NSAC Archives for March, 2011
House Holds Appropriations Hearing on Rural Development
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
On Thursday morning, March 31, the House Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations held a hearing on Rural Development in Fiscal Year 2012. The hearing started with general remarks from subcommittee members regarding concern about the state of rural America, including a note that USDA Secretary Vilsack previously testified to the Subcommittee that rural America has been Read the Rest…
Budget Deal in Sight?
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
According to Vice President Joe Biden, negotiations between the White House and House Republican leadership on Wednesday arrived at an agreement to reduce government spending for FY 2011 to $33 billion below the total for FY 2010 and $73 billion below what President Obama requested for FY 2011. The new number is $3 billion more Read the Rest…
You’ve Got Mail
Friday, March 25th, 2011
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack’s inbox was brimming this week with letters from farmers and advocates for USDA Conservation Programs. Hundreds responded to our action alert calling for letters to the Secretary asking him to stand up for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Wetlands Reserve Program(WRP). As the Obama Administration negotiates with the House over Read the Rest…
EPA Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Committee Meets March 29-30
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Committee (FRRCC) meets next Tuesday and Wednesday, March 29-30, at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington VA. The 29-member Committee is a Federal Advisory Committee to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, chaired by Dr. Steven Balling with Del Monte Foods. Larry Elworth, the Agricultural Counselor to the Read the Rest…
More FY 2010 Conservation Program Sign-up Data
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
The Resource Economics Analysis and Policy (REAP) Division of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently released draft final sign-up data for most USDA conservation programs for fiscal year (FY) 2010. We previously blogged the final FY 2010 sign-up numbers, including state-level data, for the Conservation Stewardship Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Farm and Ranch Lands Read the Rest…
Chesapeake Bay Conservation Practices Effects Assessment
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Last week saw a focus in Washington D.C. on the Chesapeake Bay Region’s water quality and agriculture. On Tuesday, March 15, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) released a report entitled Assessment of the Effects of Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland in the Chesapeake Bay Region. The report is one a series of regional assessments Read the Rest…
House Agriculture Subcommittee Criticizes EPA Action on Chesapeake Bay
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Last Wednesday, March 16, the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry of the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing on President Obama’s Executive Order for achieving improvements using the Clean Water Act to the water quality in watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay Region. The Order directed EPA to establish a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Read the Rest…
Voice of Reason
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
*Action Alert* You already know that if the House gets its way programs that are building a healthier, more just, and environmentally sustainable food and farming system will get thrown under the bus. But guess what? The Obama Administration appears ready to propose even deeper cuts to conservation programs than the Republican House! Someone has Read the Rest…
ATTRA Loses Its Funding at Least Temporarily
Friday, March 18th, 2011
One very distressing casualty of the continuing series of Continuing Resolutions that are keeping the government open but cutting funding week by week is the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, known as ATTRA. ATTRA’s $2.8 million was cut entirely in H.R. 1, the House-passed full-year Continuing Resolution from mid-February and that proposed program termination was Read the Rest…
AFRI Grants Awarded to Research Sustainability of Small- and Medium-Sized Farms
Friday, March 18th, 2011
USDA recently released the reports on funded Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) projects for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 grant cycle, including research focusing on sustainability of small- and medium-sized farms and rural development and on the economics of markets and development, two of the many AFRI subprograms. For 2011, as we previously reported Read the Rest…
