January 14, 2009
Written by Ferd Hoefner, Policy Director of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) The Senate Agriculture Committee held a two and a half hour confirmation hearing with USDA Secretary-nominee Tom Vilsack Wednesday morning in the cavernous auditorium in the Senate office building basement. The session was efficient and without any major fireworks. The former Iowa […]
January 14, 2009
The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition recently presented a set of policy briefing papers to members of President-elect Obama’s Transition Team. The briefing papers lay out SAC’s recommendations for addressing the most urgent priorities of the sustainable agriculture movement. This is second in a series of blog posts that features some of those policy recommendations. All of […]
January 9, 2009
Change is in the Air: A new Congress, a new Administration, and a new National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition! On January 1, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) launched as the new home for grassroots organizations engaged in sustainable agriculture policy at the federal level. NSAC will build upon and integrate the work of the Sustainable […]
January 6, 2009
Jim Worstell has helped farmer groups develop locally-owned, value-added enterprises in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta and many other third world areas. He was a member of the President’s Council on Sustainable Development during the Clinton Administration and has been Director of SAC member group Delta Land & Community since 1995. Everyone is excited about the […]
January 3, 2009
THIS WEEK Payment Limitation Loophole Remains: Sadly, after vetoing the 2008 Farm Bill twice under the banner that it did not include enough reform to commodity programs, the Bush Administration punted on its opportunity to administratively enact real reform. As we reported in the December 19 version of the Weekly Update, USDA issued a press […]
December 23, 2008
The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition recently presented a set of policy briefing papers to members of President-elect Obama’s Transition Team. The briefing papers lay out SAC’s recommendations for addressing the most urgent priorities of the sustainable agriculture movement. This is the first in a series of blog posts that features some of those policy recommendations. All […]
December 20, 2008
THIS WEEK Obama Names Vilsack Secretary of Agriculture: On Wednesday, President-elect Barack Obama officially named former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack as the incoming Secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack, who previously served two terms as the governor of Iowa, has worked most recently as a lawyer in Des Moines since ending his brief 2008 presidential bid in […]
December 15, 2008
Today, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, operating through the Risk Management Agency (RMA), issued a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Community Outreach and Assistance Partnership Program. $3.4 million is available for collaborative outreach, assistance, and training on risk management solutions for socially disadvantaged, limited resource, or traditionally underserved farmers and ranchers who produce priority […]
December 15, 2008
THIS WEEK SAC Members Meet in Memphis! This week SAC members and staff congregated at the St. Columba Retreat Center outside of Memphis to strategize our work with the new Obama Administration, set priorities for the FY 2010 appropriations campaign, and consider future legislative and grassroots advocacy work on new issues such as climate change, […]
December 7, 2008
THIS WEEK Ag Appropriations and Stimulus Bill Timing Problem: As we have often reported, the appropriations process for Fiscal Year 2009 got stuck this summer and has remained stuck through the start of the fiscal year on October 1. Now two months into the fiscal year, the process is beginning to move again. Though the […]