Archives for the 'Notes from the Field' Category
10 Days of Sustainable Ag Advocacy: An Intern’s Perspective
Monday, March 15th, 2010
by Kara Slaughter, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
“With reference to individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary importance.” -George Washington
So reads one of the three quotations at the top of the stone edifice at the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, D.C. Part of what prompted me to quit my “real job” in January and become a policy intern with the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute is the belief that if a nation can get our nation’s food system right, then other positive outcomes – environmental, social, political, economic – will follow. So it has been a privilege for me to spend two weeks of my internship shadowing and learning from the NSAC staff, who are working to hold onto past gains and bring about new reforms to the nation’s agricultural policies. Here are some of the lessons I learned:
Day 1: when pounding the pavement for sustainable agriculture, wear comfortable shoes.
One of my first tasks in D.C. was to hand-deliver a copy of a Climate Change sign-on letter to the offices of every U.S. Senator. Yup, that’s 100 offices, spread over 3 buildings. The task took about three and a half hours. Since the Anthrax scare in 2001, all mail to Congressional offices goes through a lengthy screening process that can delay delivery for weeks, so getting information in the hands of decision-makers in a timely fashion actually requires hand-delivery. NSAC itself disseminates several sign-on letters similar to the ones I delivered each year, and also delivers similar letters for member organizations who do not have any other contact “on the ground” in DC. “Next time we’ll have you deliver letters to the House side,” Ferd said. I stop worrying about letting my gym membership lapse.
Day 3: If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.
It is appropriations season in Washington, and that means Senate and House office buildings are teeming with delegations from all over the country, all asking for the same thing: money. I see groups of veterans, teachers, television broadcasters, defense contractors, bicycle commuting enthusiasts, and potato growers, all angling for their piece of the federal pie. Joining the chorus on Wednesday, March 3 was a delegation of beginning farmers and ranchers, organized by NSAC to make the case for NSAC member organizations’ appropriations priorities to their Senators and Representatives. March 9th and 10th, NSAC organized another grassroots fly-in to address the food safety legislation currently pending before the Senate. I’m gathering that these fly-ins are a big deal in Washington. It seems that even in today’s world of technology, sending a powerful message in Washington still requires a personal touch.
The second quotation at the USDA reads: “No other human occupation opens so wide a field for the profitable and agreeable combination of labor with cultivated thought as agriculture.” -Abraham Lincoln
Day 4: There’s no such thing as a free lunch (at least if you’re a political appointee.)
I attend The Atlantic Food Summit, hosted by Atlantic Monthly magazine. The purpose of Atlantic forums such as this one is to foster informed discussion on pertinent policy issues. I am tickled by this only-in-Washington disclaimer on the registration page: “This educational event is intended for career federal employees and not for political appointees because lunch will be served for program participants. If you are a political appointee, STOP NOW – do not continue with the registration process.”
To read my more substantive observations about the Food Forum, click here.
Day 10: Seize the teachable moment.
I tag along with policy associate Ariane Lotti to her meeting with Senator Byron Dorgan’s legislative assistant for agriculture. The purpose of the visit is to advocate for NSAC’s appropriations priorities, and to ask for Senator Dorgan to sign on to a Dear Colleague letter encouraging colleges to vote for those appropriation levels. Ariane does a lot of educating during the meeting – Dorgan’s LA is not familiar with the Beginning Farmer-Rancher Individual Development Account or the Value-Added Producer Grant, and so Ariane fills him in on the benefits of these programs. I start to see how much legislative staffers, who are responsible for huge swaths of work, rely on lobbyists to educate them about programs that are important to people in the home district. I’m glad that this staffer is getting his information from NSAC.
“The Husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits.” -St. Paul
This third quotation on the USDA headquarters building, which comes from Paul’s second letter to Timothy, is part of a longer passage that touches on notions of fairness and playing by the rules. I find this quotation the most thought-provoking of the three. What would our agricultural policy look like if farmers demanded the first share? For the last few weeks I’ve been toting around a flier from the National Farmer’s Union that shows the farmer’s share of the food dollar for a variety of familiar products. A farmer’s earnings from a $3.49 pound of boneless ham? 48 cents. The farmer’s share of a head of lettuce, retailing for $1.79? 25 cents. From a $2.99 loaf of bread? Ten cents.
A lot of NSAC organizations around the country are providing direct support to farmers who make the courageous decision to break out of the old model and start doing things differently. I’m struck by the fact that Paul did not say, “you must give the one who labors the first fruits.” To say it this way would suggest that the fruits belonged to someone else, and needed to be given back to the person doing the laboring. But no – Paul puts the onus on the farmer to keep what is rightfully his or hers. I hear Paul’s words as a call to action for farmers, to stand up and be counted, and to not give away what they have worked so hard to produce. I’ve seen farmers doing just that this week –participating on NSAC committees, making calls to their elected representatives, taking time away from work and family to fly in to Washington. As always, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. If you haven’t already done so, you can sign up for NSAC’s weekly roundup and action alerts here.
Individual Development Accounts to support Beginning Farmers and Ranchers
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Last week’s Drake Forum on America’s New Farmers addressed a myriad of opportunities and challenges that face the new generation of farmers and ranchers: big, small, and mid-sized, urban and rural, all across the country. In particular, access to land, access to capital, new market development, and education and training, particularly financial education, surfaced again and again in panel discussions.
While grassroots organizations across the country have been working for years to address these issues on the ground, the conference recognized the need for a concerted effort at the national level to shape programs and policies that will foster a vibrant, diverse, population of farmers and ranchers to feed the country over the next 50 years.
The conversation could be considered a first step towards developing a comprehensive Beginning Farmer Bill in preparation for the 2012 Farm Bill. But NSAC and its member groups also reminded participants of the opportunity for more immediate action, in particular, to support the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account (BFRIDA) Program. The BFRIDA Program would provide business education and matched savings accounts to beginning farmers of modest means. Created in the 2008 Farm Bill as a pilot program but never funded, BFRIDA has the potential to create thousands of new farm businesses.
What you can do to support IDAs
Call your Representatives and Senators today and urge them to ask for $5 million for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account program for Fiscal Year 2011. To find your Congressperson’s information, click here, enter your zip code, then click on your representative. Click on the tab for “contact.” When you reach the office, ask for the legislative aide that works on agriculture issues.
The Message is Simple: I am a constituent and am calling to urge Senator/Representative _________ to support funding of $5 million for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Account Program. BFRIDA will spark the creation of thousands of new farm businesses which translates into more jobs.
Report Your Call: Please take a moment to tell us a little about the results of your call. It is helpful for us to know if you are getting through to your legislator and how they are responding to your call. Click here to let us know how it went.
IDA Successes: “Full Steam Ahead”
John Tecklin and Angie Tomey are heading into their 13th year of operation at Mountain Bounty Farm. Located high on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, their 300-member CSA produces a wide range of fruits and vegetables in an otherwise underserved, difficult to farm region.
John graduated from California FarmLink’s 2-year IDA program in 2008, with $9,600 to put toward a down payment on land. He explains that access to capital is the single biggest challenge for beginning farmers, and that IDA programs are valuable tools for addressing this problem while teaching important savings habits.
“The cash-flow planning training that FarmLink required was another important nudge along the way to professionalism,” John adds, 
emphasizing that he now has a much more sophisticated operation and carefully manages his finances.
Ultimately, John exclaims “Full-steam ahead!” when asked what he thinks about the BFRIDA program. His own IDA experience allowed him to purchase ten acres of land, ramp up production, and leverage a 5-year automatic renewal lease on a neighboring parcel—important steps that led to greater security, and allowed John and Angie to hire more seasonal staff to manage their thriving business.
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More information:
- Learn more about Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Accounts
- Read another farmer profile
- Learn more about the appropriations process.
- Learn more about NSAC’s other appropriation’s priorities for 2011.
The Atlantic Forum Tackles Food Safety
Monday, March 8th, 2010
Has the FDA’s experiment with self-policing failed? This was the question posed by Marc Ambinder, Politics Editor at The Atlantic, at the Food Summit hosted by The Atlantic Monthly on March 4. Ambinder noted that until the spinach, pet food, and baby formula scares in 2006, 2007, and 2008, funding for the FDA during the Bush era remained flat, on the theory that companies could and would ensure the safety of food products on their own.
Attendees may have sensed a shift towards more regulation from FDA officials who spoke at the Forum. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg cited food safety as one of the top issues on the agency’s agenda, and lauded the food safety legislation currently before Congress. Hamburg noted that the legislation would give the FDA some powerful new regulatory tools such as traceback requirements and mandatory recall authority. Another indication of change: just one day before Hamburg’s appearance at the Food Forum, the FDA issued warnings threatening legal action to 17 manufacturers about 22 food labels that the agency deemed false or misleading.
But if large food manufacturers are feeling more regulatory heat, they didn’t let on at the Food Forum. General Mills’ Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Operations Elizabeth Westring said the food industry “has enjoyed a great relationship with regulators” and said General Mills was “fully supportive” of FDA having mandatory recall authority. Westring and McCormick & Company President and CEO Alan Wilson both praised the proposed food safety bill, and downplayed the impact that the legislation could have on small producers and processors. When pressed on this point by Ambinder, who asked if holding everyone to the same standard without giving small companies the resources to do so was just “favoring the big guys,” Westring replied, “Food safety is the price of admission. If you’re going to play in this space, you have to have a basic standard that everyone complies with.”
While panelists did not tread into the details of what such a standard would look like, Director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Stephen Sundlof did acknowledge that the FDA was mindful of the lessons learned from the California leafy greens marketing agreement. He stated that because of this experience, the legislation pending in Congress requires the agency to consider the impact of any regulation on small and organic producers.
NSAC will continue to work with the USDA, the FDA, and members of Congress to educate and provide guidance so that new legislation does not undermine the administration’s efforts to develop more robust local and regional food systems or undermine conservation measures on the part of producers. To stay informed of NSAC’s work, sign up for our weekly roundup and action alerts.
With regard to the threat of antibiotic resistance due to sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animals, Hamburg acknowledged that the issue was “a pressing concern, and one that the FDA has not addressed even though we understand it.” Hamburg’s own experience includes researching the problem of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis in humans.
Erik Olson, Director of Food and Consumer Product Safety at the Pew Health Group/Pew Charitable Trusts, noted that “there is pending legislation that would address this issue, but it is very controversial.”
For more information on solutions to the problem of antibiotic resistance, go to the wise antibiotics page of the Food and Agriculture Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an NSAC member organization.
Peterson and Vilsack endorse local and regional food at Home Grown
Friday, February 19th, 2010
More than 200 people braved chilling western Minnesota February weather on Monday and Tuesday to hear House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Collin Peterson and USDA Secretary Vilsack speak about the need to develop better local food systems at the Home Grown Economy conference at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. At least another 100 participants joined by video conference from four additional sites. Both the Secretary and the Chairman emphasized the opportunities that increasing food production for local markets offers rural communities and how USDA programs can help support their development. (See Dave Swenson’s recent study on the potential in similar SW Iowa region.)
Chairman Peterson opened the conference with an endorsement of the First Lady’s new Let’s Move initiative to reduce childhood obesity and his support for the idea that US agriculture can help by increasing, in particular, the volume of fruits and vegetables produced, and increasing their availability in underserved areas. He emphasized that any federal support for developing new market relationships will have to happen within the context of fiscal crisis and that he anticipates the possibility of agricultural budget cuts next year, including possible cuts to farm programs, via a congressional budget reconciliation process.
Secretary Vilsack expanded on the theme of using local agriculture to address health, energy, and economic development challenges in rural areas and offered existing USDA Rural Development and Marketing programs to build the supply and capacity to meet local food demand. He decried the past use of Business and Industry Loan Guarantees (B&I) to fund convenience stores and hotels that “subsidized people driving through rural communities” and pledged that B&I will now be used to help “create good lives in rural America” through investments in businesses, including grocery stores, that can be keystones of sustainable local development. Data indicates that B&I now has 188 active loans for convenience stores totaling $279,818,036 and only 53 grocery store loan projects totaling $59,677,072.
Secretary Vilsack offered several USDA programs as key to building regional food economies, all programs very familiar to NSAC members. The five percent set aside in the B&I program for local and regional food enterprises, increased funding for Value-Added Producer Grant including a special funding set-aside for mid-tier value chain development, the creation of the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program, and doubling farm bill mandatory funding in 2011 for the Farmers Market Promotion Program were all NSAC-led campaigns in the 2008 Farm Bill.
For a quick-guide to these and other Farm Bill programs and grants, click here.
Linking Nutrition and Local Food
An interesting new emphasis of the Secretary’s was on the potential that USDA’s nutrition programs offer to stimulate local food production, processing, retailing, and consumption. Secretary Vilsack repeatedly mentioned the as-yet unfunded Farm to School program. In addition, with reference to SNAP (formerly food stamps), he mentioned possible new grants to create incentives for SNAP participants to purchase local food. (He may have been referring to the proposed $4 million for EBT connections for farmers markets included in the FY2011 budget. NSAC will stay tuned and let you know as we learn more. Click here to sign up to receive news from NSAC.)
Over $4 million of SNAP purchases are made in farmers markets annually, accounting for only 0.04% of SNAP food purchases, so there is clearly room for growth. Vilsack pointed out the every SNAP dollar spent generates $1.84 in economic activity. If SNAP is used to purchase local or regional food products the economic stimulus to the area will be even greater.
The Secretary also mentioned the WIC program. NSAC submitted comments on the new WIC program fresh fruit and vegetable vouchers encouraging the Department to have all states certify farmers markets as vendors and encourage participants’ access to markets.
B&I Loan for Regional Food System Development
In a related development on Tuesday, USDA announced a $450,000 B&I Loan Guarantee to Organic Renaissance, LLC in Athol, MA to lease a building to facilitate the cost-effective aggregation and distribution of food products grown in MA, southern N.H., southern VT and northern CT to restaurants, retailers and others in the region. This is the first example NSAC has seen of a B&I loan guarantee for an enterprise designed to build the regional food system.
“Where the Future is Planted”
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
By Ariane Lotti, NSAC
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| Credit: California Farmlink — Rebecca King is a beginning farmer in northern California. She owns and operates Monkey Flower Ranch |
When USDA Deputy Secretary Merrigan addressed the crowd at the Ecological Farming Association’s 30th Anniversary EcoFarm Conference last week, she was talking to a crowd of seasoned organic pioneers as well as the current and next generations of organic and sustainable farmers.
Aptly named “Where the Future is Planted,” the conference was teeming with young, beginning, and aspiring farmers who flock to this conference and other farmer winter gatherings (PASA’s Farming for the Future Conference, MOSES’ Organic Farming Conference, and Southern SAWG’s annual conference, just to name a few) to share ideas and learn tricks of the trade, get up-to-speed on new technologies and methodologies, and connect with the many faces of the alternative agriculture movement, from social justice and healthy food to organic farming and land stewardship.
Despite the multiple barriers that beginning farmers face — including access to land and credit, they have the ear of USDA. In her address, Merrigan highlighted USDA activities that aim to create a future for farmers in America, including programs to re-establish local and regional food systems. She described a recent visit to a mobile slaughterhouse and the challenges in re-establishing the infrastructure to meet the market demands for local and regional food systems, and the opportunities in those food systems for new farmers to make a living off of the land.
NSAC has a policy platform on beginning farmers and ranchers that specifically addresses the challenges and barriers that these farmers face. Looking ahead to 2010, actions on the docket are the correct implementation of the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and full funding — $5 million — for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Accounts Program.
Avalos Addresses Family Farm Issues at NSAC Annual Meeting
Friday, January 15th, 2010
At the annual meeting of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) in Santa Fe this week, USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs, Edward Avalos told the gathered delegates of his desire for USDA to listen to and serve the needs of small and mid-sized farms, including through buy local campaigns, value-added agricultural development, and collaborative food safety group training.
Under Secretary Edward Avalos addresses NSAC members
Under Secretary Avalos also spoke to advancing USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food initiative to foster sustainable, local and regional food systems and to issuing strong livestock market competition rules to give family farms and ranches fair and equitable prices and market access.
In response to questions from NSAC delegates, Avalos indicated he would have the agency look into advancing sustainable livestock meat label claim standards, making organic data collection a regular part of the baseline activities and budget at the Agricultural Marketing Service, and ensuring that the Farmers Market Promotion Program funds the full range of direct marketing options for farmers.
At the meeting, NSAC delegates from 60 member organizations voted to approve its 2010 federal policy priorities, including directed work on the Conservation Stewardship Program, beginning and minority farmer programs, sustainability research within the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, and rural development programs to create jobs and strengthen emerging local and regional food systems.
NSAC Winter Meeting session in Santa Fe, NM
In addition, NSAC members agreed to continue efforts to win a fully funded Farm to School initiative within the upcoming reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, to ensure that pending food safety legislation does not put small and mid-sized farms at a disadvantage nor place unnecessary barriers on local and regional food systems, and to help pass strong climate change legislation that highlights sustainable and organic climate-friendly farming systems.
The delegates reiterated their dismay over the recent decision by the White House and USDA to renege on the President’s campaign promise to close farm subsidy loopholes and called for it to be overturned. Despite that disastrous Obama Administration decision for crop agriculture, members were heartened by the Under Secretary’s promise that another set of Farm Bill rules — for fair competition and contract agriculture reform in livestock and poultry markets — would be strong reform measures. Those rules are expected to be released in February for public comment.
Going Down in History: A Community Organizer President
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
Jim Worstell has helped farmer groups develop locally-owned, value-added enterprises in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta and many other third world areas. He was a member of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development during the Clinton Administration and has been Director of SAC member group Delta Land & Community since 1995.
Everyone is excited about the coming inauguration of our first African-American President. It may be equally historic that Barack Obama is the first community organizer ever elected President.
Urban community organizers are organizing caravans to Washington for January 20 to celebrate. They can hardly wait.
Those of us organizing in rural communities, though we may shy away from excess exposure to big crowds and may consequently skip the crowd of 4 million expected to show up at the Inauguration, should make every effort to help the new Administration build on this historic achievement.
We hope President Obama makes explicit what is obvious to any community organizer: sustainable rural development is only achieved when rural communities are organized to achieve economic and environmentally sustainable futures.
If you aren’t a community organizer, you might ask: What does that mean?
USDA, called “the people’s department” by Abraham Lincoln when he established it, used to have the answer and should revive it once again.
When my grandfather was a USDA county agent in Iowa during the Depression, he helped groups of farmers establish both marketing cooperatives and political action groups to change rural America. When my grandmother became one of the first women county agents in Missouri, she began a lifetime of organizing which led to enduring local organizations to help rural people. When my Dad was a USDA county agent in the 50s and 60s, he organized rural water associations as a Balanced Farming agent.
In the last 40 years, USDA has lost much of this spirit. A President who knows community organizing could rekindle it.
Revitalized rural agencies, operating once again as a catalyst for organizing rural people, could be exciting and tremendously valuable tools for addressing an array of complex problems and opportunities.
USDA staff could once again have the exciting job in rural America—on the cutting edge of the needed transformation of American food and natural resource systems.
“Notes from the Field”- Raising Heritage Turkeys With the Help of SARE
Monday, December 1st, 2008
Jacob Cowgill is a young farmer from Montana. He has spent the past two seasons experimenting with dryland vegetable production in north-central Montana. He and his new bride are planning to start their own farm very soon. For more information about the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, visit the SARE website.
A couple Saturdays ago, I placed the final heritage turkey in the chill tank and felt a sense of relief. The season was finally over. The wheat, sunflowers, and other field crops were harvested long ago, and the potatoes put in the root cellar at the end of October, but my flock of heritage turkeys lived on, through hard freezes, high winds, and snow flurries. They had arrived in the mail on May 1 and for the next 7 months, my days revolved around taking care of them. I had heard a little bit about heritage turkeys last winter and decided I wanted to try my hand at raising them. Starting without any feeders, waterers, a fence and shelter, and most importantly start-up capital, I looked around for some sort of funding and I found Western SARE. I applied for and received a grant to raise my heritage turkeys on pasture. It was with this support from SARE, I was able to explore the viability of raising turkeys within an organic dryland farming system.
Jacob's Heritage Turkeys
More than anything, the SARE grant gave me the chance to experiment in something nobody else in the area was doing. No information exists for which turkey breeds are appropriate for north-central Montana or what sort of shelter will survive the high winds and heavy November snows while protecting the flock. In a way, the grant allowed me to be an independent researcher, a private extension agent (and one who has already fielded numerous questions from interested farmers).
Most farmers I know are highly-intelligent and creative people. But since day-to-day farming is already a risky venture, many aren’t willing to go out on a limb to try something new. If agencies aren’t experimenting with sustainable systems, its unlikely farmers will. Grants such as these stimulate innovation on the farm level and provide producers with the guide to create a plan and the support for them to follow through with their ideas. With each successful project, the producer then becomes somewhat of an expert and a resource for others willing tackle an unconventional project. While I certainly don’t consider myself an expert on raising turkeys, now I have enough experience under my belt to do it again next year.
“Notes from the Field” – Conservation Stewardship Program Field Day in Wisconsin
Monday, November 10th, 2008
This is the first in a series of posts “Notes from the Field” written by staff of SAC member organizations or farmers about how the federal sustainable agriculture programs that SAC fights for and wins make a difference on the ground.
This past August, Katie Wied received a M.A. in Sustainable Development with an emphasis on Public Policy from the School of International Training. Returning back to her home state of Wisconsin, Katie is now the Policy Organizer for Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, a member organization of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
“This program encourages me to maintain my conservation practices and research others.”
-Farmer from Gilman, WI who participates in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP).
As the Policy Organizer for Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, I have the role of educating farmers about the new Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). I love this program because within the world of large commodity payments, it is the first governmental program that provides “green payments” to farmers. In other words, CSP provides payments to farmers and ranchers to maintain and manage existing conservation practices and implement additional conservation activities on land in agricultural production.
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Katie Wied, Policy Organizer for Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, at CSP Field Day
Katie Wied, Policy Organizer for Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, at CSP Field Day
Farmers can be allotted up to $40,000 per year for conducting conservation practices that improve soil, water or air quality, soil and water conservation, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, as well as energy conservation. CSP has been greatly improved in the 2008 Farm Bill and now with improved access to the program, any farmer will now be able to apply for a CSP grant. This brings good news to the sustainable agriculture movement, and like any piece of good news we want to spread it far and wide.
With some newfound momentum I organized various CSP field days throughout Wisconsin. Field days are used to unite farmers by having them gather at a farm for food, education, and good conversation. I decided to reach out to farmers who utilize grazing practices on their farms. Letting cows graze on the land instead of keeping them confined is not only healthier for the cows, but also for the land. I contacted several people from GrassWorks, an amazing grazing network. This Wisconsin-based organization serves as a central point for grazing communities to network and share resources. With their help I was able to arrange short CSP presentations on several of their farms.