Archives for March, 2010
Rural Business Opportunity Grants Available
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Yesterday’s Federal Register announced* the availability of grants to fund projects designed to help rural communities create wealth, repopulate and become self-sustaining. Projects can receive up to $250,000 across a period of up to two years and there is a total of $2.48 million available in 2010.
These Regional Business Opportunity Grants (RBOG) give preference to “Great Region” applications, or applications from multijurisdictional areas within a State, territory, or Federally-designated Tribal land or crossing such boundaries.
This regional approach could be considered a test run for the Regional Innovation Initiative proposed in the USDA’s budget for FY 2011 which would create set-asides in a number of USDA programs for applications that are part of a comprehensive regional development plan.
Once selected, grantees may be provided with targeted technical assistance by the USDA or other federal agencies.
In addition to the focus on regional projects, the RFA also explicitly highlights programs which use one of 5 “USDA key strategies, ” for rural development, the first of which is “Local and regional food systems as a strategy for encouraging production agriculture and related industries in new wealth creation.”
This focus is directly compatible with the USDA’s continuing work on local and regional systems development through the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative.
Applications can be submitted to your state rural development office, or online through Grants.gov. For more specific information and for your state rural development office contact, click here to download the full Request for Applications.
* The federal register incorrectly notes that $7.48 million dollars are available in FY 2010. In fact, there are $2.48 million dollars available.
USDA Releases Request for Applications for AFRI Competitive Grants
Friday, March 26th, 2010
This week, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (formerly, the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service) released the long-anticipated 2010 Request for Applications (RFAs) for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). Significantly overhauled and with more funding to award than ever, the AFRI RFAs define a substantive portion of USDA’s research agenda, and by extension, the agricultural system the agency envisions for the future. For 2010, $262 million is available through AFRI, $61 million more than last year. No less than 30 percent of this will fund integrated projects that have research, education, and extension components.
There are six AFRI RFAs: one Foundational Program RFA and five RFAs targeted at addressing five “challenge” areas. The RFAs support a variety of project sizes and types. The five RFAs in the challenge areas include funding for large, multi-disciplinary, multi-million dollar projects called Coordinated Agricultural Projects (CAPs) that are broad in scope. There will be a seventh RFA supporting pre- and post-doctoral fellowships that has not yet been released.
- Foundational Program
The Foundational Program RFA (pdf) makes $64 million available to fund research-only projects in program areas that existed in the previous iteration of AFRI and that correspond to congressionally-designated priorities written into the the farm bill. These programs previously received the bulk of the program funding, so many of the earlier programs that evolved over the past several decades have now been ended as separate priorities, given the decrease in dollars available. One of those was the Managed Ecosystem program that NSAC has backed for many years, though aspects of that program can now be found in some of the challenge area RFAs.
The new RFA collapses the long-standing Prosperity for Small and Medium-Sized Farms program and the long-standing Rural Development program into a single combined program, and creates the Economics of Market and Development program from the Agribusiness Markets and Trade program in previous RFAs. Despite the overall $61 million increase in AFRI for this fiscal year, the total funding for these three, now two programs, remained static at $10 million. Also, despite 2008 Farm Bill language adding rural entrepreneurship as a designated priority, not only was it not added as a new extension and applied research program, but the ongoing farms and rural development programs were melded into a single offering. Still, however, there are exciting opportunities in these areas, and we were particularly pleased with the requested topics for Small and Medium Sized Farms research.
It is unfortunate that the programs that include farm, rural and marketing development priorities in this RFA are limited to non-integrated research-only grants, ultimately limiting the ability of that research to reach people who would benefit from it and the ability of researchers to learn from the user community. We hope that the option for integrated projects returns next year.
- Climate Change
The Climate Change RFA (pdf) makes $55 million available to fund integrated, research, education, and extension projects that seek to reduce agricultural use of energy, nitrogen, and water, and that increase carbon sequestration. The RFA includes funding for a Regional Integrated CAP that addresses mitigation, adaptation, education, and outreach goals in a region, as well as a CAP supporting research and education activities by conventional breeders to develop new varieties adapted to changing climates. The latter was a clear result of work supported by NSAC and many member and partner organizations and researchers to obtain farm bill language to make improved support for classical plant and animal breeding an AFRI priority.
- Bioenergy
The Bioenergy RFA (pdf) makes $40 million available to fund Regional Bioenergy CAPs and research grants to help meet the goal of 36 billion gallons/year of biofuels by 2022. The Regional Bioenergy CAPs will support the development of regional systems of bioenergy production that reduce dependence on foreign oil; have net positive social, environmental, and rural economic impacts; and are integrated with current agricultural systems.
- Global Food Security
The Global Food Security RFA (pdf) makes $19 million available to fund integrated, research, education, and extension projects that improve food availability and food accessibility, focusing on research that addresses production challenges and that supports the development of sustainable food systems. Of particular note is an integrated project that supports the development of local and regional food systems that will increase food security in disadvantaged U.S. communities and create viable local economies.
- Food Safety
The Food Safety RFA (pdf) makes $20 million available to fund integrated, research, education, and extension projects that seek to improve food safety through the development and implementation of detection technologies, traceability systems, and other strategies, and through increasing the number of food safety scientists. The RFA focuses on particular pathogens and viruses, and includes research on multiple scales of production and processing.
- Childhood Obesity
The Childhood Obesity RFA (pdf) makes $25 million available to fund integrated, research, education, and extension projects that contribute to reducing the prevalence of obesity among children and teens. The RFA seeks to fund proposals that generate new knowledge, develop effective behavioral and environmental interventions, bring to scale effective interventions and assess their impacts, and increase the number of researchers, educators, and practitioners trained to address the problem of obesity.
While “sustainability” is used throughout the RFAs, the verdict on whether AFRI funds projects that actively contribute to the development of sustainable agricultural and food systems will be made once grants are awarded.
To view a chart of programs and proposal deadlines, click here.
To view a webcast about AFRI, click here.
USDA Women and Working Lands Panel and Discussion
Friday, March 26th, 2010
March is National Women’s History month, making yesterday (March 25) a fitting date for the USDA “Women and Working Lands: Past, Present, Future” forum held at the USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The forum celebrated the hard work and achievements of women farmers, ranchers and foresters across the nation, and was moderated by USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan. Women and Working Lands is a diverse group of agency representatives working to find better ways for the USDA to address the needs of women on working lands.
Building the Foundation for an Agricultural Revolution
The event kicked off with a keynote address by Christie Vilsack, literacy advocate and wife of USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. In her remarks, Mrs. Vilsack established themes of storytelling, outreach and education, and the value of intergenerational connections in highlighting food and farming as integral to the development of a healthy nation. She thanked the scores of USDA women working hard in the D.C. headquarters and on the ground to promote education, innovation and fruitful partnerships with farmers, and challenged women in all sectors of agriculture to tell their stories to the next generation. Contemplating how best to encourage young women to pursue careers in food and farming, she remarked, “We should start seeing computers as the campfires of the 21st century,” noting that computer networks are ideal forums for spreading the word about the USDA and the efforts of individual women working to improve the future of agriculture.
Following Mrs. Vilsack’s address were short speeches and a panel discussion given by four women active in the farming and outreach communities: Nancy Baker, agro-forester and forest stewardship mentor from Pennsylvania; Vicki Hebb, Sioux rancher and director of Native Women and Youth in Agriculture; Nicolette Hahn Niman, California rancher, attorney, and author of Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms; and Tammy Steele, Oklahoma farmer and attorney working with Oklahoma Women in Agriculture.
“You have to be willing to put your boots on, and then I’ll help you up.”
So goes Vicki Hebb’s mantra—one which Vicki and her co-panelists addressed at length while building upon on Mrs. Vilsack’s themes of outreach, education, and giving back. Nancy Baker emphasized education, and the necessity of better mentoring systems for female forest land owners, who are growing in number, yet still very much disconnected from established support systems. Nicolette Hahn Niman pointed to what she sees as a wealth of budding interest in traditional and organic farming systems among younger generations, and highlighted the importance of fostering and encouraging the connections to the land that these youth so obviously seek; “We’ve lost our spiritual connection to the land,” she said, arguing that we must work to regain this if we ever hope to achieve a balanced, vital and well-understood food system in America.
Vicki reflected this emphasis on youth education in her remarks, leading with the recent discovery that the average rancher is 57-years-old. She presented a galvanizing case for better agricultural education and assistance for youth, stating that “The time is now to stand up, to get involved, to educate our youth and to help them out!” Tammy Steele focused important attention on the need to develop better models for outreach and education within underserved communities—communities of both farmers and regular citizens—and addressed the vital role of community empowerment in preserving family farms and improving access to healthy food for all people.
Understanding the Food and Agriculture Story
“Twenty years ago, when I told people at a party that I worked in agriculture policy, I was left alone in a corner with my gin and tonic; today, I’m the belle of the ball,” said Dep. Sec. Merrigan, pointing out that food and agricultural are returning to prominence in the mainstream psyche. During Q&A time, audience members focused on questions that fundamentally related to this emerging reality and the importance of leveraging it for substantive change.
In response to a question asking how we can convey to people the significant value of food and sustainable agriculture systems, Nicolette replied that the key is getting people to understand the story behind their food—when we highlight the systems at work in the food production cycle, and the implications of our food-buying decisions, she said, we encourage an important shift in focus from cost to value.
One audience member related her story of growing up in North Carolina, where she had been interested in agriculture, but had never heard about the USDA until she moved to Washington, D.C. How, she asked, is this possible, and is the agency prioritizing outreach so that new generations are not ignorant of its resources? This question cut to the heart of the problem that dominated the forum, which was: How can we best publicize the innovative and exciting work being done by the USDA, sustainable agriculture advocacy organizations, state working groups, and individual farmers, ranchers and foresters in the pursuit of more viable and socially-valued food and agriculture systems?
Perhaps more important than the answers to this proposed by speakers, panelists and audience members was the energy and conviction with which they proposed them, demonstrating that the story of food and agriculture in the U.S. is in no danger of going unheard, championed as it is by women so deeply committed to protecting and revitalizing it.
Action Alert: Help Make Next Generation Biofuels Sustainable
Friday, March 26th, 2010
The addition of an Energy Title to the 2008 Farm Bill was an important acknowledgment of the critical and emerging role for agriculture in the production of renewable energy. Particularly promising was the creation of the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) to provide incentives to farmers and foresters for the production of energy efficient and resource conserving bio-energy crops. Congress intended the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) to especially encourage the production of perennial crops and to shift bioenergy production away from corn and other food or animal feed crops.
Administration of BCAP at USDA was handed to the Farm Service Agency (FSA) which finally released a proposed rule for BCAP last month. The rule completely fails to target its incentives or to set the project priorities necessary to usher in that new generation of bioenergy crops produced in sustainable systems.
Even before the rule issued, FSA was actively doling out a BCAP subsidy for the collection, harvest, storage and transport (CHST) of biomass fuel stocks from agricultural land and forests. FSA is in the process of handing out more than $500 million dollars in CHST subsidies this year with no regard for the economic or environmental consequences. The Washington Post chronicled the distorting effect the subsidy was having in the cabinetry manufacturing industry.
FSA is inviting public comments on their proposed rule and hopefully they’ll get an earful from those who want to see agriculture play an environmentally and fiscally responsible role in renewable energy production. Comments are due on April 9, 2010. You can get more information and submit a comment directly from the Take Action section of our website by clicking here.
Senators write in support of funding for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers
Friday, March 26th, 2010
Thanks to the leadership of Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Max Baucus (D-MT), and to calls and visits by NSAC members and supporters, a group of senators has delivered a letter to the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee in support of funding for beginning farmers and ranchers.
Last Wednesday, Senators Klobuchar and Baucus and 12 other Senate colleagues delivered a “Dear Colleague” letter to urge the Senate ag appropriations subcommittee to fully fund the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account (BFRIDA) program at $5 million in 2011.
The IDA program was a major focus of meetings during the beginning farmer fly-in, organized by NSAC in early March. Created in the 2008 Farm Bill, the program would fund matched savings accounts and financial training for beginning farmers and ranchers in 15 pilot states, filling a serious gap in access to credit that poses a barrier to many beginning farmers. Thus far, the program has not been funded.
Food Safety Action Alert
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
If You Value Safe, Local, and Healthy Food
Please Make a Call!
Food Safety legislation headed for the Senate floor would considerably ramp up regulation on farms that even minimally process their crops and sell them to restaurants, food coops, groceries, schools and wholesalers.
The new regulations could erect new barriers to these important markets for small and mid-scale farmers unable to bear the expense of compliance.
Read on…
Op-Ed in SF Chronicle urges investment in beginning farmers
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
We are excited to share this op-ed by beginning farmer, Rebecca King, who participated in the NSAC beginning farmer fly-in earlier this month. The article addresses the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account program, which would provide matched savings accounts and financial training to beginning farmers to help them get started. Click here for more information on what you can do to support this program. Access the original article here at the San Francisco Chronicle Online.
Open Forum: Invest in the next generation of farmers
By Rebecca King
As a fledgling 30-something female sheep farmer, I rack up more than my share of Little Bo Peep jokes. In reality, I haven’t lost my sheep.I know exactly where to find them because they’re the key to my successful cheese-making start-up enterprise and my farm outside Watsonville.
But the success of my venture — and those of thousands of beginning farmers across the country — relies on support from federal Farm Bill programs that Congress needs to prioritize in the upcoming fiscal year 2011 budget recommendations, efforts like the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account Program.
Left to right: Brett Malone (ALBA), Eleazar Juarez (Farmer), Devin Rhinerson (Sen. Feinstein - CA), Steve Schwartz (CA Farmlink), and Rebecca King (Farmer) meeting in Sen Feinstein's office on March 3 to talk about beginning farmer issues.
The program is based on “Individual Development Accounts,” a competitive savings plan that matches funds saved by individual farmers. California FarmLink independently administers an individual development account program in which farmers like me commit to saving a set amount every month for two years. This program matched my contribution 3 to 1: every $100 I saved each month equaled $300 in my account. The money saved can be used after two years toward specific business investments, such as a farm down payment or to purchase farm equipment.
To further ensure long-term business success, as a program participant I was required to complete financial training programs such as business planning and market development as well as develop a savings and business plan before the funds could be used. At the end of two years I received back almost $10,000 in capital as well as a strong foundation for my business fiscal success.
I’m not alone. Participants in IDA programs designed to start up small enterprises across various business categories are 84 percent more likely to become profitable business owners than those who have not participated. Funding such entrepreneurial programs means the cost of other line items, like unemployment benefits, goes down as well.
The Farm Bill created the first ever IDA program specifically for farmers, called the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account Program. Unfortunately, Congress did not appropriate funds for the program in last year’s budget. We can start fresh right now for the 2011 fiscal year.
Our nation looks to California for its vision on how best to cultivate healthy, sustainable farms to feed future generations. Our California delegation, particularly with the leadership of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) and Representative Sam Farr, D-Carmel, stand in a strong position to recommend $5 million in beginning farmer funding. If funded at this level for the remaining four years of this farm bill, this program could still assist approximately 3,200 new farmers like me to establish farming livelihoods across the country.
Yes, we live in a time of extreme budgetary pressures. But no, we can’t short-change the future of our children or the sustainability of our food system. It’s a matter of reinvesting in the long-term viability of vibrant agricultural enterprises and farms that feed our nation.
Congress: Invest in and grow the next generation of farmers like me and you won’t be lost like Bo Peep. Instead we’ll be eating cheese, meat and other locally raised, healthy food made with pride by America’s farmers.
Rebecca King is a dairy sheep farmer and cheese-maker in northern Monterey County. She sells raw milk sheep cheese through farmers markets, specialty shops and restaurants.
Senate Agriculture Committee Reports Child Nutrition Bill: Farm to School Included; Conservation Cuts Major Point of Contention
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
On Wednesday, March 24, the Senate Agriculture Committee approved the child nutrition reauthorization bill (Healthy Hunger-Free Kids’ Act of 2010) by unanimous consent. The bill increases spending on nutrition programs by $4.5 billion over the next ten years and includes several important school meal program improvements including improved access, nutritional standards, and per meal federal benefit.
As we reported earlier, the draft bill from Ag Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) also included $25 million in mandatory funding for the Farm to School program. In Lincoln’s “manager’s amendment” that was approved today, she lifted that amount up to $40 million. In addition, the manager’s amendment included the improved Farm to School program language from Senator Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) Farm to School bill. The Leahy bill would provide $50 million, and work is ongoing to try to achieve that funding level by the time the bill goes to the Senate floor.
The Leahy bill gained three additional co-sponsors this week – Senators Franken (D-MN), Tester (D-MT) and Stabenow (D-MI). Eight members of the Senate Agriculture Committee are now official co-sponsors out of 17 total co-sponsors.
The child nutrition reauthorization bill as reported out of Committee today also includes three funding cuts to offset the additional $4.5 billion being invested in school meals and nutrition programs. In addition to cuts to SNAP Ed, as the food stamp education program is now known, and the bonus commodity program, the bill cuts $2.8 billion in farm bill mandatory spending budget authority for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) over the next ten years.
The major debate and only roll call vote of the day was over an amendment offered by Ranking Republican Member Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) to remove the cut from EQIP and substitute an even larger cut to the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). After a debate in which nearly all Senators speaking said they regretted cutting conservation at all, the amendment then failed on a nearly strict party-line vote of 11-10. Senator Nelson (D-NE) was the sole Democrat to vote with the minority.
The Chambliss amendment would have cut CSP by $3.2 billion, replacing the $2.8 billion cut to EQIP and also funding a $100 million commodity purchase for the emergency food assistance program (TEFAP) and $275 million to pay for a reduction in the area level of poverty necessary to qualify for the summer food program from 50% to 40%.
In holding the line for her offset package and defeating the Chambliss amendment, Chairman Lincoln indicated she would work with Senators to try to increase the total funding available to improve school meals and to find different or additional offsets that could pass on the Senate floor.
Both the Chair and former Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) noted that funding for EQIP would still increase relative to current levels, even with the cutback, and both also noted that they would attempt to block the Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee from taking additional cuts to EQIP beyond the cut in the bill. They also noted the Chambliss amendment unwisely reduced the farm bill baseline by an even larger amount than the Lincoln proposal. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) noted the Chambliss amendment would disproportionately impact fruit and vegetable growers.
Senator Stabenow filed two amendments to improve the farm bill conservation program technical assistance budgets for the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The amendments do not require additional funding, but attempt to make the best possible use out of existing funding. The amendments did not come to a vote, but the Chair indicated she would continue to work with Senator Stabenow to try to reach an accommodation before the bill reaches the Senate floor.
An amendment by Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was accepted by voice vote with no opposition to authorize an organic food pilot program that would provide competitively-awarded grants to school authorities to create pilot efforts to buy more organic foods for the school meal programs. The measure would still need to be funded by Agricultural Appropriations for the program to get off the ground.
Senate Child Nutrition Bill Includes Agreement on “Competitive Foods”
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
On Wednesday the Senate Agriculture Committee will mark up Senator Lincoln’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, the proposed legislation to reauthorize child nutrition programs including school meals and the Women, Infants and Children’s (WIC) nutrition program. The bill includes new national nutritional standards to be applied to all foods sold in school, including food in vending machines and on a la carte lines that compete with regular school meals.
Senators Lincoln (D-AR) and Harkin (D-IA) and Representative Woolsey (D-CA) announced last week that public health and education groups had reached agreement with the food and beverage industry on the new national nutritional standards included in the bill. This is an important achievement, effectively banning junk food sales in schools.
The bill also includes other improvements including universal free meal eligibility in high poverty areas, automatic certification for free meals of children enrolled in other assistance programs, expanded afterschool and summer meals programs, increased federal reimbursement rates for school lunches based on performance, and mandatory funding for farm to school programs.
NSAC has been working on the farm to school provision as an effective innovation to improve school nutrition while boosting local farm income and stimulating rural economies. To sign up for regular updates and action alerts on Farm to School and other issues, click here.
Clean Water Network’s “March Madness” DC Gathering
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
The Clean Water Network, a coalition of over 1,000 organizations working together to protect the nation’s waters, held a “March Madness” fly-in in Washington D.C. on March 14-16. NSAC and many of our member organizations are Network members.
Key fly-in events had an agricultural focus. A congressional briefing on March 15, entitled “The Mississippi – The River Left Behind,” addressed nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the River which ultimately contributes to a hypoxic dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. Much of this pollution results from agricultural activity in states bordering the Mississippi River, as well as Ohio and Indiana where farms contribute to pollution in the Ohio River, a major tributary of the Mississippi River.
The briefing addressed the sources and consequences of nutrient pollution, the work of the Mississippi River Collaborative – funded by the McKnight Foundation to seek solutions to nutrient loading throughout the River Basin, and a report summarizing federal government resources available to deal with Mississippi River Basin pollution. At the close of the briefing, Sierra Club Water Sentinels Tom Guilfoyle and Hank Graddy spoke about their petition to EPA urging that the agency establish numeric Clean Water Act nutrient standards for the Mississippi River. The Sierra Club gathered almost 42,000 signatures on this petition. The EPA’s Office of Inspector General issued a report in 2009 that focused on the need for numeric water quality standards for nutrients.
On March 16, March Madness participants met with EPA officials to discuss nutrient standards and a wide array of agricultural issues. This meeting was the first in a series of Clean Water Network in-depth dialogues with EPA to address specific Clean Water Act issues. Albert Ettinger of the Environmental Law and Policy Center led a discussion on numeric nutrient standards, which included the official presentation of the Sierra Club’s petition with 42,000 signatures to EPA. NSAC staff member, Martha Noble, led the discussion with EPA Agricultural Counselor Larry Elworth and EPA staff on agricultural issues.
Topics covered included urging EPA to revise and strengthen the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) regulation, which was issued in 2008 and immediately challenged in court by environmentalists for being too lax. The Network wants EPA to eliminate a provision that allows CAFOs to self-certify that they will not discharge pollutants without any public review or sufficient regulatory oversight. Participants also urged EPA to strengthen CAFO pollution controls, especially controls on bacteria, heavy metals and other pollutants that are not covered by a CAFO nutrient management plan.
EPA staff announced at the meeting that EPA will be reviewing its guidance for the Clean Water Act Section 319 program which provides funds for projects to deal with non-point source pollution.
The agency is also noted it is working on proposed regulation to address pesticide drift that ends up in lakes, streams, rivers and other water bodies. The regulation was required by the ruling of the Federal 6th Circuit Court of Appeal in the case National Cotton Council v. EPA. The court disapproved an EPA regulation that exempted permit requirements for pesticide applications into water bodies or applications near water bodies that resulted in the pesticides getting into the water, if the pesticide application complied with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Petitions for Certiorari from Croplife and the American Farm Bureau Federation to review the lower court decision.
The day after the fly-in, EPA announced a web discussion forum where the public can submit comments for a two-week period on specific issues including Managing Pollutants from Nutrients, in preparation for a Coming Together for Clean Water conference in April. At the conference, the agency will engage approximately 100 leaders on the agency’s clean water agenda. The control of nutrient pollution is one of the highest priority issues.