NSAC Archives for the 'Risk Management' Category
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…
15 National Organizations Deliver Conservation Compliance Letter
Thursday, April 19th, 2012
On Monday, April 16, a group of 15 national conservation, agriculture, wildlife, and renewable energy organizations sent a letter to the Chairs and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees in support of reattaching conservation compliance requirements to federal crop insurance subsidies. In the letter, the 15 organizations urged Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Read the Rest…
GAO Report Triggers Crop Insurance Debate
Friday, April 13th, 2012
On Thursday, April 12, the U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report detailing ways to better target federal crop insurance subsidies. The targeting would aim to get some control on rapidly escalating taxpayer costs while also reducing the program’s impact on subsidizing the destruction of family farming and reducing new farming opportunities. The report, “Crop Read the Rest…
Risk Management Education and Outreach Partnerships Program Request for Applications
Wednesday, April 11th, 2012
The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC), operating through the Risk Management Agency (RMA), has announced available funds totaling approximately $3 million for the Risk Management Education and Outreach Partnerships Program. The Risk Management Education and Outreach Partnerships Program is a competitive cooperative partnership agreement program that provides crop insurance education and risk management training. It aims 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 Farm Bill: Former Agriculture Secretaries Support Conservation Requirements
Friday, March 30th, 2012
Former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture Dan Glickman (1995-2001) and Ann Veneman (2001-2005) delivered a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on Wednesday, March 28, urging them to reattach basic conservation compliance requirements to federally subsidized crop insurance in the next farm bill. The letter states: As you renew Read the Rest…
NSAC Joins with Other Groups to Brief Senate on Conservation Compliance and Sodsaver
Friday, March 16th, 2012
On Friday, March 16, a broad coalition of groups held a congressional briefing to present their views to Senate legislative aides on the issue of conservation compliance and Sodsaver. The briefing, entitled “Conserving Soil, Sod, and Wetlands in the 2012 Farm Bill: the Future of Conservation Compliance and Sodsaver,” examined the need to relink highly Read the Rest…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Examines Commodity Programs
Thursday, March 15th, 2012
On March 15, the Senate Agriculture Committee held its final hearing in preparation for writing the 2012 Farm Bill. The hearing addressed risk management and commodity programs, and included testimony from farmers, crop insurance agents, commodity and farm groups, including: Michael Scuse, USDA Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (Washington DC) Hope Hills, blueberry grower (Michigan) 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…
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: New Budget Baseline
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
An important step in the process of reauthorizing legislation that will include changes in mandatory spending, such as the farm bill, is establishing what the legislation would cost in the future if no changes were made and existing law were simply extended indefinitely. This is known as the budget “baseline” and becomes the yardstick that Read the Rest…
