Just over a year ago, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. The IRA invested nearly $20 billion in climate-friendly agriculture practices. As an organization that represents small and midsized-farmers across the nation, it is difficult to overstate the transformative potential of this funding to support all farmers in building vibrant and productive farms that can contribute to a climate-resilient future. As Congress inches toward Farm Bill reauthorization, this post highlights 5 key things to know about the IRA’s $20 billion investment in climate-friendly agriculture. … Read More →
NSAC Heads to the Rockies – A Summer Meeting Recap
This year’s NSAC Summer Meeting was held last week in sunny (although unusually rainy) Boulder, Colorado. More than 100 members and NSAC staff from across the country gathered at the foothills of the Rockies to re-energize and strategize ahead of the upcoming Farm Bill reauthorization. Summer Meeting is one of two annual opportunities when NSAC’s nearly 150 member organizations come together in person to discuss the Coalition’s policy and grassroots priorities for the year. At more than 5,000 feet above sea level and with its endless opportunities for outdoor adventure and good food, Boulder was the perfect backdrop to get down to coalition business. … Read More →
USDA Announces $300 Million in Awards to Support Access to Land, Capital, and Markets for Beginning and Undeserved Farmers
This month, the USDA Farm Service Agency announced more than $300 million in awards to 50 projects focused on increasing underserved farmers and ranchers’ access to land, markets, and capital. This post details some of the projects that were awarded under the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access (Increasing Land Access) Program (LCM), which funds cooperative agreements or grants for projects that help move underserved producers from surviving to thriving. … Read More →
Guest Post: USDA Discrimination Financial Assistance Program Details for Growers
This is a guest post written by our partners at the Farmers’ Legal Action Group (FLAG). On July 7, 2023, the USDA announced the opening of the USDA Discrimination Financial Assistance Program, authorized by Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). The Farmers’ Legal Action Group has published a Brief Farmers’ Guide to USDA Discrimination Financial Assistance Program, this post outlines key information also available in the free guide…. Read More →
Release: NSAC Celebrates Introduction of Whole Farm Revenue Protection Improvement Act
Today, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced the Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) Program Improvement Act alongside Senators Booker (D-NJ), Fetterman (D-PA), Smith (D-MN), and Welch (D-VT). If incorporated into the 2023 Farm Bill, this bill will expand insurance access to producers historically left out of the federal crop insurance program. Strong bipartisan interest exists to expand voluntary access to crop insurance to include underserved producers. This Act is the moving vehicle to do that…. Read More →
COWS Act Aims to Boost Dairy Profitability and Sustainability
Senators Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today introduced the Converting Our Waste Sustainably (COWS) Act. Representatives Jim Costa (D-CA), David Valadao (R-CA) and Chellie Pingree (D-ME) introduced a companion bill in the House (H.R. 4327).The COWS Act would establish a new federal program aiming to improve economic viability and sustainability for the dairy and livestock industry…. Read More →
A Deep Dive on the Senate’s FY2024 Appropriations Bill
On June 22, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year (FY) 2024 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill in what has become a rare occurrence – unanimous, bipartisan approval. The Senate’s approval of the agriculture bill stood in stark contrast to what transpired in the House Appropriations Committee just a week earlier – an eight plus hour partisan slog that resulted in approval of the House’s FY2024 Agriculture spending bill along party lines. In this post, NSAC takes a closer look at the bill. … Read More →
Comment: NSAC Welcomes Further Investment in Regional Meat Processing By USDA
In response to the announcement of the “Biden-Harris Administration Partners with Agricultural Producers to Promote Competition, Strengthen Food Supply Chain and Rural Economies,” NSAC stated that it welcomes a new round of investment in the local and regional meat processing industry. This investment, through its focus on regional lending, will bring new avenues of growth to rural and urban communities alike. … Read More →
Report illustrates initial success of local food purchasing agreements
In the short time since its inception in 2021, the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program has demonstrated its capacity to create economic opportunities for producers, scale regional supply chains, and deliver healthy, culturally relevant food to those in need. The Wallace Center at Winrock International, an NSAC member, recently released a report highlighting the results of initial research that evaluates the preliminary impact of USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program in communities nationwide. … Read More →
Comment: NSAC Urges Support for Key FY2024 Agricultural Program Spending as Senate Appropriators Respond to House Cuts
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) commented on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s fiscal year 2024 Agriculture appropriations bill, noting that in the shadow of a debt-ceiling deal that put tremendous strain on discretionary spending, Senate Appropriators have crafted a Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Agriculture bill that – while not perfect – is an important bipartisan response to the House’s deep and unnecessary cuts…. Read More →
Farmers on the Hill: Advocates and Farmers Join in Washington DC to Call for Food and Agriculture System Reform in the 2023 Farm Bill
Last week, NSAC hosted farmers, ranchers, and food system advocates from six states, who collectively attended nearly 20 meetings with Congressional offices and USDA officials, to share their stories and call for stronger, better-funded sustainable agriculture programs in the next farm bill…. Read More →
Release: Cynthia Hayes Memorial Scholarship Recognizes Outstanding Leadership in Sustainable Agriculture
The Southeastern African American Farmers’ Organic Network (SAAFON), the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), and Minorities in Agriculture Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) announced the names of three students selected to receive the 2023 Cynthia Hayes Memorial Scholarship. Three students: Zymora Davinchi, Miles Lee, and Rodnisha Owens will each receive $5,000 awards to support their studies and bolster their ongoing efforts to advance racial equity in the food and farm system. … Read More →
Comment: NSAC Celebrates Introduction of the Seeds and Breeds for the Future Act
NSAC celebrates the introduction of the Seeds and Breeds for the Future Act, landmark legislation that supports the resilience and innovation of American farmers. Greater investment in publicly funded, regionally adapted, seed varieties and animal breeds will supply US farmers and producers with the tools they need to build a more resilient food system in the face of climate change. Public plant and animal breeding programs have encountered shrinking budgets, declining institutional support, increased labor and land costs, and insufficient federal investments…. Read More →
Release: Farmers and Advocates Take the Fight for the Farm Bill to the Capitol
This week, advocates and farmers from across the country came to Washington, DC to champion the federal programs important to them and their communities. Hosted by NSAC, a cohort of farmers, ranchers, and food systems advocates from 6 states met with Congressional leaders and USDA officials to encourage them to prioritize sustainable food and farm needs in the upcoming farm bill and in ongoing program implementation efforts…. Read More →
Waste and Water Woes
This guest post by Michael Happ, Program Associate for Climate and Rural Communities at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, (IATP), discusses how popular conservation programs should focus on small-scale and sustainable farms, not industrial-scale farms…. Read More →
Release: 102 Groups Urge Congress to Choose Farmers over Big Meat in Ag Appropriations Bill
102 groups urge Congress to choose farmers over big meat in Ag Appropriations Bill. The letter calls out an appropriations policy rider as an “unacceptable attack” on the USDA’s ability to ensure fair competition for farmers…. Read More →
Comment: More Than Fifty Food, Farm, and Conservation Organizations Call on Congressional Appropriators to Protect Agriculture Research
A letter was sent on behalf of more than 50 food, farm, conservation, and rural organizations to Congressional Appropriators on June 9, 2023, urging them to protect publicly funded agriculture research, especially funding for USDA’s innovative climate change research.
Who Benefits? A Look at the Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities Preliminary Awards
In February 2022, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) first announced details of its Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities (PCSC). The PCSC is a centerpiece of the Biden Administration’s strategy to help farmers and ranchers address climate change. In late 2022 USDA announced further details about projects, and more recently debuted the Partnerships Network. As the PCSC ramps up in earnest, now is an important moment to take stock of where the program stands and gauge its future promise. … Read More →
What the debt-ceiling deal means for food and agriculture
Over Memorial Day weekend, President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-20) struck a “tentative” deal intended to avoid a catastrophic default on the United States’ debt. In the days since the initial announcement, more details about the deal – now known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, H.R. 3746 – have continued to emerge. As of posting, Congress is expected to pass H.R. 3746 without amendment before June 5, when the Treasury Department would have “insufficient resources to satisfy the government’s obligations.” In this post, NSAC examines several major components of the deal to better understand these impacts, including annual appropriations and the 2023 Farm Bill reauthorization. … Read More →
Following the Money: A Look at the Billions Behind CBO’s Farm Bill Baseline
Every spring, CBO – Congress’s official budgetary scorekeeper – publishes its ten-year projection (or “baseline”) for government spending. CBO’s baseline covers everything funded by the federal government – including farm bill spending. Published most recently on May 12, 2023, CBO’s baseline will be adopted as the official baseline for the 2023 Farm Bill. In this post, NSAC digs into the latest CBO changes to the four largest funding items within the farm bill – Commodity (Title 1), Conservation (Title 2), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, in Title 4), and Crop Insurance (Title 11). It also looks through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA, PL 117-169) spending projections included in CBO’s most recent updates…. Read More →
House FY24 Appropriations Draft Undermines Farmers and Food System
Last week, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee released their proposal to fund the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for fiscal year (FY) 2024. At the Subcommittee markup on May 18, House Agriculture Appropriations Chair Andy Harris (R-MD-01) released the text of the House’s FY 2024 Agriculture Appropriations Bill. … Read More →
The Country’s Largest Climate Change Planning Effort Needs Input from Agricultural Organizations
This guest blog post, authored by Jeanne Merrill, policy consultant representing NSAC on the US EPA’s Farm, Ranch and Rural Communities Advisory Committee, discusses the states and municipalities participating in developing Climate Pollution Reduction Plans under the new Inflation Reduction Act-funded program. This is the first federal program of its kind to support the comprehensive development and implementation of plans aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions…. Read More →
Grazing Lands Awards Bolster Sustainable Conservation Practices
Last month, USDA NRCS announced awards for 49 new projects under the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI). This post gives an overview of the most recent round of cooperative agreements and makes the case for why continuing to fund the GLCI is critical to ensure that all farmers and ranchers with grazing operations can access the resources they need to implement conservation on the land…. Read More →
Comment: NSAC Responds to House Subcommittee Markup of FY 2024 Agriculture Appropriations Bill
NSAC is deeply disappointed to see the initial draft FY 2024 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. There is no surer way to undermine the success of farmers, ranchers, rural communities, and In its current form, this bill represents a consequential step backward for market access, fair competition, climate resilience, equity, and food security…. Read More →