Archives for November, 2009
Weekly Update November 16, 2009
Monday, November 16th, 2009
TAKE ACTION ON FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION
Please Call Members of the Senate HELP Committee! The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is scheduled to begin markup of the Food Safety Modernization Act (S 510) on November 18. The Act seeks to decrease foodborne illnesses by strengthening the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety oversight and enforcement–including provisions that would extend authority to on-farm production and processing. In addition to important food safety advances, the bill unfortunately also poses a serious threat to family farm value added processing, local food systems, and sustainable and organic agriculture.
NSAC has issued this alert with five provisions essential to achieving badly needed reforms to our food safety regulatory system without taking away important markets for small and midsized sustainable and organic farms. Please circulate the alert to your networks and urge calls Monday and Tuesday this week to HELP committee members.
To learn more on the issue, please see NSAC’s “Food Safety on the Farm” policy brief.
LAST WEEK
Stabenow Introduces Food Safety Training Bill: Last Tuesday Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) introduced the Growing Safe Food Act (S. 2758) as a proposed supplement to the food safety legislation now under Senate consideration. Co-sponsored by Senators Leahy (D-VT), Bingaman (D-NM), Boxer (D-CA), Sanders (I-VT), Gillibrand (D-NY), and Merkley (D-OR) and in close consultation with NSAC, S. 2758 is designed to provide food safety training, education, extension, outreach, and technical assistance and create an information clearinghouse for farms, with a special emphasis on small and medium-sized farms and small-scale processors. Training would include good agricultural, handling, and manufacturing practices, produce safety standards, risk analysis and preventive control mechanisms, safe packaging and storage, record-keeping, etc. Run through USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (formerly CSREES), the new program would be coordinated with applied research under the existing National Integrated Food Safety Initiative.
NSAC is urging the Senate HELP Committee to include the Growing Safe Food Act as an addition to the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) it is marking up and voting on this Wednesday. We hope it will be included in the markup vehicle to be introduced this week by Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA). If it is not, Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) plans to introduce it as an amendment during markup.
Arkansas Farm to School Conference: On Thursday, November 12, NSAC’s ED Aimee Witteman attended the Farm to School Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas, organized by the National Farm to School Network and hosted by Heifer International. The day-long event included several workshops on practical questions and advice about getting products grown by family farmers into their area schools, with helpful examples of success provided by the leaders of the New North Florida Cooperative and the Oklahoma Farm to School program. Other workshops focused on the statewide and national movement to advance Farm to School Programs.
The event concluded with comments from the new Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Arkansas Senator, Blanche Lincoln, who said that the Child Nutrition Act would move early next year and that she promised she would be “a receptive audience on any proposals to expand farm to school efforts.” She also touched on several of the Rural Development programs that NSAC championed in the 2008 Farm Bill, such as the Value-Added Producer Grant program and the B&I Loan Program, that can help with the production, aggregation, and distribution of good food for school meals. These programs have also been featured in the USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative.
NSAC Submits “Natural” Meat Label Comments: NSAC sent summary comments to USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) this week in response to their Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The natural claim refers to processing, not animal raising, and indicates minimal processing and no artificial ingredients added. The Bush Administration had issued an early advanced rulemaking in 2006, so this is a second time for the troublesome term.
NSAC urged FSIS to substitute “minimally processed” and “no artifical ingredients adding during processing” for the misnomer “natural” label. The comments also reiterated our long-standing request to the Obama Administration that it revoke the last minute Bush rule creating a “naturally raised” label claim through USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). That label claim has been put on hold by the new Administration, though it is not yet cancelled. The comments also urged emphatically that conflicting policies on animal raising meat label claim standards between FSIS and AMS be brought into unity in support of strong standards that protect the markets created by pioneering sustainable livestock producers.
THIS WEEK
Food Safety Markup Wednesday: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is taking a pause from health care legislation this week to take up the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510), introduced early this year by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). Since introduction, the HELP Committee lost its long-time chairman, Senator Ted Kennedy, with Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) now taking over the reins. This will be Harkin’s first bill to report out from his new Committee.
NSAC has submitted detailed and extensive draft amendments to S. 510 to deal with its unintended negative consequences for family farms, alternative food systems, and the environment. At press time, we expect some of these proposals to be incorporated into the chairman’s “mark” that Harkin will introduce this week for committee consideration on Wednesday. The mark will be built off of the original S. 510 but will include modifications.
We urge everyone to respond to the Action at the top of this week’s edition, and will provide a full report on the outcome next week.
USDA NEWS
B&I NOFA for Food System Loans: NSAC learned last week that USDA’s Rural Development Agency is working on a special Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) to publicize the availability of Business and Industry Guaranteed Loans (B&I) for enterprises supporting the development of local and regional food systems. This is very good news — NSAC has been encouraging the agency for months to do more outreach about the new food system emphasis in the program. The NOFA should appear in the Federal Register before the end of the calendar year. Any remaining funds that are not used to guarantee food system loans by April 1, 2010 (about $125 million), will be rolled into the general B&I lending pool. B&I local and regional food enterprise loans is one of the programs featured in USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food effort.
DOJ-USDA Listening Sessions on Ag Market Competition and Regulation Announced: On Friday, Novmeber 13, USDA and the Department of Justice announced the schedule for 2010 joint workshops and listening sessions on agricultural market concentration and competition issues. The schedule for the workshops is as follows:
March 12, 2010 – Issues of Concern to Farmers – Ankeny, Iowa – focus on seed technology, vertical integration, market transparency and buyer power.
May 21, 2010 – Poultry Industry – Normal, Ala – focus on production contracts in the poultry industry, concentration and buyer power.
June 7, 2010 – Dairy Industry – Madison, Wisc. – focus on concentration, marketplace transparency and vertical integration in the dairy industry.
Aug. 26, 2010 – Livestock Industry – Fort Collins, Colo. – focus on beef, hog and other animal sectors and may include enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act and concentration.
Dec. 8, 2010 – Margins – Washington, D.C. – focus on the discrepancies between the prices received by farmers and the prices paid by consumers. As a concluding event, discussions from previous workshops will be incorporated into the analysis of agriculture markets nationally.
Each workshop may feature keynote speakers, general expert panels, and break-out panels that will address more narrowly-focused issues. At each workshop, the public will have an opportunity to ask questions and provide comments.
In addition, USDA and the Department of Justice submit are accepting written comments on these issues until Dec. 31, 2009. Two paper copies of comments should be addressed to the Legal Policy Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 50 5th Street, NW, Suite 11700, Washington, D.C. 20001. The electronic version of each comment should be submitted to agriculturalworkshops@usdoj.gov.
USDA and South Dakota CREP Agreement: On November 10, USDA Secretary Vilsack and South Dakota Governor Rounds signed a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) agreement to improve water quality in the James River and enhance wildlife habitat in the area. The CREP is in the prairie pothole region and focuses on restoring wetland hydrology and surrounding upland buffers on about 100,000 acres in the watershed. Eligible producers must offer a minimum of 40 contiguous or nearly contiguous acres, which may consist of a combination of land offered for enrollment into CREP and adjacent non-CREP acres in order to meet the 40-acre minimum block-size requirement. The 40-acre minimum requirement may be waived for beginning, limited resource or socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers. Producers must also enroll applicable acres in the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Walk-In Area Program for hunting and fishing access.
The total cost of the South Dakota CRP is $161.4 million. Producers will receive the current weighted-average rental rate for the three predominant soils on the eligible acreage. Some conservation practices will qualify for additional incentives such as a 20 percent rental rate increase, a Practice Incentive Payment (PIP), and a Signing Incentive Payment (SIP) of $100 per acre. South Dakota will provide an incentive equal to 40 percent of the weighted-average rental rate for acres enrolled under CREP. Sign up will begin Nov. 23, 2009 at local country FSA offices.
Due Dates for CFGs, SCRI, IPM: A reminder that grant applications for the Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program are due by November 19. For more information, visit the CFP website here or contact the CFP Program Leader, Elizabeth Tuckermanty at etuckermanty@nifa.usda.gov.
Other deadlines for NIFA grants are also approaching, including the Regional Integrated Pest Management Competitive Grants Program which closes on December 17, 2009 and the Specialty Crop Research Initiative which closes on January 14th, 2010 .
Systems Grantwriting Workshop for SARE, OREI, and SCRI: The national program leaders of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), and the Specialty Crops Research Initiative (SCRI) are hosting a one-day workshop on the preparation and management of systems-based grant applications, in partnership with Cornell University. The workshop is scheduled for December 10, and will also be accessible via web. The registration deadline is December 3, and there is no registration fee. For more information, click here.
McEvoy NOSB Presentation Available: USDA has posted the presentation that the National Organic Program’s (NOP) new Deputy Adminstrator Miles McEvoy made at the November meeting of the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) in Washington, DC. McEvoy’s presentation laid out his plan for how to grow NOP, ensure the organic label’s integrity, and implement NOSB recommendations. The presentation also included rough budget figures, a projected increase in NOP staff from 16 to 31, and a priority on publishing the long-awaited access to pasture rule by early 2010.
EPA NEWS
Nominations Open for EPA Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Advisory Committee: EPA has issued a notice that it is taking nominations for membership on the EPA Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Advisory Committee (FRRCC) until December 31, 2009. The FRRCC provides independent advice to the EPA Administrator on a broad range of environmental issues and policies that are of importance to agriculture and rural communities. Members serve as representatives from academia, industry (e.g., farm groups and allied industries), non-governmental organizations, and state, local, and tribal governments. People who are actively engaged in farming or ranching are encouraged to apply. Members will serve for a two-year term, 2010-2011, and will be expected to volunteer about 10-15 hours per month reviewing topics of interest to the EPA Administrator and participating in meetings and conference calls.
Candidates for membership may be nominated by organizations or may nominate themselves. All nominations must be identified by name, occupation, organization, position, current business address, e-mail address, and daytime telephone number, and must include: (1) A resume detailing relevant experience and professional and educational qualifications of the nominee; and (2) a brief statement (one page or less) describing the nominee’s interest in serving on the Committee. Nominations should be submitted to: Alicia Kaiser, Designated Federal Officer, Office of the Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (MC 1101A), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. You may also e-mail nominations to: Kaiser.Alicia@epa.gov.
For further information contact Alicia Kaiser at her e-mail address or by phone at (202) 564-7273. Information about Committee actions in 2008-2009 is posted here.
DULY NOTED
“Building Sustainable Places” Now Available: This week the ATTRA program announced publication of the new Building Sustainable Places book and made it available on their website.
The new publication is an updated version of Building Better Rural Places and is edited by Michael Field Agricultural Institute’s Margaret Krome. The guide is a collaborative effort of Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, National Center for Appropriate Technology, USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, and other USDA agencies. NSAC also provided information for the publication.
The guide, written for farmers, entrepreneurs, and community based organizations, includes summaries and important information about federal programs that encourage community development, sustainable land management and production, and value-added and diversified agriculture and forestry.
Weekly Update – November 9, 2009
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
TAKE ACTION
Be at the Ready! Action Alert on the Senate Food Safety Bill Forthcoming!
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is scheduled to begin markup of the Food Safety Modernization Act (S 510) on November 18. The Act seeks to decrease foodborne illnesses by strengthening the Food and Drug Administration’s food safety oversight and enforcement–including provisions that would extend authority to on-farm production and processing. NSAC will issue an alert on Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week with specific recommendations to HELP Committee members and a call to action on S 510. NSAC is working to limit negative impacts on small and mid-sized sustainable and organic farms. Stay tuned for our action alert aimed at key HELP committee members and prepare to send to your networks!
For background on the issue, please see NSAC’s Food Safety on the Farm policy brief.
Comment Now on the Proposed Rule for the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program
USDA has issued a proposed rule for the new Rural Micro-entrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP). RMAP was created in the 2008 Farm Bill to provide loans and grants to Micro-enterprise Development Organizations that support micro-enterprise development in rural areas. While the law directs USDA to provide grants to allow development organizations to offer training and technical assistance to micro-entrepreneurs the proposed rule fails to do so. Training and technical assistance are essential to the success of these new businesses. Comments on the rule are due on November 23rd and can be submitted here. An alert with talking points is available here.
You can learn more about RMAP by checking out this summary in the Grassroots Guide to the Farm Bill.
LAST WEEK
Senate Climate Change Legislative Proposals: On Thursday, November 5, the Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved by a vote of 11-1 a marked up version of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S.1733). The only vote against the measure came from Senator Baucus (D-MT) whose state is a major coal producer. The markup was preceded by three days of hearings the week before with 9 panels including 54 witnesses. The seven Republican members of the Committee boycotted the markup, with the exception of Senator George Voinovich (R-OH). He showed up briefly on Tuesday, the first day scheduled for the markup, to state that Republican members were boycotting the markup pending preparation of an EPA economic analysis of S. 1733. Senate rules require the presence of at least two Republicans at the markup, unless the Majority feels it is in the best interest of their states and of the nation to act, a finding that Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer was quick to make.
Completion of a climate bill in the Senate, however, appears to be receding into 2010. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to ask the EPA for economic analysis of any climate bill before it goes to the Senate floor. This week, EPA officials testified that it would take the agency about five weeks to complete an analysis of the current version of S. 1733.
In the meantime, there are separate bills from at least five Senate committees that are to be merged into S.1733, including S 2729 – the Senate Agriculture Committee’s contribution to the Senate climate change package which was drafted under the lead of Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and introduced this week. S2729 has not yet been posted to Thomas but you can keep checking here and search for bill number “S2729″. No further Agriculture Committee hearings have been scheduled yet, but on Tuesday both Senator Baucus’ Finance Committee and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold climate bill hearings.
Further complicating the process, Senator John Kerry (D-MA), the co-sponsor of S.1733, has joined forces with Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) to work on a revised version of the bill which will patch together various pieces, including what are reported to be large increases in nuclear subsidies and off shore oil drilling permits, in an attempt to gather the 60 votes that will ultimately be needed to pass climate change legislation in the Senate. At this point, the only clear thing is that there will be no climate change legislation until 2010 at the earliest, with a final product that may look like a patchwork quilt.
USDA NEWS
VAPG Beginning Farmer Clarification Un-clarified: NSAC was told by USDA this week that in order to qualify for the 10 percent of funds reserved for beginning farmers in the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program, 100 percent of the farmers in a farm coop or business must be beginning farmers, an unlikely occurence. This is a change from what we reported previously in the Weekly Update, based on earlier assurances from USDA.
Now we are told the problem will be fixed in the VAPG rule-making process now underway, but that will be too late for this round of grants. However, applications by groups of farmers that include some beginning farmers will be considered in the regular pool of grants and the proposals will receive points for including new farmers, a priority clearly expressed in the Farm Bill language. Barring a substantial number of proposals by individual beginning farmers, it is likely that for this year at least the reserve funds will not be used and will need to be merged into the regular pool.
Deputy Secretary Merrigan Announces Beginning Farmer Program Award: Last Tuesday, November 3, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced the recipients of the 2009 Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program competitive grDULY NOTEDant awards. Merrigan made the announcement on a farm in southeastern Minnesota operated by Eric and Lisa Klein – farmer members of the Land Stewardship Project and graduates of LSP’s Farm Beginnings program.
The $17 million in BFRDP funds was awarded to 29 universities and organizations, including four NSAC member groups, the Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA), California Farmlink, the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES), and the Land Stewardship Project. A full list of program award recipients is here. NSAC’s press release with further descriptions of the projects awarded to NSAC member groups is here.
Farm to School on Facebook: On Thursday, November 5, Deputy Secretary Merrigan had her second Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Facebook chat — this time to discuss Farm to School. She kicked off the discussion with a report on her visit to the St. Paul, Minnesota school district last week. The St. Paul school district purchased 110 thousand pounds of regional food valued at $76,000 in the first six weeks of the school year, accounting for 56% of their total produce purchases.
Merrigan also reported on the Department’s Farm to School Tactical Team which has been formed with representatives from the Agriculture Marketing Service and the Food and Nutrition Service. The goal is to collect information and create a library of knowledge on the Know Your Farmer website. Merrigan said that USDA is deeply interested in Farm to School and hopes to see an equally high level of support in Congress when it takes up the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization, scheduled to begin early in 2010.
FDA NEWS
Extended Comment Period on Leafy Greens, Tomatoes, and Melons: As we mentioned last week, the Food and Drug Administration has granted the public more time to submit comments on new food safety standards for the production of leafy greens, tomatoes and melons. With the two-month extension, the comment deadline is now January 4, 2010. For more information, see the Federal Register notice here.
Traceability Listening Session: On Tuesday, November 3, FDA and USDA announced a public listening session on December 9 and 10 in Washington, DC to stimulate discussion about enhanced tracing systems for all types of food from production to processing to distribution. More information is available here.
DULY NOTED
ERS Releases New Report on Organic Dairy Sector: On Monday, November 2, USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released a new report on the characteristics, costs, and issues for organic dairy farming. The study uses data from the 2005 Agricultural Resource Management Survey on US dairy operations, which includes a targeted sample of organic farmers. Additionally, the report compares conventional and organic production costs, and suggests that organic and conventional operations are increasingly similar. The report concludes that the future structure of the sector will depend upon the interpretation and implementation of new organic pasture rules. To access the report, click here.
Weekly Update – November 2, 2009
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
TAKE ACTION
Farmer Input Needed for EQIP Organic Initiative Survey: The Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) is seeking the input of conventional and organic farmers to help improve the 2010 Organic Initiative – a program administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Offered first in 2009 as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), the program distributed $50 million to support farmers’ transition to certified organic production and to existing certified organic farmers for transitioning additional acres to certified organic production.
OFRF wants to hear from conventional and organic producers; from producers who applied to the Organic Initiative and from those who didn’t. All survey responses are confidential and will be used to provide feedback to NRCS on how to improve the program. Click here for more information and here to complete the survey. And please distribute the link among your farmer members and urge them to complete the survey by November 10th.
Beginning Farmer Comments Due: Comments on the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program Interim Final Rule are due Tuesday, November 3. A copy of the Federal Register notice of proposed rulemaking is here.
You can submit comments by email to: RFP-OEP@csrees.usda.gov or at www.regulations.gov. Be sure to include the Regulatory Information Number (RIN) 0524-AA59 in the subject line of the message. You can also fax comments to: 202-401-7752.
A copy of NSAC’s comments on the BFRDP interim final rule are here.
LAST WEEK
Senate Hearings on Climate Change Legislation: Last week the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held a three-day marathon hearing session, with 54 witnesses, on the Clean Energy Jobs & American Power Act (S.1733). This climate change bill is sponsored by the Committee chair Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Senator John Kerry (D-MA).
USDA Secretary Vilsack, who was out of the country, was not among the Obama cabinet Secretaries testifying in person although he did submit a statement for the record.
The only agriculture sector witness testifying at the hearing was Bob Stallman President of the American Farm Bureau Federation. He stated that the Federation is opposed to both S. 1733 and the recently passed House climate change bill H.R. 2454 because the cap-and-trade proposal in the bills will not offset higher energy costs to farmers. Roger Johnson, the President of the National Farmers Union, submitted a statement criticizing the bill for lacking a “robust and flexible” agriculture offset program but also emphasizing that climate change legislation is needed to help the agriculture sector deal with some of the potential severe effects of climate change.
Webcasts of the hearings and witness statements are posted here.
Senator Boxer has scheduled a markup of S.1733 for next Tuesday, November 3 but the markup may be blocked by Republicans. All seven Republicans on the Committee have reportedly agreed to boycott a markup session pending completion of the EPA’s economic analysis of the bill. The Committee rules require that at least two Republicans be present for the markup in order to establish a quorum for the Committee.
Meanwhile, other Senate committees, including the Agriculture Committee, are moving forward with proposals within their jurisdiction for the bill. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), taking the lead for the Agriculture Committee, is drafting an agriculture and forest title for the bill which would establish agriculture and forestry allowances to help fund projects and activities and agricultural offsets for a cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions. No date has yet been set for incorporating this measure and other measures from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Finance Committee.
House Agriculture Committee Hearing on Biofuels: On Thursday, October 29, the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research of the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to review the future of next generation biofuels, i.e biofuels from feedstock other than corn ethanol. The hearing focused primarily on federal subsidies for construction of next generation biofineries provided in the 2008 Farm Bill and other legislation.
Dallas Tonsager, USDA Under Secretary for Rural Development and Rajiv Shah, USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics testified as did an number of representatives from companies looking for funding for next generation biofuels research and financing. Most of the company representatives stated that credit for any biofuel venture is tight, especially with recent bankruptcies of a number of corn ethanol enterprises, including Vera Sun the largest corn ethanol producer. Under Secretary Tonsager noted that some applications for federal loan guarantees in the Farm Bill’s Section 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program were denied because no lender would back the project. In addition to having the USDA shoulder more of the financing costs, some company representatives called on Congress to extend the cellulosic fuels production tax credit to cover all fuels produced before 2022 instead of the current 2012 cutoff.
THIS WEEK
Deputy Secretary Merrigan to Announce BFRDP Awards: On Tuesday, November 3, Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan will be the announcing the recipients of the first round of Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program awards. Her announcement will be made from a farm in Wabasha County, Minnesota, that is the home to Eric and Lisa Klein, graduates of the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings program. Among the FY 2009 BFRDP award recipients are NSAC members California Farmlink, Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA), Land Stewardship Project, and the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES).
NSAC was a key advocate in helping to create the BFRDP program in 2002 and then secure $75 million in mandatory funding for the program over the next five years in the 2008 Farm Bill. BFRDP provides competitive grants to community-based organizations, non-profits, universities, and local and federal governments that provide training, mentoring, land-link, and other forms of support for beginning farmers and ranchers.
For more information about the program, visit the NSAC Grassroots Guide to the 2008 Farm Bill.
USDA NEWS
Conservation Stewardship Program Comments: The public comment period on the Interim Final Rule for the new Conservation Stewardship Program closed Wednesday, October 28. We will report in a future edition about the number and type of comments received. In the meantime, you can read the comments submitted by NSAC here.
Organic Research Awards Announced: On Friday, October 30, Deputy Secretary Merrigan announced $19 million in awards through the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) and the Integrated Organic and Water Quality Program. The grants are directed towards projects that research various aspects of organic farming systems, ranging from barriers to the sector’s growth to impacts of organics on water quality. Winning mandatory funding for OREI was an NSAC 2008 Farm Bill priority.
Among the awards: $1.2 million to North Carolina State for farmer-driven assessment and support for public plant breeding for field crops; $1 million to Washington State for extension and applied research on dryland grain, forage and intercropping systems, and $1 million to Iowa State for a 3-state (IA, KY, PA) integrated project on pest and pollination concerns with cucurbits. A full list of awards with abstracts is available here.
USDA Looks at Rural – Urban Linkages: USDA co-sponsored a workshop on Friday, October 30, with International Partners for Sustainable Agriculture and Heifer Project to discuss ways to increase food security while supporting sustainable production at home and abroad. The emphasis was on the need to develop regional food systems to counter rising food prices as a result of volatile and rising energy costs and reduce agriculture’s contribution to greeenhouse gas emssions. The primary audience was USDA agency personnel.
Several international speakers emphasized that there will be serious pressures on food production with increasing urbanization, anticipating that 70 percent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050.
Domestically, planning for regional food systems is increasing as more areas develop Food Policy Councils and professional planners begin to understand that food systems are integral to a community’s health. Speakers also emphasized the potential that public health and nutrition programs, including the Women’s, Infant’s, and Childrens’ Program (WIC) and National School Lunch Program, have to support the growth of regional agriculture if benefits are targeted to local food products.
There was considerable discussion of the need to improve rural infrastructure and increase small and mid-scale processing for regional food systems to be able to scale up to meet the food demand of cities. Unfortunately, there were no representatives from USDA’s Rural Developement Agency to discuss the Value-Added Producer Grant program’s new 10% reserve fund ($1.8 million in FY 10) to support the development of mid-tier value chains or the $85 million in Business and Industry Loan Guarantees for FY 2010 to support regional food system businesses.
Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan closed the meeting with a request that the participants continue to talk with the Department and to share their knowledge of successful projects so that they can be added to the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food website.
Beginning and Socially Disadvantage Farmer Loans in 2009: Congress responded to the financial crisis in farm lending by substantially increasing funding for farm operating and ownership loans through emergency funding in the economic recovery and supplemental appropriations bills for 2009. Funding was also increased for 2010 in the recently passed agricultural appropriations bill. For a table of appropriations levels, see the NSAC appropriations chart.
Despite the economic downturn, Down Payment Loans for first-time land acquisition by beginning and minority farmers took a big upturn since passage of the 2008 Farm Bill. The farm bill lowered the interest rate and the new farmer down payment amount and also increased the value of land which could be financed, all of which combined to send the loan program skyrocketing. The program has financed 1,100 farmers with a total of $147 million in loans in 2008 and 2009, compared to the nearly 3,000 beginning farmers assisted with $131 million in loans in the previous 14 years of the program’s existence combined.
The program continues to perform best in states that have State first time farmer loan and tax programs. For instance, the top three states – Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas – accounted for nearly 50 percent of the total number of loans, and are followed by Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Indiana, of which only Ohio does not have a state program. Those top ten states accounted for 83 percent of total down payment loan borrowers these past two years.
In FY 2009, the Farm Service Agency made or guaranteed about $4.5 billion in loans to 34,210 farmers, including over 20,000 farmers receiving direct operating loans.
The farm bill targets a percentage of loan funds to beginning and to minority farmers — details are included in the NSAC farm bill guide. About 14,500 beginning farmers received loans totaling $1.5 billion. Nearly half of all direct operating loans and over 70 percent of direct ownership loans went to beginning farmers, just shy of the farm bill targets of 50 and 75 percent, respectively. While direct loans were close to the target rates, guaranteed loans were off by nearly half the 40 percent target rate.
Socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including minority and women farmers, received over 5,600 loans in FY 2009, including over 4,400 direct operating loans. In dollars, these loans equaled 14 and 15 percent of total direct operating and ownership loans, and 7 and 9 percent of guaranteed operating and ownership loans, respectively.
NSAC has advocated for credit funding and beginning and socially disadvantaged farmer credit programs and targets since the late 1980s.
FDA NEWS
Food Safety Updates: On Sunday, November 1, the Department of Health and Human Services announced in the Federal Register that the FDA in collaboration with the USDA Food Safety Inspection Service will be holding a joint public meeting on traceability (tracing foods along their supply chains). The meeting will be held December 9 and 10 at the USDA in Washington D.C. and is open to the public.
Also, later this week, NSAC expects the FDA to announce a 60-day extension for comments on the new food safety guidance for melons, tomatoes, and leafy greens.
EPA NEWS
EPA Issues Regulation for Greenhouse Gas Reporting with Livestock Operations Included: On Friday, the EPA issued a final Clean Air Act regulation for the mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that would require reporting of GHG emissions from manure management activities of very large livestock operations. A livestock facility that emits 25,000 metric tons of COs equivalent or more per year from manure management systems must report. EPA estimates that about 100 very large livestock operations would meet the threshold for reporting.
The regulation becomes effective on December 29, 2009. Congressional action, however, may block the rule’s application to livestock manure management. On Tuesday, House and Senate conferees on the FY2010 Interior and EPA Approriations bill agreed to include language in the bill that would place a one year moratorium prohibiting the EPA from requiring mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting from manure management systems.
EPA Issues Clean Water Act Enforcement Plan with Emphasis on CAFOs: On October 15, the EPA issued a Clean Water Act Enforcement Action Plan in conjunction with testimony of EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Both the Report and Administrator Jackson’s testimony targeted pollution from CAFOs as a threat to the nation’s surface waters and to drinking water sources. The Action Plan is short on detail but does state that EPA will pursue “new strategies to enforce existing rules limiting pollution from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), especially where they occur in areas close to imperiled waters.”
The House Committee also heard from other federal agencies and individuals representing communities adversely impacted by water pollution. Witnesses included Wisconsin resident Judy Treml, whose family was infected with virulent E. coli which ran into their well from manure applied by a neighboring dairy.