPPC challenge have not been made public but news reports indicate that the NPPC may claim that the regulation violated CAFO operators’ due process rights by not providing adequate notice or opportunity to comply with the EPCRA reporting requirements. The large-scale CAFO sector has been seeking administrative exemptions from the CERCLA-EPCRA reporting requirements for years, so it should not be a surprise that reportable hazardous air emissions from CAFOs are covered by EPCRA. In addition, according to EPA information, CAFOs comprising more than 90% of the largest animal feeding operations in the United States are protected from EPA enforcement of EPCRA, CERCLA and Clean Air Act violations under a Voluntary Air Compliance Agreement that has been in place since 2005. This total includes 1,856 swine, 468 dairy, 204 egg-laying, and 40 broiler CAFOs.

Chance to Comment on Proposed Sustainability Index for Specialty Crops: Last week we reported on numerous sustainability-related projects, including the Leonardo Academy’s sustainable label project, the Keystone Center’s sustainable agriculture indicators project, agribusiness’ sustainable agriculture conference in DC in March, and a Walmart-funded agile agriculture conference in June in Arkansas. We inadvertently left one out. A group of 30 environmental and farm groups and food businesses, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, is underway with a project to form a Stewardship Index for Specialty Crops. The project will develop indicators for measuring sustainable performance through the supply chain, from farm through retail. Farmers and the general public are invited to comment on the initial list of measures that might be included in the index. Comments will be accepted through February 1, 2009 and may be submitted online.

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Weekly Update – January 16, 2009

Saturday, January 17th, 2009

THIS WEEK

House Releases Draft Stimulus Bill:  On Thursday, House Democratic leadership unveiled their 2-year, $825 billion draft economic recovery and reinvestment bill, consisting of:

The bill will be marked up on Wednesday in the House Ways and Means, Appropriations, and Energy and Commerce Committees.  A companion Senate bill is still being pulled together, and it appears likely the Senate bill will be larger in size and scope.  Congress hopes to finish the bill by the February President’s Week recess, though differences between the two bills may necessitate a House-Senate conference negotiation that exceeds that wish date.

For USDA rural development, the draft House bill includes about $100 million for grants and $2 billion for loans for economic development, $3.8 billion in water and sewer grants and loans, $1.2 billion for community facility loans and grants.  NRCS would handle an extra $350 million for flood prevention, including $175 million for purchase or restoration of floodplain easements.  USDA’s Agricultural Research Service would get $209 million for deferred maintenance work at its research labs.  The always-in-crisis Farm Service Agency computer and IT systems is slated for a $245 million boost.  The Forest Service would get $300 million for wildfire hazard reduction.  USDA headquarters also stands to receive $44 million for repairs and building security.  In addition to the $20 billion food stamp increase, the Food and Nutrition Service would also funnel $200 million for grants to states for senior feeding programs, $726 million for states to provide free dinners and snacks for afterschool programs, and $100 million to states for management costs related to the WIC program.

The $2 billion in loan funds for rural business are all slated for the traditionally underutilized Business and Industry guaranteed loan program, doubling its funding each of the next two years.  The 2008 Farm Bill directs that 5 percent of the B&I program support local and regional food system enterprises.  If the House provision becomes law, that local food system funding stream would increase from about $50 million to $100 million in loan guarantees a year, presenting a significant opportunity if local food businesses and coops are prepared to take out loans in  these challenging economic times. The rural business development provisions also include $13 million for Rural Business Enterprise Grants.

NSAC’s priorities for the stimulus bill fared very poorly in the draft House bill:

• There is no funding for the nearly $1 billion shortfall in funding for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) feeding program, which now puts added pressure on the Senate to provide for WIC in its version of the bill.  The WIC program will almost certainly be fully funded, but if the missing funding is not included in the stimulus bill, the nearly $1 billion shortfall will be added to the regular FY 2009 agriculture appropriations bill and, in the context of that bill, will require an offset in the form of cuts to other food and agriculture discretionary programs plus cuts to mandatory farm bill funding for conservation, renewable energy, specialty crops, organic and other programs.  In the context of a huge $825 billion bill, with a very substantial $21 billion food assistance component, it is shocking and extremely disappointing to see such a cavalier attitude with respect to WIC.  Our last best hope is that House leaders were betting on the Senate including the measure in its bill, allowing them to work out a compromise deal when the bill goes to House-Senate conference.

• NSAC has also been pushing for small but significant funding increases for the Value-Added Producer Grants program and Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program as part of the package of rural business loans and grants, but the House bill provides no support for these important jobs initiatives.

• NSAC has also pressed the case for emergency funding increases for direct and guaranteed farm ownership and operating loans in light of the credit crunch, but again was shut out on that score in the House bill.

Some hints emanating for Senate offices give us some cause for greater hope that a more balanced and inclusive proposal is emerging for the Senate companion bill.  We hope, therefore, to be able to share better news next week as the details of the Senate bill become public.

Smooth Sailing for Vilsack USDA Confirmation:  On Wednesday, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a two and a half hour confirmation hearing with USDA Secretary-nominee Tom Vilsack.  The session was efficient and without any major fireworks.  The former Iowa Governor had well scripted and thoughtful comments on the questions that were fired his way, though of course following the tried and true etiquette for confirmation hearings, did not provide any specific promises that could come back to haunt him later.  The Committee will likely confirm the nomination unanimously, with a Senate vote on the nomination Tuesday.  For the full rundown on the hearing, please read the blog post by NSAC’s Policy Director Ferd Hoefner.

EPA Confirmation Hearing:  Also on Wednesday, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing on President-elect Obama’s nominee for EPA Administrator, Lisa Jackson.  Jackson is the former Commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Many of the questions focused on climate change issues, particularly whether EPA would move to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act if Congress did not enact stand alone climate change legislation in the coming year.   Jackson left open the possibility of GHG regulation under the Clean Air Act.  Jackson noted that President-elect Obama is committed to cap-and-trade approaches to GHG control but she did not discount the possibility of a carbon tax as well.

Jackson was also questioned about the Bush administration’s burgeoning list of last minute “midnight regulations,” including among others a weak Clean Water Act CAFO regulation and a regulation giving CAFO air emissions an exemption from hazardous substance law reporting requirements.  In reply, Jackson stated that EPA would go back and evaluate rules on air and water quality and community right to know based on consideration of whether the rules are legal and based on science.

New Members on House Agriculture Committee:  The House Agriculture Committee roster for the 111th Congress has quite a large number of new members, including 11 freshmen Democrats, one Democrat who won a special election last year, 3 freshmen Republicans, and a Republican who won a special election in 2007.

Here is a quick look at the new Democrat members:

Kurt Schrader (OR-5) — a veterinarian, who also raises organic strawberries on the family’s historic farmstead, served in numerous Oregon political offices, most recently the Oregon State Senate.

Deborah Halvorson (IL-11) — served in the Illinois Senate since 1997.

Kathleen Dahlkemper (PA-3) — a clinical dietician, part-owner of the family landscape business, and co-founder of the Lake Erie Arboretum.

Eric Massa (NY-29) — a former naval officer and Republican who left the party in opposition to the Iraq war.

Bobby Bright (AL-2) — a lawyer who had served as Montgomery’s mayor since 1999; grew up on an Alabama cotton farm.

Betsy Markey (CO-4) — a business woman who has experience as a legislative assistant on the Hill and served as a Regional Director for Senator Ken Salazar for two years.

Frank Kratovil (MD-1) — a lawyer and for last six years the Maryland State Attorney for the Eastern Shore’s Queen Anne County.

Mark H. Schauer (MI-7) — a public administrator who directed the Community Action Agency in Battle Creek and served six years in the Michigan State Senate.

Larry Kissell (NC-8) — a production manager in the textile industry who became a high school teacher before running for Congress.

John Boccieri (OH-16) — a former Air Force officer who served in the Ohio Senate before running for Congress.

Travis Childers (MS-1) — a realtor and chancery clerk, he won a 2008 special election to Congress.

Walt Minnick (ID-1): — a lawyer, former forestry executive and nursery business owner who served in the Nixon administration.

The new Republican members include:

Robert Latta (OH-5) — a lawyer with a long political career in the Ohio Senate and House of Representatives who won a special election to become a congressional Representative.

Phil Roe (TN-1) — a medical doctor who served as Johnson City mayor before coming to Congress.

Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) — a fourth generation farmer and small business owner who served in the Missouri House of Representatives.

Glenn W. Thompson (PA- 5) — a nursing home administrator who has held local political offices.

USDA NEWS

Misleading Naturally-Raised Meat Marketing Claim Standard Finalized: For a while it looked as if NSAC’s opposition to the proposed USDA naturally-raised meat marketing label claim, joined by consumer, animal welfare, organic and other groups, might have bottled up the Bush Administration long enough for the government to change hands next week.  Sadly, on Friday, USDA announced that the new standard was rushed to the Federal Register office and will become a final rule when it appears in the Federal Register next Wednesday, the first day of the new Administration.

The label, requested by agribusiness, could be used on meat and meat products verified to have been raised without growth promotants and antibiotics (except for ionophores used as coccidiostats for parasite control), and that have never been fed animal (mammalian, avian, or aquatic) by-products derived from the slaughter/harvest processes, including meat and fat, animal waste materials (e.g., manure and litter), and aquatic by-products (e.g., fishmeal and fish oil).

NSAC has vigorously opposed the label claim as deceptive and in violation of USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service own ruling that label claims should be discrete and specific and have a clear meaning.  Consumers believe, not surprisingly, that a naturally-raised label means much more than simply the absence of hormones, antibiotics and animal byproduct feed.  NSAC will now press for the naturally-raised label to be rescinded and will continue to advocate in favor of AMS moving to a final standards for no antibiotics, no added hormones, and free-range or pasture-raised labels.

USDA Issues Incredible Flurry of Conservation Program Rules:  In anticipation of the fast-approaching President Obama inauguration, USDA this week released a flurry of interim final rules (IFRs) to implement the 2008 Farm Bill’s Conservation Title, along with requests for public comments on the IFRs.  NSAC will be reviewing these rules with our member organizations next week and will subsequently release action ideas for public comment campaigns.  It is already clear that the EQIP rule in particular is quite deficient and needs major changes.

The rules released this week, with the due dates for comments, include:
Regional Equity (March 16, 2009);
Healthy Forests Reserves (February 13);
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (March 16);
Wetlands Reserve Program (March 16);
Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program (March 17);
Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (March 17); and
Technical Service Provider Assistance (March 17).

Next week, on Wednesday, the interim rule for the Grassland Reserve Program will be published, with public comment due March 23.

AWEP RPF Out:  In addition, USDA also released a request for proposals for the Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (AWEP) a new component of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) in the 2008 Farm Bill that takes the place of the old Ground and Surface Water Conservation Program.  Agricultural water enhancement activities which can be funded under AWEP include:

• water quality or water conservation plan development;

• water conservation restoration or enhancement projects, including conversion to the production of less water-intensive agricultural commodities or dry land farming;

• water quality or quantity restoration or enhancement projects;

• irrigation system improvement or irrigation efficiency enhancement;

• activities designed to reduce drought’s impacts; and

• other related activities that will help achieve water quality or water conservation benefits on agricultural land.

Under AWEP, NRCS contracts directly with agricultural producers who are included in approved partner proposals.  Eligible partners include federally- recognized tribes, states, units of local government, or agricultural or silvicultural associations.  Producers who apply for AWEP assistance must meet EQIP eligibility requirements.  All AWEP funding must go directly to producers.  Like EQIP, contract terms for producers under AWEP run from 1 year to 10 years.  NRCS has $58.4 million in FY2009 funding for AWEP.  Proposals for the funding must be submitted by March 2, 2009 to the local NRCS office.

RMAP Listening Session:  On Wednesday, USDA announced plans (scroll down to Januaru 14 under “Rural Development News” on the home page) for a public comment meeting the afternoon of January 26 in Washington, DC on the new Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP).  RMAP was a priority for NSAC in the 2008 Farm Bill campaign.  It is slated to receive at least $4 million a year to support the start up of very small business in rural America.  The listening session will also deal with a separate initiative to increase rural employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.  Written comments may also be submitted through February 10.  After the listening session, NSAC will issue talking points for written comment submissions to its member organizations.

COOL Final Rule Retains Labeling Loopholes:  On Thursday, USDA issued a final rule for mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL)  which retains big labeling loopholes included in the proposed rule.  The rule, which is scheduled to go into effect on March 16, 2009, covers muscle cuts and ground beef, lamb, chicken, goat and pork; wild and farm-raised fish and shellfish; perishable agricultural commodities, specifically fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables; macadamia nuts; pecans; ginseng; peanuts and honey.

But as noted by Food and Water Watch, USDA’s final rule includes a definition of minor processing which exempts from labeling requirements foods with added ingredients.  Over 60 percent of pork, the majority of frozen vegetables, an estimated 95 percent of peanuts, pecans and macadamia nuts, and multi-ingredient fresh produce items, such as fruit salads and salad mixes, are exempt from COOL labeling under that exemption.

In addition, the final rule retains a loophole allowing meatpackers to use a multiple country label or a NAFTA label if even one animal ineligible for a U.S. COOL label is processed on the same day together with animals eligible for the U.S. label.  The National Farmers Union issued a press release stating that NFU would ask Congress to act if USDA does not implement COOL properly.  R-CALF USDA also issued a press release detailing additional objections to the final rule.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Canada’s trade minister welcomed the new final rule, saying it satisfied Canada’s primary concerns with the earlier proposed rule and, as such, Canada would be dropping its WTO complaint against COOL, though it will continue to monitor implementation.

Another COOL development occurred a week ago, when USDA Secretary Ed Schafer announced he would divert $3 million in funding originally designated for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program to pay for COOL enforcement efforts.  The move was roundly criticized by the produce industry, though appears to have been given the green light by congressional appropriators.

USDA Loan Guarantee for Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Announced:  On Friday, USDA announced the first ever federal loan guaranteed to a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plan.  The $80 million loan guarantee is for Range Fuels to build a facility in Georgia to process wood chips into ethanol.  The funds come from the Biorefinery Assistance Program authorized in the Energy Title of the 2008 Farm Bill.
The plant is expected to eventually produce about 20 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year.

New USDA Sustainable Development Coordinator:  USDA Chief Economist Joe Glauber on Thursday made it official: Carol Kramer-LeBlanc is the new Director of Sustainable Development at the Department.  The Director is responsible for overseeing domestic and international sustainability efforts by USDA and for leading the inter-agency Sustainable Development Council.  The Council grew out of the NSAC-initiated USDA Sustainable Agriculture Working Group in the late 1990s.

Kramer-LeBlanc is an agricultural economist who has worked for Kansas State, Cornell, Resources for the Future, USDA’s Economic Research Service, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, and Foreign Agriculture Service, the Agency for International Development, and the international affairs office of the Treasury Department.  She takes over for the first director, Adela Backiel, who retired last year.

EPA NEWS

Environmental Groups Sue EPA Over CAFO Exemption:  On Thursday, a coalition of environmental organizations sued the Environmental Protection Agency over a last minute final rule exempting Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) from a requirement to report air emissions from animal waste under federal right-to-know and superfund laws.  Earthjustice filed the petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  The regulation is set to take effect next Tuesday, which is also the deadline for filing petitions to review.  The rule, issued in December, would allow CAFOs to ignore the legal requirement to report air emissions of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide to state and local emergency response committees.  Despite clear evidence of threats to human health from CAFO emissions, EPA’s position is that local emergency services would never respond to the air emissions reports anyway.

WTO NEWS

More Beef Hormone Scuffling:  Not content to ride into the sunset quietly, the Bush Administration’s Special Trade Representative on Thursday upped the ante of the U.S. retaliation to Europe’s long-standing ban on imports of U.S. hormone-treated beef.  Susan Schwab announced that the U.S. would change the list of EU products to which the US would place increased import duties, and would then continue to change the list of retaliation products every 6 months.  Details of the modifications to the import duty list, which will take effect on March 23, have been posted on USTR’s website.

EU officials reacted angrily, vowing to try to convince the Obama Administration to change course even while it prepares to argue its case against the new US action at the WTO.  So, on and on it goes, with the dispute now into its second decade and still the majority of the U.S. industry, rather than produce what the EU customer wants, continues to try to force feed them via endless trade wars.

DULY NOTED

ANSI Rules for Leonardo, Against USDA:  On Tuesday, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) issued a ruling in favor of the Leonardo Academy and against USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service in a case stemming from an attempt by USDA, at the behest of farm and commodity groups, to remove ANSI approval for the Academy’s attempt to create a sustainable agriculture standard and consumer label.  ANSI heard the case on December 17.

Mainstream agriculture has criticized the project for going too far toward organic in its standards development, while much of the sustainable and organic agriculture community, including NSAC, has criticized the project as wrong-headed in its attempt to capture sustainability in a fixed standard and label rather than recognizing it for the dynamic goal that it is.

Since the original pleading was submitted by USDA, the Standards Committee started meeting and quickly voted to scrap the original draft standard and start again, perhaps easing some concerns from conventional agriculture in the process.  The Committee members also divided into six task forces, including one whose aim is to reconsider the goals and objectives of the project and another to raise money to broaden stakeholder involvement.  The task forces will report to the full committee at a meeting this coming May.

First Keystone Sustainable Agriculture Report Released:  On Monday at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting, the Keystone Center’s Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture released its first report detailing environmental resource indicators to measure sustainability in corn, soybean, cotton and wheat production in the US.  The alliance is led by the Keystone Center and is comprised of AFBF, commodity groups, agribusiness corporations and trade associations, plus The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, and Conservation International.

In a nutshell, the report indicates that US conventional agriculture’s commodity production has become more efficient in its use of resources over the past two decades, though some of the improvement trends have hit a plateau in recent years.  The project will now try to further develop and improve sustainability metrics and describe practices that might promote further improvements throughout the food chain.  A “next-generation” farm practices and technologies report on water quality and biodiversity is due out later this year.  As part of the overall project, the Keystone Center is also attempting to develop a natural resource calculator tool that will provide growers with comparative benchmarks for reducing soil loss and improving water and energy efficiency.

Agricultural Revolution in the Making? On March 18-20 at a location outside of Washington DC, the Keystone Center, Sustainable Food Lab, and Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform will co-sponsor a food industry conference entitled “Growing a 21st Century Agricultural Revolution.”  The event, which includes sponsors such as Coca-Cola, Kraft, Monsanto, and Sysco, was planned to coincide with the start of a new U.S. Administration.  For more information, go to http://www.agrevolution.org/.

Walmart Funds “Agile Agriculture” Summit:  The Applied Sustainability Center at the Sam Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas is planning a summit with support from Walmart and other food-related leading companies for June 30 and July 1 in Fayetteville, AR.  The purpose is to discuss and plan projects to increase the supply of locally grown food for big retail, food service, and institutional markets.

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Smooth Sailing for Vilsack

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Written by Ferd Hoefner, Policy Director of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)

The Senate Agriculture Committee held a two and a half hour confirmation hearing with USDA Secretary-nominee Tom Vilsack Wednesday morning in the cavernous auditorium in the Senate office building basement.  The session was efficient and without any major fireworks.  The former Iowa Governor had well- scripted and thoughtful comments on the questions that were fired his way, though of course following the tried and true etiquette for confirmation hearings, did not provide any specific promises that could come back to haunt him later.  The Committee will likely confirm the nomination unanimously later this week, though is unlikely to actually meet again to vote, opting instead to “hotline” the vote.

Here is a quick rundown on a few items from the hearing of particular interest to NSAC member organizations and readers:

•    In his opening statement, Vilsack promised swift implementation of the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) which, alone among farm bill conservation programs, has languished under the Bush Administration since passage of the 2008 Farm Bill last May.

•    In a letter to the Governor and an accompanying press release, Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) today urged Vilsack to make further amendment to the interim rule issued by the Bush Administration on commodity program payment limit reform.  Specifically, the Senators asked the nominee to fulfill President-elect Obama’s commitment to close the major loophole in the rule that attempts to limit payments to farmers actively engaged in agriculture or crop share landlords.  This particular loophole is the single most important one allowing mega farming operations to collect payments in multiples of what otherwise appears to be the statutory dollar limit.  In contrast, Senators Chambliss (R-GA) and Lincoln (D-AR) hinted at the hearing that the weak Bush Administration interim rule on this issue already goes too far.

•    In his own opening statement, Senator Grassley (R-IA) hammered two additional points home – the need for speedy and aggressive enforcement by USDA of the new farm bill provision requiring corporations that contract with farmers to allow the farmer to opt out of any mandatory arbitration feature, and the need to swiftly write strong rules that will allow the Packers and Stockyards Administration to enforce the long-standing prohibition against undue preferences for large volume livestock producers relative to smaller volume producers.

•    Interestingly for an confirmation hearing for USDA Secretary, the first question out of the box at the start of the Q&A was from Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) inquiring of the candidate’s thoughts on the role of USDA in health care reform.  Even more interesting was the first part of the candidate’s answer in which Governor Vilsack spoke to the need for USDA to not only implement the farm bill’s fresh fruit and vegetable program but also to support local food and local food distribution systems for school and other government-funded feeding programs.  Vilsack also said he would “work with those who seek programs and practices that lead to more nutritious food produced in a sustainable way.”

•    Not surprisingly perhaps, the second question from the chairman dealt with CSP implementation, with the nominee not only giving his commitment to get the program moving again quickly, but also gave his talking points for the program as one that was a critical environmental program, a farm income opportunity, and a jobs program (relative to service providers and conservation practice contractors).

•    In response to a philosophical question from former chairman Dick Lugar (R-IN) asking how can the Department help sustain hope in the agricultural countryside in the face of precarious economic times, Vilsack named four things he might focus on in the “hope” department: biofuels, CSP, wind and solar opportunities, and more aggressive rural economic development initiatives.

•    Another former chairman, Pat Leahy (D-VT), weighed in with a comment that the Department is not keeping up with the rapid growth of organic and then with a question asking whether it wasn’t time for the Department to get on with the business of actually actively promoting organic.  Vilsack said we need to “celebrate and support” organic and USDA should view it as one very legitimate option in a menu of options for improving farm incomes.  Then, in response to an extended monologue from Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) deriding organic as marginal, Vilsack held his ground, but diffused the implied antagonism, saying the Department needs to support the full diversity of American agriculture.

•    In a partisan reversal, Ranking Member Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) slammed the Bush Administration for writing commodity program rules that made-up policy not legislated in the 2008 Farm Bill removing commodity program base acre status to any acres that are or that become federal land, including land that is foreclosed on and moves temporarily into USDA inventory.  Chambliss pleaded with the Democratic appointee to undue that revision made by the outgoing Republican USDA leadership team.

•    In response to a question from Grassley about the Department’s poor civil rights record, Vilsack made clear that he would make rooting out continued discrimination a high priority, and then also volunteered that he was aware the Office of Advocacy and Outreach, created by the 2008 Farm Bill to put minority and beginning farmer and small farm issues front and center at the highest level of the Department, had not yet been implemented and therefore will be on his immediate agenda.

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Transition Team Recommendations: Conservation Stewardship Program

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition recently presented a set of policy briefing papers to members of President-elect Obama’s Transition Team. The briefing papers lay out SAC’s recommendations for addressing the most urgent priorities of the sustainable agriculture movement. This is second in a series of blog posts that features some of those policy recommendations. All of the recommendations follow the same format, building off promises the Obama-Biden campaign made before the election.

Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)

Obama-Biden Platform

“Partner with Landowners to Conserve Private Lands: Because most rural land is privately-owned, farmers, ranchers, and private landowners are the principle stewards of rural land and water. As a U.S. Senator, Barack Obama has supported conservation programs, such as the Conservation Security Program (CSP), that serve as a resource to farmers and assist them with sustainable environmental planning and best land management practices. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will put an unprecedented level of emphasis on the conservation of private lands…They will also increase funding for CSP and the Conservation Reserve Program and will create additional incentives for private landowners for sustainable agriculture to protect and restore wetlands, grasslands, forests and other wildlife habitat.”

Relevant Program

Program: Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP)

Agency: Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of USDA

Recommendation – Administrative Action

Act very quickly to issue an interim final rule and implement the newly revised program for FY 2009. With the outgoing Administration essentially punting on rulemaking and program implementation, the clock will be ticking rapidly by January 20, with less than two months to go before the beginning of planting season in northern regions and already late in the south. It is vital therefore for the job of finishing the rule to be a very top out of the starting gate priority.

A letter and detailed set of rulemaking recommendations forwarded to USDA from 100 national, regional and local farm and conservation organizations is available here.

Recommendation – Budget Proposal

Guarding against budgetary and appropriations measures that threaten to cut mandatory funding is key to successful implementation of the CSP. It is critical that USDA Budget Requests assume full funding with no changes in mandatory spending and that the new leadership team at USDA fight any efforts to cut funding.

Background in Brief

The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is a comprehensive working lands conservation program designed to protect and improve natural resources and the environment for generations to come.  CSP targets funding to address particular resources of concern in a given watershed or region and assists farmers and ranchers to improve soil, water, and air quality, provide increased biodiversity and wildlife and pollinator habitat, sequester carbon to mitigate climate change, and conserve water and energy.

The 2008 Farm Bill authorized a new nationwide, continuous sign-up for CSP which means farmers and ranchers anywhere in the country will be able to apply for the CSP any year and at any time of the year.  Periodically during the year, USDA’s NRCS will rank applications and then develop contracts with those farmers and ranchers with the highest rankings until funding for that ranking period is completely allocated.  All watersheds will be eligible each and every year.  The program has been streamlined by eliminating the tiered structure and going to a universal 5-year contract term and single $40,000 payment limitation.

The new farm bill provides sufficient funding for the program to enroll nearly 13 million acres each year.  CSP acreage eligible for enrollment will be allocated to each state based primarily on the amount of agricultural land in that state relative to the national total.

Many aspects of the new CSP remain the same as the original program, including:

§ a predominant focus on management practices;

§ a strong emphasis on conservation systems and planning;

§ an explicit dual reward structure for existing and new conservation effort;

§ an emphasis on continual improvement and adaptive management;

§ higher environmental standards relative to EQIP and other working lands programs;

§ an innovative use of resource-specific indices to measure and compensate for environmental benefits and ecosystem services; and

§ the opportunity for ongoing renewals of the 5-year CSP contract based on fulfillment of the contract terms and agreement to pursue additional conservation.

New elements include a competitive ranking system which selects for those making commitment to addressing priority regional environmental issues in breadth and depth, coordination between CSP and organic certification, payments more explicitly geared to the level of environmental benefits, and supplemental payments for resource-conserving crop rotations.

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Weekly Update – January 9, 2009

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Change is in the Air: A new Congress, a new Administration, and a new National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition! On January 1, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) launched as the new home for grassroots organizations engaged in sustainable agriculture policy at the federal level. NSAC will build upon and integrate the work of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (SAC) and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture – two organizations that have been at the forefront of federal policy reform to support family farms and ecologically-based food and farming systems for the last twenty years. If you’d like more information about the new organization contact Aimee Witteman: awitteman@sustainbleagriculturecoalition.org

THIS WEEK

Stimulus Bill Percolating: This week saw lots of action on the emerging economic stimulus bill, with President-elect Obama on the Hill meeting with congressional leaders and congressional committee leadership announcing tentative hearing and mark-up schedules. The President-elect made his first major speech since the election on Thursday and focused his remarks on the need for the stimulus package. While the original talk about having a package ready to vote on and send to the White House right after the Inauguration has given way to reality, there is increasing talk about nonetheless being finished with the bill before the mid-February congressional recess week.

According to Congress Daily, when the President-elect met with House congressional leaders on Tuesday to discuss the package, Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) pushed for a fair share of development fund resources for rural communities and impoverished areas. Clyburn also made a point of saying that aid to states may not reach their intended targets if the Governors of those states are not on board with the proposed spending, and in such cases, the state should be bypassed and cities, counties and development authorities closer to the people in rural and impoverished areas should be given the authority.

On Wednesday, Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., chairman of the House Agriculture Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee, held a meeting to pitch rural stimulus issues, in particular highlighting the need to fund the substantial backlogs in unfunded rural water and sewer and rural community facility grants.

NSAC has also been pushing for one or two year extra funding for the Value-Added Producers Grants program and the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, both of which were shortchanged in funding during consideration of last year’s farm bill and both of which stimulate jobs in rural areas.

Anti-hunger groups also continue to pitch a temporary increase in spending of roughly $25 billion for federal nutrition programs as a key aspect for the safety net portion of the stimulus bill. By the beginning of this fiscal year, the number of participants in the food stamp program has increased by 4 million, to 31 million, with further increases on the horizon as unemployment continues to rise. On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office released new cost projections for government programs, and predicted the food stamp program would rise from $39 billion last year to an even $50 billion this year, a 27 percent increase.

New House Democratic Committee Assignments Made: The House Committee on Agriculture has at least three new Democratic members: Representatives Kurt Schrader (D-OR), Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA) and Debbie Halvorson (D-IL). A glimpse into the new Agriculture committee members:

● Rep. Kurt Schrader http://www.kurtschrader.com/2008/03/09/welcome/ (OR 5th District) – Coast and central interior (including South Portland suburbs): Former Oregon State Representative and Senator; veterinarian; lives on historic farmstead in Clackamas County; former organic farmer; member of Oregon Farm Bureau.

● Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper http://kathydahlkemperforcongress.com (PA 3rd District) – Erie, PA area: Former Director of the Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park; family-owned landscaping business; Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters, and Clean Water Action endorsements.

● Representative-elect Debbie Halvorson http://debbiehalvorson.com (IL 11th District) – East central Illinois: Former Illinois State Senator; served on Agriculture and Conservation Committee.

The full roster of Democrats and subcommittee assignments are expected to be announced next week. The committee ratio of Democrats to Republicans is expected to be 28-19. Republican committee assignments for Agriculture have not yet been announced.

Over on the Appropriations Committee, Rep. Farr (D-CA) will now be the vice chair of the Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations taking over from Rep. Hinchey (D-NY) who will still continue to serve on the subcommittee. Rep. Lincoln Davis (D-TN) will serve as a new member of the subcommittee and Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) will no longer serve on the subcommittee. Former House Agriculture Committee member John Salazar (D-CO) also won a seat on Appropriations, but will not be on the Agriculture Subcommittee. The House Republicans have not yet officially named committee assignments.

Over in the Senate, if Al Franken in fact becomes the next Senator from Minnesota, the expected ratio on the Senate Agriculture Committee will be 12 Democrats to 9 Republicans. With Sen. Ken Salazar leaving to become Secretary of the Interior, that will open up two seats for new Democratic members of the Committee. On the Republican side, if new Sen. Mike Johanns (R-NE) gets on the Committee, it would mean one current GOP member of the Committee would have to step down.

NEXT WEEK

Confirmation Hearings: The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold its confirmation hearing for Tom Vilsack, President-elect Obama’s nominee for USDA Secretary, on Wednesday starting at 10 AM. Also on Wednesday, starting at 10:30, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold the confirmation hearing for Lisa Jackson to be EPA Administrator and Nancy Sutley to be Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Many other committees will also be holding confirmation hearings, with the expectation that many of the designees will be voted on by the full Senate before the week is over.

Conservation Rules on Tap: Many but not all of the delayed rules to implement 2008 Farm Bill changes to conservation programs now appear likely to be released next week. We expect to see the rule to implement changes to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) on Tuesday, to be followed by new rules for Technical Service Providers, Regional Equity, and Healthy Forests Reserve and a Request for Proposals for the new Agricultural Water Enhancement Program (a project-based subset of EQIP). Also possibly on tap will be rules for the Wetlands Reserve Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, and Farmland Protection Program, though some of those may fall to after January 21 when the new Administration is in place.

Not likely to be finished before the change in Administration are the rules for the Conservation Reserve Program and Grassland Reserve Program, which would then join the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative as rulemakings that will appear under the new Administration’s watch.

NSAC’s Conservation, Energy, and Environment Committee will be studying the new proposals carefully, and future editions of the Weekly Update will inform readers about key points and alert members to opportunities for submitting public comment on the interim rules for these programs.

Final COOL Rule Coming Too: On Thursday, outgoing USDA Secretary Ed Schafer announced his intention to see the final rule for mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) is issued prior to the end of this Administration. The new rule will allow for a six-month transition period before compliance is enforced. The National Farmers Union had been advocating for USDA to wait on the final rule until the new Administration takes office, but that now appears unlikely.

USDA NEWS

More COOL News: Here is a story we only just caught up to. Evidently sometime in December, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service sent notice to the congressional Appropriations Committees of their intent to transfer $3.18 million out of the farm bill’s Specialty Crop Block Grant budget of $49 million for FY 2009 to help pay for implementation of Country of Origin Labeling, including a retailer survey, training programs for state employees, audit system development, and outreach activities. We suspect the last word has perhaps not been spoken yet on this maneuver.

Heads Up on Community Food Projects (CFP) Grants: This week the Community Food Security Coalition provided an update on the FY 2009 grant cycle for the Community Food Projects (CFP) Competitive Grants Program. The request for applications (RFA) is expected to be released around mid to late February this year, with applications due 60 days later. Contact CFP National Program Leader Liz Tuckermanty at etuckermanty@csrees.usda.gov to be added to the CFP email list.

A Letter of Intent is not required this year, so the application process will start with a full proposal. The FY2008 RFA is still available and can be used for planning an FY 2009 proposal. Electronic submission of proposals will be required. The registration process for electronic submission can take up to two months, so applicants who are not already registered should start the process as soon as possible at www.grants.gov.

The Community Food Security Coalition will continue to provide free written guidance and one-on-one technical assistance to CFP applicants this year. More information about CFP grants and assistance available can be found on the CFSC website.

EPA NEWS

Court Overturns Pesticide Exemption from Clean Water Permitting: On Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a decision vacating an EPA rule exempting pesticides applied in or over water from the need to obtain a Clean Water Act permit (National Cotton Council of America v. EPA). In 2006, EPA had amended its rules to exempt pesticides sprayed in water or in trees or buffer areas near water from National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting. The agency contended that while the pesticides themselves were pollutants discharged from a point source (and hence subject to NPDES) the residues from those pesticides should in fact be considered nonpoint sources and hence exempt from NPDES. The court maintained this was not a reasonable interpretation of the Clean Water Act and it ridiculed EPA for asserting that the law is vague about whether pesticides are pollutants. In earlier court decisions, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in 2001 that an herbicide applicator was required to obtain a NPDES permit, while a Second Circuit panel ruled in 2002 that EPA should articulate whether NPDES permits are required if the application of pesticide complied with the requirement of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). The NPDES permit process allows for citizen input and requires the agency to monitor and evaluate the cumulative impact of pesticide residues on aquatic organisms.

DULY NOTED

EWG Criticizes Ethanol Subsidies: On Thursday the Environmental Working Group issued a report detailing data from the federal Energy Information Administration highlighting the mismatch between corn ethanol subsidies versus other renewable energy sources. The federal data shows that corn ethanol accounts for three-quarters of federal tax benefits and two-thirds of direct federal subsidies allotted for all renewable energy sources in FY 2007. According to EWG Vice President Craig Cox, “it defies common sense to continue to lavish billions of tax dollars on corn-based ethanol, a fuel that has failed to fulfill its promises at every turn. Corn-based ethanol production, spurred by federal subsidies and mandates, is polluting our nation’s water, eroding our soil and plowing up precious wildlife habitat — and worst of all is likely contributing to global warming.”

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Going Down in History: A Community Organizer President

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Jim Worstell has helped farmer groups develop locally-owned, value-added enterprises in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta and many other third world areas. He was a member of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development during the Clinton Administration and has been Director of SAC member group Delta Land & Community since 1995.

Everyone is excited about the coming inauguration of our first African-American President. It may be equally historic that Barack Obama is the first community organizer ever elected President.

Urban community organizers are organizing caravans to Washington for January 20 to celebrate. They can hardly wait.

Those of us organizing in rural communities, though we may shy away from excess exposure to big crowds and may consequently skip the crowd of 4 million expected to show up at the Inauguration, should make every effort to help the new Administration build on this historic achievement.

We hope President Obama makes explicit what is obvious to any community organizer: sustainable rural development is only achieved when rural communities are organized to achieve economic and environmentally sustainable futures.

If you aren’t a community organizer, you might ask: What does that mean?

USDA, called “the people’s department” by Abraham Lincoln when he established it, used to have the answer and should revive it once again.

When my grandfather was a USDA county agent in Iowa during the Depression, he helped groups of farmers establish both marketing cooperatives and political action groups to change rural America. When my grandmother became one of the first women county agents in Missouri, she began a lifetime of organizing which led to enduring local organizations to help rural people. When my Dad was a USDA county agent in the 50s and 60s, he organized rural water associations as a Balanced Farming agent.

In the last 40 years, USDA has lost much of this spirit. A President who knows community organizing could rekindle it.

Revitalized rural agencies, operating once again as a catalyst for organizing rural people, could be exciting and tremendously valuable tools for addressing an array of complex problems and opportunities.

USDA staff could once again have the exciting job in rural America—on the cutting edge of the needed transformation of American food and natural resource systems.

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Weekly Update – January 2, 2009

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

THIS WEEK

Payment Limitation Loophole Remains: Sadly, after vetoing the 2008 Farm Bill twice under the banner that it did not include enough reform to commodity programs, the Bush Administration punted on its opportunity to administratively enact real reform. As we reported in the December 19 version of the Weekly Update, USDA issued a press release announcing a major rulemaking on commodity programs on that Friday evening, just as we went to press. The interim final rule was finally unveiled this past Monday, after first appearing on the USDA website on Christmas Eve. While the new rule makes tiny improvements to the statutory requirement that commodity payment recipients be actively engaged in farming, it unfortunately leaves in place the primary loophole allowing individuals to count themselves as active farmers by doing no farm labor and contributing in any vague way to the “management” of a farm.

On Tuesday, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) held a news conference in which he called on President-elect Obama and his nominee for USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack to complete the job of tightening up the rules now that the current Administration has failed to close the loophole. Grassley continues to call for a quantifiable test that measures what constitutes a significant contribution to the management of a farm.

Together with Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND), he plans to re-introduce the Dorgan-Grassley payment limitation bill next week when Congress reconvenes. As it has in the past, that bill would define the actively engaged in farming standard as any combination of labor and management equal to at least 1,000 hours annually or 50 percent of the labor and management required for a person’s share of the operation, whichever is less. Current FSA regulations use the 1,000 hour test for labor, but have no clear standard for management. Both current law and the Dorgan-Grassley bill exempt crop share landlords from the actively engaged in farming requirement.

In nibbling around the edges of real reform, the new USDA rule requires all shareholders in a corporation to meet the ill-defined management test. Under the old rule, some shareholders were excluded from even that weak test. The new rule also says the contribution to management has to be “regular and substantial” and “documented” – but again, without any objective, quantifiable standard to measure against. Senator Grassley referred to the changes for stockholders as “much about nothing.”

As an interim final rule, the new requirements go into effect immediately, but are open for public comment until January 28. SAC will submit comments on behalf of its member organizations, while also pressing the new Obama team of USDA appointees who will be in charge of making turning the interim final rule into a final rule to complete the job of real reform. Obama’s agricultural platform specifically calls for reforming the actively engaged in farming rules.

Controversial Animal ID Requirement Withdrawn: In September, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) issued a directive requiring premises registration under the supposedly voluntary National Animal Identification System for any producer who participates in any federally regulated animal disease program. In a revised memo to its field staff issued on the Monday before Christmas, APHIS withdrew the controversial requirement and instead indicated it is considering a formal rulemaking to do what it tried to do via a simple administrative directive. Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) led the charge to get the directive retracted.

USDA NEWS

Stakeholder Input Sought for NIFA: On Friday, USDA’s Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) issued a request for stakeholder input into the formation of its successor agency, the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The Federal Register notice says the agency intends to consider stakeholder input received in written comments in developing the proposed new agency for approval by USDA.

The 2008 Farm Bill requires the establishment of NIFA to replace CSREES no later than October 1, 2009. Back in October, USDA issued “guiding principles” that will govern the establishment of the new agency.

SAC’s Research and Extension Committee will consider whether to submit comments in the coming weeks. All public comments must be received by February 6, 2009.

Reminder – AFRI Program Announcement Now Available: The December 19 edition of the Weekly Update contained quite a few major breaking stories one of which we will repeat briefly here. A detailed program announcement reflecting what the eventual FY 2009 Request for Applications (RFA) for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) — [the successor to the National Research Initiative and the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems] — will consist of was posted on the CSREES website on December 18. A planned upgrade of the grants.gov website has forced USDA to delay the release of the official RFA until late January 2009, but the program announcement has more than enough information to begin fashioning proposals.

Happily, many of the priorities SAC supported have been reflected in the program announcement to one degree or another, including:

- small and medium size farm prosperity, including economic and environmental integration of on-farm production and conservation systems, on and off-farm business activities including local and regional food systems, and farm entrepreneurship and farm transition/entry education (about $4.8 million available)

- managed ecosystems, including multifunctional farm production systems and biodiversity on working pasture and range land (about $5.3 million available)

- sustainable agroecosystems long term program, requesting “proof of concept” proposals for what would become a long-term (10 year), multi-farm, multi-farmer study focused on soil ecology and carbon sequestration (about $1 million available)

- a joint AFRI-EPA program on enhancing ecosystem services from working agricultural land (about $4.5 million available)

- reducing animal pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, and hormones in soil and water, as part of a larger $4.3 million Water and Watersheds program

- classical plant and animal breeding, as one aspect of larger programs in Plant Biology and Environmental Stress, Plant Genome, Genetics, and Breeding, Plant Breeding and Education, and Animal Genome, Genetics, and Breeding program

DULY NOTED

SupportVilsack.com Site Launching: A new website in support of the confirmation of former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack to be the next Secretary of Agriculture is launching this weekend at www.supportvilsack.com with personal statements of support from, among others, Bob Scowcroft, Denise O’Brien, Gary Hirshberg, and Walter Robb.

ERS Details Million-Dollar Farms: On Monday, USDA’s Economic Research Service released a 47-page bulletin describing the 2 percent of all US farms with gross sales over $1 million a year that now account for 48 percent of the total sales value of US agricultural production. The large sales volume operations, which are particularly concentrated in dairy, livestock, and fruits and vegetables, slightly more than doubled their share of total agricultural receipts between 1982 and 2002. Relatively few million dollar farms specialize in grains and hence million dollar farms account for only 16 percent of government commodity payments, despite their 48 percent market share. Seven percent of million dollar farms and 21 percent of $5 million farms are nonfamily corporate farms. Million dollar farms represent 62 percent of all contract production and 63 percent of million dollar farms use production or marketing contracts. The report, entitled Million-Dollar Farms in the New Century, was written by Robert Hoppe, Penni Korb, and David Banker.

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