NSAC Archives for the 'Conservation / Land Stewardship' Category
USDA Selects New Mississippi River Basin Initiative Wetland Projects
Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
On May 22, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the selection of new Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative (MRBI) projects in five wetland areas covering seven states. USDA funding for the projects will come from the Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program (WREP), a special component of the Wetlands Reserve Program. The USDA funding, combined with resources from Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Hearing on Commodity and Crop Insurance Subsidies
Thursday, May 17th, 2012
The House Agriculture Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management held a series of farm bill hearings this week to examine commodity and crop insurance programs in advance of writing their version of what will hopefully become the 2012 Farm Bill. The full House Agriculture Committee expects to mark up and vote on a Read the Rest…
New NRCS National Water Quality Initiative Targets Impaired Watersheds
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
On Tuesday, May 8, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has launched a new National Water Quality Initiative with $33 million in FY2012 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding. The Initiative is targeted at improving water quality in small watersheds impaired by agricultural use that are listed on a Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Farm State Editorials Call for Re-linking Conservation Compliance and Crop Insurance Subsidy
Tuesday, May 8th, 2012
Changes in the 2012 Farm Bill coming out of the Senate Agriculture Committee are set to expand the role of crop insurance as the single largest crop subsidy. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that federal crop insurance subsidies under current law will total $90 billion over the next decade. The Senate Committee-passed bill further increases Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Organic Agriculture
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the seventh in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. Overall, the bill that was reported out of Committee last Thursday supports key pieces of the suite of unique programs that serve the organic sector. Most of Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Conservation Title
Monday, April 30th, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the fourth in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. With respect to conservation issues, previous posts have covered the Conservation Stewardship Program and sodsaver/highly erodible land and wetland conservation. This post covers other conservation title programs. Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Sodsaver and Conservation Compliance
Monday, April 30th, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the third in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. With much of the rhetoric and substance of the new, in-the-making 2012 Farm Bill revolving around the rapidly growing and expensive crop insurance title, major corresponding attention Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Conservation Stewardship Program
Monday, April 30th, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the second in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. Step Forward, Two Steps Backward for Conservation Stewardship Program First the good news: the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) remains part of the revised conservation title for the 2012 Read the Rest…
Senate Committee Approves 2013 Agriculture Spending Bill
Friday, April 27th, 2012
On Thursday, April 26, while the Senate Agriculture Committee was busy passing their version of the 2012 Farm Bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee was also meeting to approve the Fiscal Year 2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill. The spending bill covers the majority of the functions of USDA as well as the Food and Drug Administration. We Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Beginning Farmers
Friday, April 27th, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the first in what will be a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. The Senate Agriculture Committee voted the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act — the proposed name for the 2012 Farm Bill — out of Read the Rest…
