On Monday, October 24, NSAC joined with 115 other organizations across the country on a sign-on letter to Congress, to advocate for federal programs and policies that would support beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers, including tribal producers and farmworkers.
The letter was delivered to members of both the Senate and House Agriculture Committees, as they continue farm bill deliberations in advance of their November 1st deadline to deliver policy recommendations to the Super Committee.
In the letter, NSAC and the other organizations urge the Agriculture Committees to provide long-term protection and continued funding to a critical subset of small programs and offices charged with serving the most chronically underserved segments of agriculture. These policy priorities represent a fraction of the full agriculture budget but are the lifeblood of the sustainable agriculture community, beginning, socially disadvantaged and veteran producers, and farmworkers.
Some of the top priorities that were highlighted in the letter include:
- reauthorizing the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program;
- support for the Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Program;
- reauthorizing the Conservation Reserve Program-Transition Incentives Program;
- reauthorizing the Value Added Producer Grants Program;
- support for the Office of Tribal Relations Program and the Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Program;
- continued funding for the Grants to Improve the Agricultural Labor Workforce Program;
- amending the Emergency Disaster Grants for Farmworkers program to include increase funding support;
- strengthening the Office of Advocacy and Outreach to improve the ability of USDA to offer equitable access to federal programs; and
- increasing authorized levels for Direct and Guaranteed FSA loans in order to meet the unmet demand for these loans.
To see a copy of the letter, please click here.