We are delighted to report the proposed House bill to extend the current farm bill by a year that we have campaigned against since it was hastily introduced last week has been pulled and will not be considered. Elsewhere we have reported on all the huge negative ramifications that bill would have had. We now […]
Archives for July 2012
House and Senate Leaders Agree to Extend FY 2012 Funding Levels
On Tuesday, July 31, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced that the House and Senate had reached a deal on a six-month continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded at FY 2012 levels through March. It has been reported that the CR will be a “clean extension,” […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Local Food Marker Bill: Where Are We Now?
Last fall, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) introduced the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act to create jobs and spur economic development through food and farms. This bill funds and improves critical programs that create economic opportunities for farmers, support local and regional food systems, and improve food access for all. […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Beginning Farmer Marker Bill: Where Are We Now?
Last fall, Senator Harkin (D-IA) and Representatives Fortenberry (R-NE) and Walz (D-MN) introduced the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act to invest in the next generation of American farmers. This bill funds and improves critical programs that provide training, outreach, and technical assistance for new farmers and ranchers. As a marker bill, it’s not intended […]
Groups Oppose House Farm Bill Extension in Letter to Speaker
On July 30, 2012, NSAC joined 12 other national conservation groups in sending a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner opposing the House farm bill extension and arguing instead for a full five-year farm bill re-authorization this year. “We are writing on behalf of our millions of members to convey our strong and unified […]
Action Alert: A Dirty Trick
Dear Supporter, Across the nation, farmers’ livelihoods are withering in an intense, record-breaking drought.* Congress could be doing something about this right now – they could be passing the 2012 Farm Bill, which funds critical disaster assistance programs that are our farmers and ranchers’ safety net in times like these. But are they working to […]
Path AWAY from a 2012 Farm Bill: Pending House Extension Dooms Farm Bill Programs
For the past two days we have reported on the surprise move by the House Republican leadership to pull the rug out from under the 2012 Farm Bill. Rather than complete its business by taking the farm bill reported out of the House Agriculture Committee to the floor and then to conference with the Senate-passed […]
House Farm Bill Extension Would Hurt Farmers and Economy, Undermine Conservation Efforts
On Friday, July 27, the House Rules Committee posted the text of a one-year extension to the 2008 Farm Bill. In our earlier post, we noted that we strongly oppose a clean extension of the Farm Bill, given that the bill would allow many critical programs expire. Unfortunately, the bill posted on the Rules Committee […]
Congress Mulls Continuing Resolution, Sends Sequestration Bill to the President
As the highly contorted farm bill process continues to unfold, Congress is simultaneously working in abnormal ways to address important budget and appropriations matters. Neither the full House nor the full Senate has yet to pass an agriculture appropriations bill for FY 2013. Both chambers did, however, begin to address the looming matter of budget […]
NSAC Comments on House Farm Bill Extension Bill
For Immediate Release July 27, 2012 Contact: Ferd Hoefner, 202-547-5754 NSAC Comments on House Farm Bill Extension Bill NSAC vehemently opposes the dirty extension bill filed today by House majority leadership. Passage of this bill would ensure there is no action this year on the 2012 Farm Bill. It prevents agricultural reform from happening. It […]
“Plain Language” Guide to Farm Service Agency Loans
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has issued a “plain language” guide to applying for FSA loans and FSA loan servicing entitled Your Guide to FSA Loans. USDA was required to issue the guide as a part of the settlement in the case Keepseagle v. Vilsack. This case was a class action lawsuit brought in 1999 by […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Moves Toward Extension Rather than Reform
With daily national press accounts on the serious drought affecting substantial segments of the heartland as backdrop, the House Republican leadership decided this week to use the drought as a cover story for extending the current farm bill for a year rather than passing a new farm bill with substantial reforms. NSAC opposes extending the […]
NSAC Comments on FSA Microloan Proposal
On Tuesday, July 24th, the public comment period closed on the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) proposed rule to modify their Farm Operating Loans program to include microloans in order to better address the needs of very small and beginning family farmers. FSA — a USDA agency in charge of federal credit and other agricultural programs — […]
USDA Expands Emergency Haying and Grazing in CRP and WRP
On July 24, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced additional efforts to assist farmers and ranchers affected by the continuing drought. Vilsack has taken measures to create and encourage flexibility for grazing and haying on lands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). […]
USDA Begins Highly Erodible Land Initiative Enrollment
USDA began today to enroll producers in a new Highly Erodible Land Initiative aimed at conserving the most erodible soil across the country. The sign up period will last until the Initiative’s 750,000-acre enrollment cap has been met. The Initiative will be administered through the Conservation Reserve Program’s continuous sign up, meaning that producers can […]
NSAC Briefs House Members on Conservation and Crop Insurance
On Friday, July 20, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition joined with the National Wildlife Federation, American Farmland Trust, and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership to brief more than 30 House legislative aides on the importance of attaching basic conservation requirements to crop insurance subsidies. The briefing, entitled “Preserving soil and wetlands through the farm safety net: a […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Jockeying Continues
The future of the 2012 Farm Bill remains unclear. While many members of Congress, and agriculture, environment, and advocacy groups have repeatedly called for the farm bill to be brought to the House floor, leadership continues to stonewall the effort. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor apparently do not plan give […]
EPA Ducks Responsibility to Gather Information on CAFOs
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it is withdrawing a proposed Clean Water Act regulation that would have required Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) to report basic information to EPA. The information is necessary to ensure that CAFOs properly handle their waste to avoid water pollution. When Congress enacted the Clean Water in […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Agriculture Bill Includes Anti-Farmer, Anti-Environment Riders
The House Agriculture Committee farm bill that passed out of committee early yesterday morning includes a number of anti-regulatory riders. As we previously reported, the House mark included three riders before Committee markup began. The mark includes a provision that significantly weakens USDA’s ability to regulate the use of genetically engineered (GE) organisms. The provision […]
Path to 2012 Farm Bill: Appeal to House Leadership
On July 13, NSAC joined 45 national farm, commodity, financial, conservation, rural, religious, and research organizations to send a letter to the House leadership urging them to schedule floor consideration of the House Agriculture Committee’s version of the farm bill. The current farm bill is set to expire September 30, 2012 and without a guarantee […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Boehner Still Hedging His Bets on Farm Bill
The House Agriculture Committee approved its farm bill at 1 am Thursday morning with a bipartisan vote of 35-11. The next steps for the bill are uncertain, however, as Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) today again refused to guarantee it any floor time before the authorizations expire Sept. 30. Journalists at Politico and […]
For Immediate Release: NSAC Comments on House Agriculture Committee Markup and Passage
For Immediate Release July 12, 2012 Contact: Ferd Hoefner, 202-547-5754 NSAC Comments on House Agriculture Committee Markup and Passage Washington, DC – The House Agriculture Committee voted a new farm bill out of committee early this morning by a vote of 35-11. The bill is projected to generate $35 billion in savings over the next […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: NSAC Assessment of House Committee-Passed Bill
In an earlier post we provided highlights and lowlights of the House Agriculture Committee one-day markup of their version of the 2102 Farm Bill, including a rundown of sustainable agriculture amendments passed and defeated. Here we turn to an assessment of the bill overall. Still to come is a piece discussing possible next steps in […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Agriculture Committee Debates and Passes Its Farm Bill
After a full-day marathon markup that started on Wednesday morning and went into the early hours of Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee passed its version of the 2012 Farm Bill by a vote of 35-11. Seven Democrats and four Republicans voted against the bill. The Republicans who voted against the bill did so based on […]