NSAC Archives for the 'Farm Credit' Category
GO-FARM Legislation Re-Introduced: New Loan Fund to Support Local Farms and Jobs
Wednesday, April 17th, 2013
Guest Blog — We want to thank Bob Junk, Local Economy Manager with Fay-Penn Economic Development Council for preparing this blog post. Fay-Penn is an NSAC member organization and Bob co-chairs our Marketing, Food Systems, and Rural Development committee. Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA) has re-introduced the Growing Opportunities for Agriculture and Responding to Read the Rest…
President’s 2014 Budget: Overview and Department of Agriculture
Thursday, April 11th, 2013
On Wednesday, April 10, President Obama released his budget request for Fiscal Year (FY) 2014. In this year’s ongoing budget saga, the White House is billing its proposal as a step towards reaching a “grand bargain” with Republicans over taxes and spending. (For more on the “grand bargain,” see a previous blog post.) Over ten weeks Read the Rest…
Microloans Now Available for Young and Beginning Farmers
Thursday, January 17th, 2013
Earlier this week, USDA announced the start of an exciting new loan program that will better meet the credit needs of small farms of all types, including especially young farmers and those serving local and regional food markets, including urban farmers. The final rule for the proposed microloan program was published today, and the Farm Read the Rest…
Farm Service Agency Increasing Action on Program for New Farmers and Ranchers
Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) is taking steps to increase participation in the Land Contract Guarantee Program. The program facilitates the transfer of a farm or ranch to a beginning or socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher who may have a relatively short credit history or limited farming experience. In order to be eligible for this Read the Rest…
Revised Version: Obama Administration Details Sequestration Cuts
Wednesday, September 19th, 2012
On Friday, September 14, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a preliminary outline of how it would implement automatic budget cuts (known as sequestration) across government programs, as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA). In early August 2012, Congress passed the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, which forced the Obama Read the Rest…
USDA Launches Organic Literacy Initiative
Thursday, September 6th, 2012
On Tuesday, September 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a series of resources as part of its new Organic Literacy Initiative, an effort to help connect current and prospective organic farmers, ranchers, and processors with the USDA resources available to them. The purpose of the Organic Literacy Initiative is to provide USDA staff as Read the Rest…
House Farm Bill Extension Would Hurt Farmers and Economy, Undermine Conservation Efforts
Friday, July 27th, 2012
On Friday, July 27, the House Rules Committee posted the text of a one-year extension to the 2008 Farm Bill. In our earlier post, we noted that we strongly oppose a clean extension of the Farm Bill, given that the bill would allow many critical programs expire. Unfortunately, the bill posted on the Rules Committee Read the Rest…
“Plain Language” Guide to Farm Service Agency Loans
Friday, July 27th, 2012
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has issued a “plain language” guide to applying for FSA loans and FSA loan servicing entitled Your Guide to FSA Loans. USDA was required to issue the guide as a part of the settlement in the case Keepseagle v. Vilsack. This case was a class action lawsuit brought in 1999 by Read the Rest…
NSAC Comments on FSA Microloan Proposal
Thursday, July 26th, 2012
On Tuesday, July 24th, the public comment period closed on the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) proposed rule to modify their Farm Operating Loans program to include microloans in order to better address the needs of very small and beginning family farmers. FSA — a USDA agency in charge of federal credit and other agricultural programs — Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: NSAC Assessment of House Committee-Passed Bill
Thursday, July 12th, 2012
In an earlier post we provided highlights and lowlights of the House Agriculture Committee one-day markup of their version of the 2102 Farm Bill, including a rundown of sustainable agriculture amendments passed and defeated. Here we turn to an assessment of the bill overall. Still to come is a piece discussing possible next steps in Read the Rest…
