This summer, farm and food advocates have more on their minds than just vacation planning and sweet corn picking. Even though the current farm bill doesn’t expire until next September, the content of the 2018 Farm Bill is already being debated in the halls of Congress, on the farm, and in homes across the country. […]
NSAC’S Blog
Federal Reserve Puts Its Money on Regional Food Systems
The Federal Reserve, better known for setting the nation’s monetary policy than promoting locally-grown produce, released a book this week celebrating the growing local and regional farm and food sectors as key drivers of economic and community development. Harvesting Opportunity: The Power of Regional Food System Investments to Transform Communities, produced by the Federal Reserve […]
What Should You Know About FSMA Water Requirements?
Anyone growing produce has probably heard by now that the first produce farms subject to FDA’s new regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act will have to come into compliance in 2018. Compliance dates for farms are staggered based on size, with the largest farms coming into compliance in 2018, small farms in 2019, and […]
Conservation Compliance is a Key Thread in Farm Safety Net
In order to be eligible for most federal farm programs, including the taxpayer subsidized federal crop insurance program, farmers whose land includes highly erodible areas or wetlands must adhere to specific conservation requirements. These requirements, known collectively as conservation compliance, are in place to ensure that our shared natural resources have a minimum level of […]
Senate Agriculture Committee Tackles Farm Bill Heavy Hitters: Commodities, Credit, and Crop Insurance
Yesterday, Senate Agriculture Committee hunkered down for an epic farm bill hearing, during which 17 witnesses gave testimony on three of the bill’s most significant titles – the Commodity Title (Title I), Credit Title (Title V), and Risk Management Title (Title XI). Witnesses at the hearing included representatives from commodity groups, banks, general farm organizations, […]
Best Practices for Sustaining Public Plant Breeding
Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog by Kristina Hubbard, Director of Advocacy and Communications with NSAC member group, Organic Seed Alliance (OSA). OSA attended the Intellectual Property Rights for Public Plant Breeding Summit last year, and works independently as well as with NSAC on public plant breeding policy. Public plant breeding programs, as their […]
Increased State Funding for FSMA Produce Rule
Now that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new food safety rules have been finalized and the compliance clocks have begun ticking, one of most common questions we hear at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is: Who is going to be enforcing these new rules on farms, and how? While many of the details […]
Senate Appropriators Prioritize Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development
Following closely on the heels of the House Agriculture Appropriation Subcommittee’s funding bill, which was approved by the full House Appropriations Committee last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced its agriculture appropriations funding measure for fiscal year (FY) 2018. The Senate bill moved quickly through the Subcommittee and full Committee approval process, with just […]
$15 Million Awarded for Wetland Conservation Projects
Wetland Reserve Easements, like those funded as part of the Wetland Reserve Enhancement Partnership (WREP), provide private landowners with the resources they need to help protect and conserve vulnerable wetlands. Funding from WREP enables landowners to reduce the impact of flooding, enhance and conserve wildlife habitat, improve groundwater quality, and create space for outdoor recreational […]
NCR-SARE Honors Sustainability Heroes, NSAC Senior Strategic Advisor
We need a hero! You won’t catch the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s (NSAC) Senior Strategic Advisor Ferd Hoefner riding a tractor to victory the way Kevin Bacon did in Footloose, but you will find him working hard every day for America’s family farmers and food producers. Ferd was recently awarded the North Central Region Sustainable […]
House Budget Committee’s Spending Proposal Could Derail Farm Bill
Late in the evening of July 17th, following over twelve hours of debate and markup, the House Budget Committee passed its budget parameters for fiscal year (FY) 2018. The budget, which was voted out of Committee along partisan lines (22 Republicans voting in favor and 14 Democrats against), includes a directive for the Agriculture Committee […]
SARE ROUNDUP: NEWS ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION
Editor’s Note: This is the latest in a series of periodic blog posts on the happenings in each of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) regions, focusing on project solicitations and grant award announcements. The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program funds farmer-driven research and education through competitive grants. SARE is the only […]
The Numbers Behind the Farm Bill: Budget Questions, SNAP, and the Farm Bill Coalition
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of a four-part series explaining the background budget information that will be used to craft the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill. In this series on the new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline for the major farm bill programs, we have explored the significance of the overall numbers, delved in on […]
The Numbers Behind the Farm Bill: A Little-Known Factor for the Fate of Sustainable Ag Programs
Editor’s Note: This is the third of a four-part series explaining the background budget information that will be used to craft the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill. In this post we look in more detail at the smaller, more innovative programs that receive direct farm bill funding but will need to have their funding renewed in […]
Organics, Specialty Crops, and Local Food on Display in Senate Hearing
A large organic specialty crop producer, a conventional potato farmer, an organic grain company business executive, a food hub operator, and an animal agriculture advocate enter a room… No, this is not the set-up to a cheesy joke, but the incredible diversity of American agriculture that was on display this week as the Senate […]
House Makes Improvements, but Agriculture Appropriations Bill Still a Work in Progress
On July 12, 2017, the House Appropriations Committee advanced their agriculture appropriations funding measure for fiscal year (FY) 2018, which was drafted originally by the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. This appropriations bill funds the major programs and functions of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC), and the Food and […]
The Numbers Behind the Farm Bill: the Commodity and Conservation Titles
Editor’s Note: This is the second of a four-part series explaining the background budget information that will be used to craft the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill. In this post we look in more detail at the commodity and conservation titles of the farm bill. In part three will focus on programs that will need to have […]
The Numbers Behind the Farm Bill: What the New CBO Baseline Means for the 2018 Farm Bill
Editor’s Note: This is the first of a four-part series of blog examining the funding outlook for the 2018 Farm Bill. In an effort to simplify the complex subject of farm bill funding, we will present these blogs in FAQ format. Part two of this series will answer questions related to agricultural spending in the […]
RFA Roundup: Deadline Reminders and New Funding Opportunities
Many program application deadlines are quickly approaching, so if you are a farmer, rancher, non-profit organization, university or other eligible entity and are interested in securing some federal support, make sure you get your application in on time! As part of our ongoing efforts to help farmers and advocates stay up to date with federal […]
Senate Agriculture Committee Examines Conservation Options for Next Farm Bill
On-farm, voluntary conservation programs – such as the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) – provide farmers with the tools, technical assistance, and financial support they need to make their operations more sustainable and resilient. The farm bill, our nation’s largest and most significant package of food and farm funding legislation, […]
Farmers and Advocates Take FY 2018 Appropriations Requests to Capitol Hill
Mid-June in Washington, DC is a time when the annual appropriations cycle is in full swing, and congressional appropriators in both the House and the Senate work to set funding levels for the coming fiscal year. As part of our work to amplify farmer and rural advocate voices, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) […]
House Appropriations Bill Largely Rejects President’s Proposed Cuts to Agriculture Programs
“Dead on arrival” is what many in Congress called the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget request – which included a discretionary funding cut of 21 percent ($47 billion over 10 years) to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) – when it was released earlier this year. This week’s FY 2018 funding bill from the House […]
$7 Million Available to Increase Competitiveness of Specialty Crops
The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) recently released a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Specialty Crop Multistate Program (SCMP), a component of the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. Approximately $7 million will be available to fund projects from state departments of agriculture on a competitive basis, which will in […]
Funding Available to Support Training for Farmers of Color, Veteran Farmers
Historically, farmers of color and military veterans have not had the same access to or rates of participation in the programs administered by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA); often this disparity has been due to insufficient or inadequate outreach to these communities. In order to help veterans and farmers of color to enter and succeed in […]