NSAC Archives for January, 2012
EPA Releases Water Pollution Data Tool
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
The EPA has just released the Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) Pollutant Loading Tool, an online database system that allows users to track polluters included in the database. Under the Clean Water Act, facilities with National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits report discharge data to the EPA. The EPA has pooled and classified some of this Read the Rest…
FY 2012 CRP General Sign Up Coming Soon; Preliminary FY 2012 CSP Sign Up Results – UPDATED February 1, 2012
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
UPDATED February 1, 2012 Since our blog post on January 31, USDA announced that the FY 2012 Conservation Reserve Program general sign up period will be March 12-April 6. According to today’s press release, “contracts on an estimated 6.5 million acres will expire on Sept. 30, 2012″ and this sign up will attempt to fill Read the Rest…
NSAC Members Set 2012 Agenda
Friday, January 27th, 2012
A movement-building haiku from NSAC’s grassroots planning session Earlier this week, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) held its semi-annual member meeting near Reisterstown, Maryland. Every winter, NSAC members discuss, debate, and vote on the coalition’s priorities for the year. In the coming year, NSAC will work with Congress and the Administration to: Create jobs Read the Rest…
Office of Advocacy and Outreach Launches New Website!
Friday, January 27th, 2012
This week, USDA’s Office of Advocacy and Outreach launched their website located at www.outreach.usda.gov. The Office of Advocacy and Outreach (OAO) was established in the 2008 Farm Bill in order to increase access to USDA programs and to improve the viability and profitability of small farms and ranches, beginning farmers and ranchers, and socially disadvantaged farmers Read the Rest…
U.S. Conference of Mayors Establishes Food Policy Task Force
Friday, January 27th, 2012
At its January meeting in Washington, DC, the U.S. Conference of Mayors established a food policy task force to be headed up by Mayor Tom Menino of Boston and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore. The group will spend the next six months collecting information and drafting a report for consideration at the Conference of Mayors’ Read the Rest…
Women and Latino Farmers Now Eligible for Larger Discrimination Claims
Friday, January 27th, 2012
On January 25th, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the Obama Administration has increased the maximum cash recovery for claims from Latino and female farmers and ranchers discriminated against when seeking USDA loans. Now, Latino and female farmers claiming discrimination in the USDA loan process between 1981 and 2000 are eligible to receive up to $250,000, Read the Rest…
USDA Taking Applications for Rural and Farm Energy Funding
Friday, January 20th, 2012
On January 20, USDA announced that it is taking applications for Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) funding. For FY2012, USDA has $25.4 million in budget authority for REAP, which will support at least $12.5 million in grant funding and approximately $48.5 million in loan guarantees. USDA is taking applications for all components of the Read the Rest…
Beginning Farmer Land Contract Program Launches
Friday, January 20th, 2012
For Immediate Release January 19, 2012 Contact: Ferd Hoefner, Juli Obudzinski, 202-547-5754 Beginning Farmer Land Contract Program Launches Washington, DC January 19, 2012 – As of January 3, 2012, the Beginning and Socially Disadvantaged Farmer and Rancher Land Contract Guarantee Program is available nationwide. USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) issued the final rule for this Read the Rest…
New Regulatory Certainty Program Announced in Minnesota
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
On Tuesday, January 17, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, and USDA’s Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service Dave White met in Minnesota to announce a new partnership between the State, USDA, and EPA. Through the partnership, producers would receive immunity, also known as Read the Rest…
Funding Available for Organic Research
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
On Tuesday, January 17th, 2012, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced the release of its 2012 Request for Applications (RFA) for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), which provides grants to academic, private, and non-profit research institutions to investigate research issues related to organic production. Applications are due on March 9th, Read the Rest…
