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 […]
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 […]
House Holds Appropriations Hearing on Rural Development
On Thursday morning, March 31, the House Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations held a hearing on Rural Development in Fiscal Year 2012. The hearing started with general remarks from subcommittee members regarding concern about the state of rural America, including a note that USDA Secretary Vilsack previously testified to the Subcommittee that rural America has been […]
Budget Deal in Sight?
According to Vice President Joe Biden, negotiations between the White House and House Republican leadership on Wednesday arrived at an agreement to reduce government spending for FY 2011 to $33 billion below the total for FY 2010 and $73 billion below what President Obama requested for FY 2011. The new number is $3 billion more […]
You’ve Got Mail
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack’s inbox was brimming this week with letters from farmers and advocates for USDA Conservation Programs. Hundreds responded to our action alert calling for letters to the Secretary asking him to stand up for the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Wetlands Reserve Program(WRP). As the Obama Administration negotiates with the House over […]
EPA Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Committee Meets March 29-30
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Farm, Ranch & Rural Communities Committee (FRRCC) meets next Tuesday and Wednesday, March 29-30, at the Sheraton National Hotel in Arlington VA. The 29-member Committee is a Federal Advisory Committee to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, chaired by Dr. Steven Balling with Del Monte Foods. Larry Elworth, the Agricultural Counselor to the […]
More FY 2010 Conservation Program Sign-up Data
The Resource Economics Analysis and Policy (REAP) Division of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently released draft final sign-up data for most USDA conservation programs for fiscal year (FY) 2010. We previously blogged the final FY 2010 sign-up numbers, including state-level data, for the Conservation Stewardship Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Farm and Ranch Lands […]
Chesapeake Bay Conservation Practices Effects Assessment
Last week saw a focus in Washington D.C. on the Chesapeake Bay Region’s water quality and agriculture. On Tuesday, March 15, USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) released a report entitled Assessment of the Effects of Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland in the Chesapeake Bay Region. The report is one a series of regional assessments […]
House Agriculture Subcommittee Criticizes EPA Action on Chesapeake Bay
Last Wednesday, March 16, the Subcommittee on Conservation, Energy, and Forestry of the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing on President Obama’s Executive Order for achieving improvements using the Clean Water Act to the water quality in watersheds in the Chesapeake Bay Region. The Order directed EPA to establish a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) […]
Voice of Reason
*Action Alert* You already know that if the House gets its way programs that are building a healthier, more just, and environmentally sustainable food and farming system will get thrown under the bus. But guess what? The Obama Administration appears ready to propose even deeper cuts to conservation programs than the Republican House! Someone has […]
ATTRA Loses Its Funding at Least Temporarily
One very distressing casualty of the continuing series of Continuing Resolutions that are keeping the government open but cutting funding week by week is the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service, known as ATTRA. ATTRA’s $2.8 million was cut entirely in H.R. 1, the House-passed full-year Continuing Resolution from mid-February and that proposed program termination was […]
Congress Passes 3-Week Budget Extension
On Thursday, March 17, the Senate passed a three-week continuing resolution, which extends fiscal year (FY) 2010 federal funding levels until April 8. The House passed companion legislation on Tuesday, March 15, so the bill will now go to the President’s desk for his signature. As we reported in an earlier blog post, the three-week […]
USDA’s First Organic Farming Systems Research Conference
On March 16-18, USDA held its first ever Organic Farming Systems Research Conference to explore the agronomic, economic, ecological, and social dimensions of organic farming. The Conference participants included researchers, policymakers, farmers, ranchers and others interested in sharing information on organic farming systems research and shaping the future of organic research, with an emphasis on […]