The USDA announced Wednesday that almost $3.5 million will be available for the Small Socially Disadvantaged Producer Grant program (SSDPG) which provides competitive grant funds for cooperatives or an association of cooperatives to provide technical assistance to socially disadvantaged, small-scale producers. Applications are due by July 27, 2010. Applicants may propose projects up to $200,000 […]
Archives for April 2010
NRCS Funding Available for Great Lakes Conservation
The Environmental Protection Agency has provided USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) with $34 million to provide additional FY2010 funding to Farm Bill conservation programs in selected watersheds of the eight Great Lake states. The funding is provided under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a collaboration of federal agencies, state and local governments, tribes, businesses, […]
USDA Rural Energy Grant and Loan Applications Open
USDA’s Rural Development Agency has announced that it is taking applications for Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants and guaranteed loans. A total of $87 million is available in FY2010 for projects to develop and/or construct renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements. Applications for REAP grants and guaranteed loans must be received by […]
NRCS Funding for Farm Energy Audits and Plans
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced an initiative to use $2 million in FY2010 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding to help farmers and ranchers conserve energy and reduce energy costs. Farmers and ranchers may apply for the funding in the following 29 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, […]
Farm Bill 2012: Additional Field Hearings Scheduled
Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) described last Wednesday’s House Agriculture Committee Hearing on the Farm Bill as “two-and-a-half hours to kick off two-and-a-half years.” The hearing was the first of Committee Chairman Collin Peterson’s (D-MN) meetings to get a head start on planning for the next Farm Bill, scheduled for completion in 2012. Over the past […]
New NSAC Guide to USDA funding for Food Systems
This week, NSAC is launching a new tool to help producers, community-based organizations, local governments, and other groups who are engaged in work to develop their local or regional food system. The Guide to USDA Funding for Local and Regional Food Systems seeks to de-mystify some of the federal grant programs most likely to be […]
Groups Urge Ag Funding Fairness
More than 100 national, regional, state and local groups have signed on to a letter urging President Obama to pay for proposed increases in child nutrition and to settle long standing claims stemming from systemic discrimination in USDA programs without cutting critical conservation programs. The letter circulated by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the Rural […]
Hungry for a Better School Lunch?
ACTION ALERT! You Can Help Put Local, Fresh and Healthy Food on School Lunch Trays Call Your Senators and Representative Today!! For many of America’s children, school lunch is the most important meal of their day— making up a third of their daily nutritional intake. As rates of childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes skyrocket, […]
And We’re Off: Farm Bill 2012
Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) described Wednesday’s House Agriculture Committee Hearing on the Farm Bill as “two-and-a-half hours to kick off two-and-a-half years.” The hearing was the first of Committee Chairman Collin Peterson’s (D-MN) meetings to get a head start on planning for the next Farm Bill, scheduled for completion in 2012. Over the past […]
Conservation Stewardship Program Update
This post provides some basic updates on the status of the nearly completed 2009 sign-up as well as the upcoming 2010 version of the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). 2009 Sign-up Nearing Completion Despite sign-up coming late in the year and being rushed, some 21,000 farmers and ranchers applied to enroll 33 million acres in the […]
Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative Applications Open
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is taking applications for the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) until May 27, 2010. The full Request for Proposals can be found here. The CCPI allows NRCS to partner with eligible organizations to provide financial and technical assistance to owners and operators of agricultural and nonindustrial private forest lands. […]
Choices Magazine Unpacks Local Food
The latest issue of Choices Magazine, a publication of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, features seven articles centered around perspectives, prospects, and policy involved with local food systems. The first two articles focus on perceptions and definitions of local food, the next two focus on challenges and opportunities to expand the market, and the […]
Call for Nominations to Minority Farmer Advisory Committee
Yesterday’s Federal Register announced the call for nominations to the Minority Farmer Advisory Committee, organized by the Office of Advocacy and Outreach at the USDA. The Secretary will select no more than 15 committee members including at least four socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers, two nonprofit representatives and two representatives from colleges or universities with […]
NSAC Announces Farm and Agriculture Resources for the Media (FARM) Project
We’re excited to announce the launch of FARM (Farm & Agriculture Resources for Media), a NSAC project that champions the voice of sustainable agriculture by providing media training and tools for farmers. FARM includes a new three-part NSAC toolkit that helps farmers share their personal and authentic story and strengthen their media connections. The three […]
Research Grants Drilldown: Organic Research within AFRI
This is the fourth in a series of articles drilling down into some sections of the six Request for Applications (RFAs) recently released by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for the 2010 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). Check out the third post about Climate Change and Conventional Breeding. Over the course […]
Anti-CAFO Activist Wins Goldman Environmental Prize
NSAC offers heartfelt congratulations to Lynn Henning, a southern Michigan farmer who has been awarded the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize for U.S. grassroots environmental activism. The Prize is recognition of Lynn’s unstinting work in exposing the impacts of pollution from large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), especially mega-dairies, in her southern Michigan community and across […]
Proposed Rule Defines Geographic Preference Option for Child Nutrition
In an important step forward for local purchasing by federal nutrition programs, the USDA today released a proposed rule on a geographic preference option that would allow institutions who receive federal Child Nutrition funds to give extra points to unprocessed locally grown or raised products in the procurement process. The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will […]
Senators Chide Administration on “Actively Engaged”
A bi-partisan group of Senators sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday criticizing the Administration’s loose interpretation of “active personal management” in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) final rule on farm program payment limitations, released on January 7, 2010. Senators Tim Johnson(D-SD), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John Barrasso (R-WY) […]
Senate Food Safety Bill Includes Improvements That Support Farmers
UPDATE: The food safety bill (S 510) was supposed to go to the full Senate next week, but as of Thursday, April 15, we have heard that the timing is being pushed back a week or two because the Senate will instead be debating finance reform. The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) would provide […]
Research Grants Drilldown: Conventional Breeding and Climate Adaptation
This is the third in a series of articles drilling down into some sections of the six Request for Applications (RFAs) recently released by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for the 2010 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). Check out the second post about Integrated Projects on Local and Regional Food Systems. […]
Study Supports Crop Insurance Reform
A study by Milliman Inc., released by the USDA last Friday April 2, determined that the return on equity for crop insurers in the Federal Crop Insurance Program was 26.4 percent in 2009, well above the reasonable rate of return for 2009, 10.7 percent. National Crop Insurance Services responded to the study on Monday, criticizing […]
New SARE Handbook on Multifarm CSAs
This Monday, April 5, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE) released a handbook on cooperative marketing for community supported agriculture farms (CSAs). The 130-page manual gives concrete details on strategies for forming and maintaining a multifarm CSA, including advice on staffing, volunteer boards, distribution, and legal topics. Local Harvest: A Multifarm CSA Handbook […]
Research Grants Drilldown: Integrated projects on Sustainable Food Systems
This is the second in a series of articles drilling down into some sections of the six Request for Applications (RFAs) recently released by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for the 2010 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). Check out the first post about Small and Medium-Sized Farms and Rural Community Prosperity. […]
Research Grants Drilldown: Small and Medium Farms and Rural Communities
This is the first in a series of articles drilling down into some sections of the six Request for Applications (RFAs) recently released by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) for the 2010 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI).Look out over the course of this week for more information on other opportunities in […]