Earlier this year, USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) posted the Fiscal Year 2010 awards for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). Five of the six AFRI award categories focus on integrated solutions to five “societal challenge areas”: Childhood Obesity Prevention, Climate Change, Food Safety, Global Food Security, and Sustainable Bioenergy. The […]
Archives for April 2011
Congress Releases Draft 6-Month Continuing Resolution
In the early morning of Tuesday, April 12, Congress released a draft of the 6-month continuing resolution (CR), agreed to by House and Senate Democrats and Republicans late last night. The CR would cut $42 billion relative to FY 2010 levels for non-defense spending, but couples that with a $4 billion increase in defense spending, […]
National Agricultural Landscapes Forum in Review
On Thursday and Friday, April 7-8, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), along with the Farm Foundation and American Farmland Trust, presented a two-day forum on landscape integrity and water security in the 21st century. As outlined in an earlier blog post, the National Agricultural Landscapes Forum followed a series five public meetings to gather […]
USDA Extends EQIP Organic Initiative Sign-up for FY 2011
On Monday, April 11, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced an additional sign up for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program’s (EQIP) Organic Initiative for 2011. Certified Organic and Transitioning-to-Organic producers will now have until May 20, 2011 to sign up for the Organic Initiative for this ranking period. While applications for the program are […]
What We Know and Don’t Know on the Budget
We have delayed publishing an update on the fiscal year 2011 appropriations and fiscal year 2012 budget bills several times in the past week due to a lack of detailed information emanating from Capitol Hill. Now, with the government shutdown averted just after midnight last night, we understand (from the many emails received!) that readers […]
Farmers Defend Conservation and Sustainable Agriculture Programs
As Congress worked to reach a budget deal and avoid a government shutdown this week, more than 30 farmers and farm advocates from NSAC member groups in 18 states spread out over Capitol Hill to defend conservation and sustainable agriculture programs from reckless spending cuts. The message was delivered to key members of the Agriculture, […]
Final Subcommittee Assignments for Senate Agriculture Committee Announced
Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, Senator Debbie Stabenow, and Ranking Member, Senator Pat Roberts, announced assignments for the Committee’s five subcommittees for the 112th Congress this week. A list of the Chair and Ranking Member for each subcommittee follows: Subcommittee on Commodities, Markets, Trade and Risk Management Chairman: Bill Nelson […]
Senate and House Action on Legislation to Limit EPA Regulation of GHGs
On Wednesday, April 8, the Senate rejected four legislative riders that would have limited EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. The riders were offered for attachment to a small business bill. The amendment offered by Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and James Inhofe (R-OK) came closest to passing by a […]
House Agriculture Subcommittee Hearing on the Beef Industry
On Wednesday, April 6, the House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy & Poultry held a hearing on the state of the beef industry. The hearing panel was limited to a Vice-President of Cargill and two officers of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), Jim Strickland and Anne Burkholder. Not surprisingly, given NCBA’s opposition, all […]
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Leadership Testifies at House Appropriations Hearing
On Tuesday, April 5, Harris Sherman, USDA Undersecretary of Natural Resources and Environment, and Dave White, Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies. The hearing focused on the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2012 budget, which proposes deep […]
Guest Post: LSP Letter to USDA on Conservation
Mark Schultz, the Policy and Organizing Director for Minnesota-based Land Stewardship Project, an NSAC member organization, recently sent the following letter to USDA Secretary Vilsack in response to the Obama Administration’s proposal to Congress to slash federal farm conservation program spending. The letter was subsequently posted on the LSP website, and we reprint it here […]
FY 11 Appropriation Bill Remains Stalled as Deadline Approaches
Despite meetings at the White House this morning and back on Capitol Hill this afternoon, the principals in the negotiations over the Continuing Resolution to fund the government for the last 6 months of fiscal year (FY) 2011 remain stalled. By all accounts, a meeting at the White House this morning with Hill leaders made […]
Appointments to Minority Farmer Advisory Committee Announced
On March 24 USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced appointments for the Agency’s new Minority Farmer Advisory Committee. Authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill, the Committee will make recommendations to Vilsack on outreach and assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including increased participation in USDA programs and program and policy recommendations. The appointees, who will […]
Urgent: Act Today to Protect Conservation Funding
Senator Schumer urgently needs to hear from you today — before it’s too late! On Sunday, the number three ranking Democrat in the Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, went on national TV to tell the country that Senate Democrats want to cut mandatory spending from the 2008 Farm Bill farm programs. The only cuts […]
154 Groups Deliver Letter Opposing “Riders” to Appropriations Bill
More than 150 national organizations, including NSAC, delivered a letter to both Senate and White House leadership on Friday, April 1, opposing the attachment of non-germane legislative amendments, or “riders,” to the fiscal year (FY) 2011 appropriations bill, which Congress is likely to vote on next week. The same letter was sent to Senate Majority […]
Farm Bill Debate Starts with 2011 Funding Bill
While most commentaries on the 2012 Farm Bill treat it, quite logically, as a coming attraction, in many key respects the battle is already joined. Understanding why that is the case requires some insight into the strange world of congressional budgeting. The Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 appropriations bill that Congress and the Administration are trying […]
House Passes Bill to Limit EPA Authority While Senate Considers EPA Amendments
On Thursday, March 31, the House of Representatives passed the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act of 2011 (H.R. 872), a bill that would prohibit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from requiring entities to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Eliminations System (NPDES) permit for the application of pesticides near navigable waters, so long as they are […]
Attend the National Conference on Rural Wealth Creation and Livelihoods in October
The Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Ford Foundation are convening a National Conference and Conversation on Rural Wealth Creation and Livelihoods, October 3 – 5, 2011, in Washington, D.C. This conference will bring together researchers, practitioners and policy-makers who are working on regional and rural development issues to […]
EPA Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Committee Meeting
On March 29 and 30, the EPA Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Committee met in Arlington VA. The Committee overseen by EPA Agricultural Counselor Larry Elworth is a federal advisory committee to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson on agricultural issues relevant to EPA. Administrator Jackson has requested that in 2010-2011 the Committee focus on agriculture and […]
CAFO Litigation Update
Michigan Court Rules State Can Require CAFO Permits Before a Spill On Tuesday, March 29, the Michigan Court of Appeals in the case Michigan Farm Bureau v. Department of Environmental Quality upheld Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Rule 2196. That Rule requires a CAFO to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit […]
Spanish Edition of NSAC’s Grassroots Guide to the 2008 Farm Bill
A result of a coordinated effort between NSAC and the Agriculture and Land-Base Training Association, the Spanish Edition of the Grassroots Guide to the 2008 Farm Bill is now available to download from our website. The Spanish edition of the Guide walks you through seven of the 2008 Farm Bill programs important to sustainable agriculture. […]
Farm Bill Over?
BREAKING: A Budget deal reached as soon as Monday will shape the future of farm conservation programs into the next decade! This is a critical moment. The White House and House Republican leadership are negotiating a budget deal that would effectively rewrite the next Farm Bill now by taking a huge bite out of Farm […]