NSAC Archives for February, 2011
USDA Announce Process to Resolve Discrimination Claims of Hispanic and Women Farmers
Monday, February 28th, 2011
On Friday February 25, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Assistant Attorney General Tony West announced the establishment of a program to resolve the claims of Hispanic and women farmers and ranchers who assert that they were discriminated against when seeking USDA farm loans. The program provides up to $50,000 for each Hispanic or woman farmer Read the Rest…
National Beginning Farmer Survey, Have You Participated?
Monday, February 28th, 2011
Data on the challenges faced by today’s young and beginning farmers is hard to come by. That’s why the National Young Farmers’ Coalition, in partnership with the Greenhorns and Beginningfarmers.org, is conducting a national survey to understand what’s working for beginning farmers, what’s not, and what policies they’d like to see in the next Farm Read the Rest…
USDA Organic Farming Systems Research Conference Coming March 16-18
Friday, February 25th, 2011
USDA will sponsor a free conference March 16-18, 2011 in Washington, DC, to examine findings from research on organic farming systems. Attendees include researchers, policymakers, farmers, ranchers, and others interested in learning more about the implications of organic farming research. Major objectives for the conference are: To investigate findings on U.S. research on organic systems, Read the Rest…
New Movement on Government Funding Negotiations
Friday, February 25th, 2011
There were several important new developments on Thursday in the continuing saga of arriving at a government funding bill for the rest of fiscal year 2011. House Republican leaders are getting ready to file a short-term extension of the existing short-term “continuing resolution” (CR) that is keeping the government running at fiscal year 2010 levels. Read the Rest…
2009 On-Farm Renewable Energy Production Survey
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
On Wednesday, February 23, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the results of the 2009 survey on the contribution of America’s farms and ranches in the production of renewable energy. Conducted as a follow-on to the most recent Census of Agriculture, the survey focused on three principal renewable energy systems: solar panels, wind turbines, Read the Rest…
ERS Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) recently released the Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America data set. The tool, an interactive mapping application, provides spatial information (national to county-level) of socioeconomic factors on four broad categories of : People— county demographic profiles including age, race/ethnicity, education, migration and immigration, household size and family composition (from the from Read the Rest…
Comments and Video from Merrigan on VAPG Interim Rule
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
On Wednesday, February 23, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan held a press conference call regarding today’s release of the interim final rule for the Value-Added Producer Grant program. Calling VAPG “one of my all time favorite programs,” Merrigan spoke about how the grants fund innovation and entrepreneurship among American farmers and ranchers and provide Read the Rest…
Organic Seed Alliance Releases “State of Organic Seed” Report
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
On February 16, 2011, the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) released a survey-based report entitled State of Organic Seed: Advancing the Viability and Integrity of Organic Seed Systems. The report serves as the first comprehensive analysis of the organic seed sector. Although the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) requires the use of organic seed when commercially Read the Rest…
AFRI Awards to Study Effects of Climate Change on Agricultural and Forest Production
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
On Friday February 18, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), through its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) funding opportunity, awarded three $20 million grants (over 5 years) to Coordinated Agriculture Projects (CAP) to study the effects of climate change on agriculture and forest production. Dr. Tim Martin, of the University of Florida Read the Rest…
USDA Publishes Interim Rule for Value-Added Producer Grants
Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011
In June 2010, the USDA solicited public comments on the proposed rule for implementation of the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program. This morning, after months of anticipation, the agency released the interim final rule. Later this morning USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan will hold a press call regarding the interim rule for VAPG. With the Read the Rest…
