This week, USDA issued a Final Rule that requires meatpackers to report information on wholesale pork transactions under the Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act. The rule is set to take effect on January 7, 2013, but USDA will have an additional four months to train meatpackers in meeting the requirements of the reporting program. As enacted in […]
USDA Announces Awards Targeted at Socially Disadvantaged Producers
On Wednesday, August 8th, USDA announced $19 million in grants that will support outreach and technical assistance projects aimed at socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including Hispanic, tribal, African-American, and women producers. These grants were awarded through USDA’s Outreach and Technical Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Program, also known as the 2501 Outreach […]
USDA Approves Ohio Program for Interstate Shipment of State-Inspected Meat and Poultry
On August 9, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced Ohio as the first state to receive approval for the interstate shipment of state-inspected meat and poultry products under a cooperative federal-state inspection program created by the 2008 Farm Bill. Prior to establishment of this Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, state-inspected meat and poultry products could not […]
USDA Awards Rural Energy for America Program Grants and Loans
On August 14, USDA announced the award of nearly $8.7 million in FY2012 funding for Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) loans and grants for 106 renewable energy system and energy efficiency projects on farms and rural businesses in 29 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. The funding also included an award of $59,365 to Washington […]
Glickman, Moseley Urge Conservation Compliance in Farm Bill
On Thursday, August 2, two former senior-level Administration officials penned an op-ed in The Hill urging Congress to reattach basic soil and wetland conservation requirements to federal crop insurance premium subsidies. Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Bill Clinton, and Jim Moseley, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture under President George W. […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Passes Stand-Alone Disaster Bill
On Thursday, August 2, the House of Representatives passed a stand-alone disaster bill by a vote of 223 to 197. Thirty-five Democrats voted for the bill, while 46 Republicans voted against the measure. The bill would cut $639 million from two conservation programs — the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program — […]
One Year Farm Bill Extension Pulled, New Bill Being Prepared
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 […]
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 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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Path to 2012 Farm Bill: House Markup Looms
The House Agriculture Committee will debate and vote on its version of the 2012 Farm Bill tomorrow, Wednesday July 11. It is now widely expected that the House Agriculture Committee “mark-up” of the 2012 Farm Bill will take less than a day, rather than the normal multi-day process. The markup will begin at 10 AM […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Funding Decisions Loom Large for New Farmers, Rural Communities, Local Food
Program funding decisions are always front and center in farm bill debates. Generally, most of the attention goes to the big money titles — nutrition, crop insurance, commodity programs, and conservation. Though smaller programs for beginning farmers, rural economic development, renewable energy, organic agriculture, and healthy food get less attention, those funding choices are nonetheless […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Draft House Farm Bill Drilldown
On July 5, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) released their draft farm bill ahead of the House Agriculture Committee’s farm bill markup scheduled for next week beginning Wednesday, July 11. The bill generates $35 billion in savings by cutting over $16 billion from nutrition programs and more than $6 billion […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Draft House Farm Bill Highlights
On July 5, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) released their draft farm bill ahead of the House Agriculture Committee’s farm bill markup scheduled for next week beginning Wednesday, July 11. The bill generates $35 billion in savings by cutting over $16 billion from nutrition programs and more than $6 billion […]