NSAC Archives for the 'Farm Credit' Category
House and Senate Move Forward on Different Paths with FY 2013 Appropriations
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
NSAC Testimony On Tuesday, March 20, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) delivered its fiscal year (FY) 2013 agriculture appropriations testimony to the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. The testimony includes NSAC’s FY 2013 appropriations requests for critical conservation, rural development, marketing, research, credit, and beginning and minority farmer programs. We will deliver matching funding requests Read the Rest…
FSA Increases Flexibility for Loans to Beginning Farmers
Friday, March 9th, 2012
Earlier this month, FSA announced several revisions to its program handbook to increase flexibility and broaden the scope of “farm management experience” a borrower is required to have before being eligible for a federal loan. This experience requirement is in place in order to assure that an applicant has sufficient managerial ability that will convey Read the Rest…
Beginning Farmers Tell Their Stories at Hill Briefing
Friday, March 9th, 2012
This week, four beginning farmers and ranchers came to Washington, D.C. to participate in a congressional briefing on the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act (S.1850, H.R.3236). The briefing was hosted in the House by Reps. Tim Walz (D-MN-1) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE-1), and in the Senate by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). The farmers came Read the Rest…
New Ally for Sustainable Agriculture in the Finance Department
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
Non-profit, community lenders get involved in healthy food supply chain by guest bloggers Nessa Richman, Brightseed Strategies and Patty Cantrell, Regional Food Solutions Loan funds, credit unions, community development corporations—these mission-driven organizations traditionally provide credit and financial services to poor and underserved urban and rural areas. Yet food and farming rarely registered on their radar 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…
Lenders Learn how to Bank on Small Farms, Local Food
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Financing team offers training as part of healthy food initiative By Patty Cantrell Nic Welty employs himself full time year-round raising lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens in three low-cost passive solar greenhouses, which together cover less than one acre of land. His Nine Bean Rows farm near Traverse City, MI, is one of many 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…
If you eat and live in America
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
If you eat and live in America, you should be concerned about the future of farming in this country. The average age of our nation’s farmers is 57 years old, with more than a quarter of all farmers 65 or older. There are many people inspired to farm, but as recent studies show, our nation’s Read the Rest…
Food and Farm Bill Alive in 2012!
Monday, December 5th, 2011
Dear Supporters, We previously reported to you that a 2011 Food and Farm Bill appeared imminent. Days before Thanksgiving the Congressional “Super Committee” failed to reach agreement on $1.2 trillion in budget cuts. With that, the 2011 Farm Bill proposal intended for inclusion in the Super Committee’s deficit reduction bill is thus no more. The Read the Rest…
Beginning Farmer Land Contract Program to Launch in 2012
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
On Thursday, December 1st, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) issued the final rule for the Land Contract Guarantee Program, which was authorized under the 2008 Farm Bill. This program was first authorized as a pilot program under the 2002 Farm Bill, but was expanded to be made permanent and offered nationwide in the last Read the Rest…
