NSAC Archives for the 'Agriculture Appropriations' Category
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Agriculture Committee Sends Letter to Budget Committee
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
On Tuesday, March 7, the House Agriculture Committee approved its “Budget Views and Estimates Letter,” which outlines the Committee’s funding requests for a variety of USDA programs (primarily farm bill programs) for fiscal year (FY) 2013. Each year, the House Agriculture Committee sends a budget views and estimates letter to the House Budget Committee ahead Read the Rest…
Bill to Ban Packer Ownership of Livestock Introduced
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
On Wednesday, February 29, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) introduced a bill (S. 2141) that would ban most meatpackers from owning livestock. Also signing on as original co-sponsors were Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Tom Harkin (D-IA). The Senate passed versions of this legislation in 2002 and 2008, but each time the measure Read the Rest…
USDA Solicits Stakeholder Input on Agricultural Research
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
Last week, over 150 people attended a stakeholder listening session to provide feedback on ways to improve the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) – USDA’s largest competitive grants program that funds agricultural research, education, and extension projects. The session was hosted in Washington, D.C. at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) – Read the Rest…
Obama’s FY 2013 USDA Budget Request
Tuesday, February 14th, 2012
On Monday, February 13, President Obama submitted his budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013. For sustainable agriculture interests, the budget proposal is a mixed bag, with big cuts to working lands conservation programs, and both cuts and increases to discretionary spending accounts for sustainable agriculture programs. As far as the upcoming 2012 Read the Rest…
NSAC Comments on Obama Ag and Farm Budget Proposals
Monday, February 13th, 2012
For Immediate Release February 13, 2012 Contact: Ferd Hoefner, Greg Fogel 202-547-5754 Washington, D.C. February 13, 2012 — President Obama’s fiscal year 2013 budget request sent to Congress today includes a smattering of 2012 Farm Bill proposals, including most prominently the same $32 billion in 10-year farm bill cuts he issued last September and a 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…
Generations Bookend Rural Great Plains and Midwest
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
by Jon Bailey, Director, Rural Research and Analysis Program, Center for Rural Affairs A new Center for Rural Affairs report released finds that rural areas in the Great Plains and Midwest continue to lose population and are caught between “bookend generations” – the youngest and the oldest – with a demographic valley in between. The Read the Rest…
Government Funding Bill Wrap Up and EPA Appropriations
Friday, December 16th, 2011
On Thursday, December 15, members of a House and Senate Conference Committee passed a nine-bill appropriations package, H.R. 2055, to fund most government functions through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2012. The House then voted, 296-121, on Friday afternoon to pass the funding package. The nearly 2,300 page package was scheduled to go to the Senate for Read the Rest…
USDA Awards Grants to Universities to Improve Food Safety
Friday, December 9th, 2011
On Wednesday, December 7, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced 17 grants to universities in 13 states to improve the safety of our food supply through research, education, and extension in a number of areas. A total of $10.4 million was awarded by USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) through the National Integrated Read the Rest…
More Farm Bill News from the Farm Journal Forum
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
At the annual Farm Journal Forum in Washington, DC today, Senate Agriculture Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said the farm bill prepared for consideration by the congressional Super Committee will serve as the “foundation” for efforts to write and enact a farm bill next year, starting in February. Noting that the process this year was unusual Read the Rest…
