January 15, 2021
With the country facing an imminent government shutdown, the President finally signed the $2.3 trillion Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act of 2020 on December 28th. This bill includes both badly needed emergency COVID-19 relief aid as well as regular fiscal year (FY) 2021 appropriations. For more information on the COVID-19 relief aspects of the bill check […]
December 22, 2020
The end of the year is just around the corner – and what a year it has been! In these times of pain, uncertainty, reflection, and action, two things are certain: (1) our country and our world as we know it will never quite be the same, and (2) the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) […]
October 29, 2020
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced the opening of the fiscal year (FY) 2021 Farm to School (F2S) Grant Program request for applications (RFA). Administered by the U.S Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Office of Community Food Systems, the program provides farmers, schools, local government, and healthy food advocates […]
October 8, 2020
Last Wednesday night with only a few hours to spare, Congress did what many observers and advocates for months had been citing as inevitable. They sent an appropriations Continuing Resolution (CR) to the President’s desk that puts off final decisions about Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 spending until after the November general election. The CR ensures […]
August 17, 2020
Each summer, NSAC is proud to bring dozens of farmer and rancher voices to Washington, DC for our annual fly-in lobby days. To recognize the importance of this grassroots advocacy work while also protecting the safety of farmer-leaders, we adapted to organize virtually this summer – our second virtual fly-in this year. In July, farmers […]
July 30, 2020
On Monday, July 27, 2020, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced the highly anticipated HEALS Act. This $1 trillion bill is the Senate Majority proposal for the fourth coronavirus response package (C4), which will serve as the starting point for Senate negotiations. In this post we will examine the farm and food systems provisions of the […]
July 16, 2020
There are a few existing federal programs that could be expanded to further support small, local, and regional meat and poultry processing plants and increase farmers’ access to slaughter and processing options.
April 8, 2020
Editor’s note: This blog post is the second in a two-part series featuring farmer advocates from NSAC’s virtual appropriations fly-in held earlier this spring. Click here to check out the first post, which includes additional fly-in details and an outlook on appropriations amidst COVID-19. At the end of March, NSAC hosted its very first “virtual” […]
April 3, 2020
Editor’s note: This blog is the first of a two-part series featuring farmer advocates from the NSAC virtual appropriations fly-in. Click here for additional farmer stories! Each spring, when visitors normally flock to Washington, DC to see the renowned cherry blossoms, a select set of dedicated advocates are drawn to the nation’s capital for a […]
April 2, 2020
Federal funding for food and agriculture public research has stagnated for decades, declining in real terms even while other federal agencies have seen their budgets trend steadily upward and even while China has long since overtaken the US as the major public investor in the sector. Yet, our food and agricultural system is a key […]