March 12, 2010
We are excited to have Sarah Brown, beginning farmer at Diggin’ Roots Farm in Milwaukee, Oregon write a reflection on her experience at NSAC’s beginning farmer fly-in and Drake University’s Forum last week. If you, like Sarah, have suggestions for federal policies to support beginning farmers and ranchers, please email them to us at beginningfarmer(at)sustainableagriculture.net. […]
March 10, 2010
Appropriations season is in full swing in Washington, and appropriators are deciding which programs to fund and which to cut. Hearings on funding levels for 2011 are occurring almost daily, as the House and Senate Appropriations Committees begin the annual process that generally results in markups in late spring, floor votes in the summer, and […]
March 9, 2010
Please join the more than 60 organizations who have signed on to our letter urging Secretary Vilsack to make critical improvements to the Conservation Stewardship (CSP) Program and to initiate a 2010 Sign Up as soon as possible. The letter urges Secretary Vilsack to: • ensure that the program effectively rewards sustainable and organic farming systems • […]
March 8, 2010
Has the FDA’s experiment with self-policing failed? This was the question posed by Marc Ambinder, Politics Editor at The Atlantic, at the Food Summit hosted by The Atlantic Monthly on March 4. Ambinder noted that until the spinach, pet food, and baby formula scares in 2006, 2007, and 2008, funding for the FDA during the […]
March 5, 2010
At last Saturday’s Pheasants Fest in Des Moines Iowa, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced there will a general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) this year, the first general sign-up since 2006. In testimony before Congress last year USDA indicated there would not be a general sign-up this year, so this week’s announcement represents […]
March 1, 2010
USDA published a notice of $5 million in grant funds available through the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) in today’s March 1 edition of the Federal Register. NSAC and the Wallace Center developed this program and NSAC championed it in the 2002 Farm Bill. FMPP grants vary in size from $2,500 to $100,000 and do […]
March 1, 2010
On Friday, February 26, Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced the Farm to School Improvements Act of 2010 (HR 4710), which would provide the USDA with $10 million a year for a competitive grants program to fund projects linking producers with the school lunch program. The proposed legislation’s goal is to improve nutrition in schools while […]
March 1, 2010
Today’s federal register announced the availability of $2.5 million in grants for the Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) Community Outreach and Assistance Partnership Program and $1.1 million for Commodity Partnerships for Small Agricultural Risk Management Education Sessions. The Community Outreach and Assistance Partnership Program targets limited resource, socially disadvantaged and other traditionally underserved producers with training, […]
February 26, 2010
ACTION ALERT Help Make the Next Generation of Biofuels Sustainable! COMMENTS TO USDA’S FARM SERVICE AGENCY ON THE NEW BIOMASS CROP ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ARE DUE APRIL 9, 2010 The 2008 Farm Bill included a new program to provide incentives to farmers and foresters for the production of energy efficient and resource conserving bioenergy crops. Congress […]