NSAC Archives for the 'Farm Credit' Category
House Sets Government Funding Allocations
Wednesday, April 25th, 2012
On April 19, we reported that the Senate Appropriations Committee had approved discretionary spending allocations for the coming 2013 fiscal year. The size of the total spending pie, as laid out by the Committee, was completely consistent with the levels set by law in the Budget Control Act of 2011. Today, the House Appropriations Committee Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Draft Farm Bill – Local Food and Rural Development Drilldown
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
Agricultural policy that bolsters community economic development serves as a cornerstone of NSAC’s advocacy. Within this framework, we support strong Rural Development programs that target small business development and job creation. Similarly, NSAC recognizes the economic opportunities inherent in food produced for local markets and thus urge Congress to address infrastructure and information barriers to Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Draft Farm Bill – Beginning Farmer Drilldown
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
Overall, while beginning farmers did not fair too poorly in the Senate draft farm bill that was released by the Senate Agriculture Committee last week, they were certainly far from being the highlight of this legislative package. There were some small wins for beginning farmers in the draft conservation and credit titles, which included provisions Read the Rest…
Loan Programs that Help Farmers Bridge the Conservation Cost-Share Gap
Thursday, April 12th, 2012
Background – Why there is a Gap USDA’s conservation programs, as well as numerous state conservation programs, provide financial resources for farmers to implement conservation practices that protect natural resources and the environment. Many of these programs fund only a share of the cost of implementing the practices, and hence are referred to as cost Read the Rest…
Conservation Loan Program Final Rule Shows Need for Revisions in the Next Farm Bill
Thursday, April 5th, 2012
Conservation Loan Program Final Rule This month, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) issued a final rule, effective May 18, 2012, for the Conservation Loan Program (CLP). The CLP was included in the 2008 Farm Bill as a stand-alone program to provide guaranteed and direct loans to farmers and ranchers to implement conservation practices. It has Read the Rest…
Senate Subcommittee Holds Hearing on FY 2013 Agriculture Appropriations; NSAC Delivers FY 2013 Appropriations Testimony to Senate
Friday, March 30th, 2012
On Thursday, March 29, the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee held its first hearing on USDA’s fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget request. The Subcommittee will consider USDA’s requests as it writes its funding bill for the year. Individual funding requests by Senators and outside groups were also due yesterday. You can download and read our FY Read the Rest…
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…
