NSAC Archives for the 'Food Safety' Category
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…
Fall 2012 National Organic Standards Board Meeting Announced
Thursday, August 30th, 2012
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will be holding its next meeting in Providence, RI, from October 15 to 18. The NOSB was established by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 and is charged with making recommendations on allowed and prohibited substances in organic production and handling, assisting in the development of standards for Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Local Food Marker Bill: Where Are We Now?
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012
Last fall, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) introduced the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act to create jobs and spur economic development through food and farms. This bill funds and improves critical programs that create economic opportunities for farmers, support local and regional food systems, and improve food access for all. Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Agriculture Bill Includes Anti-Farmer, Anti-Environment Riders
Friday, July 13th, 2012
The House Agriculture Committee farm bill that passed out of committee early yesterday morning includes a number of anti-regulatory riders. As we previously reported, the House mark included three riders before Committee markup began. The mark includes a provision that significantly weakens USDA’s ability to regulate the use of genetically engineered (GE) organisms. The provision Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Draft House Farm Bill Drilldown
Friday, July 6th, 2012
On July 5, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) released their draft farm bill ahead of the House Agriculture Committee’s farm bill markup scheduled for next week beginning Wednesday, July 11. The bill generates $35 billion in savings by cutting over $16 billion from nutrition programs and more than $6 billion Read the Rest…
House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee Passes FY2013 Funding Bill
Thursday, June 7th, 2012
UPDATED: June 18, 2012 On Wednesday, June 6, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY 2013 agriculture appropriations bill. The spending bill covers the majority of the functions of USDA as well as the Food and Drug Administration. In late April, we happily reported that the Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY 2013 agriculture appropriations bill Read the Rest…
Guest Blog: Institute of Medicine Report Highlights the Connections Between Health and Agriculture
Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
We want to thank Becca Klein from NSAC member the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) for her contribution. Becca is the Health & Agriculture Policy Project Director at CLF, working to bring a health perspective to federal food and agriculture policy. Believe it or not, just because I work for an academic Read the Rest…
USDA Announces Funding for SNAP EBT Equipment at Farmers Markets
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012
On Wednesday, May 9, USDA announced $4 million in funding to expand EBT capacity at farmers markets across the U.S. as part of the Agency’s larger mission to improve healthy food access in low-income communities. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, provides benefits to recipients through an Electronic Benefit Transfer Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Research, Education, Extension
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
Note to Readers — This is the ninth in a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. The bill that the Senate Agriculture Committee voted out of committee last week now makes its way to the Senate floor and hopefully will be taken up Read the Rest…
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…
