NSAC Archives for the 'Nutrition & Food Access' Category
House Committee Passes 2014 Agriculture Funding Bill
Thursday, June 13th, 2013
Today, the House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year (FY) 2014 agricultural appropriations bill, which the House Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee passed on June 5. The bill sets discretionary funding at $19.5 billion, which is $1.3 billion below the FY 2013 enacted level, but is roughly equal to the FY2013 level minus the cuts imposed by Read the Rest…
Making Healthy Eating Affordable
Friday, March 29th, 2013
A USDA study contends that healthy foods like fruits and vegetables are often no more expensive than less-nutritious foods such as processed foods. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke to a crowd from the aisles of a Hy-Vee Grocery Store in Sioux Falls, South Dakota this week to highlight the efforts the Agency has undertaken to Read the Rest…
AGree Issues 2013 Policy Proposals
Friday, February 8th, 2013
AGree, an initiative to seek consensus on proposals to transform food, agriculture, conservation, energy, nutrition policies, today issued some near-term recommendations for the 2013 Farm Bill and other food and agriculture-related legislation. The five areas included – immigration and work force issues, nutrition and food systems, conservation, young people in food and agriculture, and agricultural Read the Rest…
Funding Available for Farm to School Projects
Wednesday, February 6th, 2013
On February 6, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced the release of the Request for Applications (RFA) for its Fiscal Year 2014 Farm to School Grant Program. There will be $5 million in federal funding available in this 2014 funding round to help school districts plan for and implement Farm to School programs. Farm to Read the Rest…
Funding Available for Community Food Projects
Thursday, November 1st, 2012
USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has issued a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Community Food Project Grants Program (CFP). CFP is a grant program that addresses food insecurity in low income communities by supporting the development of community-based food projects including projects that address nutritional needs by promoting local food and Read the Rest…
2012 Specialty Crop Block Grants and Specialty Crop Research Initiative Grants Announced
Monday, October 1st, 2012
On Monday, October 1, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced a total of $101 million in funding for specialty crops through the 2012 Specialty Grant Program (SCBG) awards and the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) awards for 2012. The 2012 funding includes specialty crop block grants to each state funding 748 projects nationwide for a total of Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Farm Bill Expires on Monday — What Does It Mean and What Happens Now?
Friday, September 28th, 2012
We have been fielding lots of questions in the past few weeks following the congressional meltdown on the new farm bill. This is not surprising, given Congress’ failure to date to either pass a new farm bill or to enact a short-term extension of the existing farm bill before the farm bill expires at midnight, Read the Rest…
Congress Votes to Slash Conservation Spending, Extends FY 2012 Funding Levels
Thursday, September 20th, 2012
The Senate voted (67-31) this morning to proceed to a vote to pass a 6-month continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded at FY 2012 levels through March 27, 2013. The final vote will likely occur sometime this weekend, slowed down by several procedural moves related to votes on extraneous matters. It may take 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…
