>ACTION ALERT REMINDER   Act Now to Shut Down Multimillion Dollar Farm Subsidy Loophole! The 2008 Farm Bill handed President Obama and USDA Secretary Vilsack a rare opportunity to close one of the biggest payment limit loopholes in current regulations. The nation’s largest farms collect unlimited annual production subsidies under rules that permit payments to […]

Written by Ferd Hoefner, NSAC Policy Director Three Senators reversed their previous positions in support of farm program subsidy reform, providing the deciding votes to defeat a subsidy reform amendment offered in Senate Budget Committee by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and backed by President Obama and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. Last year, all three — […]

ACTION NEEDED Act Now to Shut Down Multimillion Dollar Farm Subsidy Loophole! The 2008 Farm Bill handed President Obama and USDA Secretary Vilsack a rare opportunity to close one of the biggest payment limit loopholes in current regulations. The nation’s largest farms collect unlimited annual production subsidies under rules that permit payments to those who […]

Written by Ariane Lotti, NSAC Policy Associate As advocates we often ask ourselves, “Do our efforts change things on the ground?” Leaders and participants of a strong grassroots effort to change the ground on the White House lawn can now say, “Yes!” Our hats go off to the folks at Eat the View, the WHO […]

Photo: At this year’s Organic Conference in LaCrosse, WI, Tom Frantzen and his wife Irene were named MOSES 2009 Organic Farmers of the Year.  The Frantzens manage a diversified farm in New Hampton, Iowa where they grow crops for animal feed on 300 tillable acres, and sell soybeans as a cash crop.  Their farrow-to-finish hog […]

Posted by Martha Noble, NSAC’s Senior Policy Analyst On Tuesday, March 10, the Natural Resources Conservation Service,(NRCS) issued a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI), one of NSAC’s priority issues from the 2008 Farm Bill. The RFA is posted here. The Initiative provides farmers and ranchers with project-based conservation program […]

ACTION NEEDED! The EQIP Comment Deadline Fast Approaching: You have until March 16th to tell USDA how to make EQIP work better for sustainable and organic farmers.  As the Bush Administration left office, they issued an interim final rule to implement the 2008 Farm Bill changes to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).  The interim […]

ACTION NEEDED! Tell USDA to Make EQIP Work for Sustainable and Organic Farmers: As the Bush Administration left office, they issued an interim final rule to implement the 2008 Farm Bill changes to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).  The interim rule has very substantial problems that need to be fixed, and the public comment […]