NSAC Archives for the 'Organic Agriculture' Category
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Draft Farm Bill – Research Drilldown
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
In sum, the research title of the recently released draft Senate farm bill was not a strong one for sustainable agriculture. NSAC and its member organizations had several proposals for how to strengthen the focus on research that benefits and is relevant for organic and sustainable production systems, contained in our platform, Farming for the Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Draft Farm Bill – Organic Drilldown
Monday, April 23rd, 2012
The Senate’s draft farm bill released on Friday builds on the what we know was included in the Super Committee farm bill proposal from last fall with a few but not all important funding and policy improvements. The Good The best news on the organic front is that the draft farm bill provides mandatory funding Read the Rest…
Participation in Organic Certification Cost-Share Program Increases
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
In its annual report to Congress on the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program delivered last week, USDA’s National Organic Program showed that there was an increase of over 20 percent in program usage between Fiscal Year 2010 and Fiscal Year 2011. This is in part due to improved communication about the program and to the Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Writes a Farm Bill
Friday, April 13th, 2012
The Senate Agriculture Committee is on track to meet its timeline for marking up a farm bill later this month. Agriculture staffers in the Senate have been meeting throughout the two-week Congressional Easter recess to discuss issues and proposals. The Senate Agriculture Committee leadership is writing a draft of the farm bill – known as Read the Rest…
AMS announces National Organic Standards Board Meeting
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced its upcoming National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) Meeting set for May 22-25 in Albuquerque, NM. The NOSB meets twice annually to discuss allowed and prohibited substances in organic production, help develop standards, and advise the Secretary on standards implementation. NOSB is also responsible for maintaining the National List of Read the Rest…
Path to the Farm Bill: House Budget Complicates Farm Bill, but Senate Committee Will Begin Anyway
Friday, March 30th, 2012
On Thursday, March 29, the House approved the FY 13 Budget Resolution introduced by Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) by a 228-191 vote, with all Democrats and 10 Republicans voting no. The budget resolution will not be taken up by the Senate and hence will only control spending actions in the House. The resolution Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: NSAC Releases 2012 Farm Bill Policy Platform
Monday, March 19th, 2012
Today, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) released its 2012 Farm Bill policy platform, Farming for the Future: A Sustainable Agriculture Agenda for the 2012 Food & Farm Bill. The platform is the culmination of two years of policy work with a broad, diverse coalition of over 90 grassroots organizations from across the country. It Read the Rest…
House Holds Agriculture Appropriations Hearings
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
Earlier this month, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee held a series of four hearings on the Obama Administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget request for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The hearings precede and are meant to inform the markup of a FY 2013 agriculture appropriations bill. The four hearings covered the President’s budget Read the Rest…
Organic and High Tunnel Deadline Approaching
Friday, March 9th, 2012
The second of three cut-off dates for organic, on-farm energy, and seasonal high tunnel cost share is coming up on March 30. The Organic, On-Farm Energy, and Seasonal High Tunnel Initiatives are offered by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service through its Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). NRCS will have three ranking periods in 2012 for Read the Rest…
USDA Highlights Revenue Protection Tool Developed by NSAC Member
Friday, March 9th, 2012
USDA’s March 8th blog featured a new online revenue protection tool from the Risk Management Agency (RMA) developed by NSAC member organization, the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT), and Montana Tech of the University of Montana. Jeff Schahczenski, a member of NSAC’s Organizational Council, was the lead developer of AGR-Lite Wizard, an online tool Read the Rest…
