Just a few weeks after the 2019 Organic Survey reported a 31 percent growth for organic sales and an increase in certified organic farms and transitioning acres, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) released its FY 2021 Request for Application (RFA) for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension […]
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New Edition of NSAC’s Farmers’ Guide to the Conservation Stewardship Program Just Released
Today, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) released its Farmers’ Guide to the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). The guide provides farmers and ranchers looking to enroll in the CSP program, or renew CSP contracts, with helpful, comprehensive, and accurate information about the program. Since 2003, CSP has provided farmers and ranchers with five-year, renewable financial […]
Inaugural Regional Food Systems Partnership Program Awards Announced
In October, the U.S. The Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced the inaugural round of grant awards for the Regional Food Systems Partnership (RFSP) program, providing $9.3 million in competitive grant funding for 23 projects. RFSP supports the formation of public-private partnerships working at the foodshed-level to transform local and regional food […]
Is COVID-19 Aid Reaching Farmers?
The second iteration of the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP-2) developed by USDA to help compensate farmers for losses due to the coronavirus pandemic is working much better and reaching more farmers than the first round of aid launched earlier this year. Since CFAP-2 opened to farmers on September 21, 2020 participation has been brisk […]
2019 NASS Survey Finds Big Gains for Organic
Demand for organic continues to defy expectations as consumers recognize its many benefits. Now new data underscore this trend. Organic agriculture saw a 31 percent increase in overall sales since 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) 2019 Organic Survey. The Organic Survey, conducted every five years, gathers […]
$16 Million Invested to Train Beginning Farmers – Where Does It Go?
Beginning farmers and ranchers face a number of unique circumstances and challenges to establish themselves in the industry, and their path has become no easier in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, the Economic Research Service (ERS) published a report that found beginning farmers have higher debt-to-asset ratios, are less likely to receive […]
Farm to School Projects – $10 million in Grants Available and a New Streamlined Application Option
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 […]
NSAC Co-Hosts Webinar on Black Farm Cooperatives
Introduction Black farm cooperatives hold a unique role within the food sovereignty movement and cooperative organization history. Last month, NSAC facilitated a virtual panel alongside the Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFED) to celebrate the accomplishments, history, and challenges of Black farm cooperatives in the United States. The webinar featured experts in cooperative development and history, […]
Guest Post: Expanding Local Meat Markets
Editor’s Note: This blog is a guest post by Meghan Filbert, Livestock Program Manager at Practical Farmers of Iowa, an NSAC member organization. This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2020 edition of the Practical Farmer, PFI’s quarterly magazine. The Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program Means Out-of-state Market Access While Iowa’s large meat packing plants made national news […]
USDA Awards $27 million to Support Local Food Projects
Local food systems and direct-to-consumer marketing through farmers markets, farm stands, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs) programs have flourished across the country over the past several decades. Once viewed as a fad or niche part of the food sector, local food systems and direct marketing agriculture are now an integral part of American agriculture and […]
Bare Minimum, Last Minute
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 […]
Climate and Agriculture Legislation Roundup
Editor’s Note: The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) created a blog series on Rep. Chellie Pingree’s Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA), the first comprehensive piece of legislation introduced in the House of Representatives addressing climate change and agriculture. Blogs one through seven focus on specific provisions within the ARA; whereas this eighth and final blog in […]
Analyzing Food Safety Outreach Program Awards Through an Equity Lens
Since 2015, the Food Safety Outreach Program (FSOP) has provided small and mid-sized farms, beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers, small processors, and small-scale wholesalers with the training they need to comply with new food safety requirements included in the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act. To reach the aforementioned audiences, the program has largely focused on […]
$22.6 Million Awarded to Support Organic Farming, Research
Research underpins the success of every farm – not least of all for organic agriculture. Cutting-edge innovations and science-based studies continue to advance this multi-billion dollar industry, at times with funding from the federal government. The National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recently announced over $20 million in research investments to support organic farmers […]
RMA Releases Updates to the Whole Farm Revenue Protection Program
On August 20, 2020, the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) approved new updates to the Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) program. WFRP is a unique crop-neutral revenue insurance product available for diversified farming operations. Unlike traditional yield or revenue insurance, this product is not intended for a single specific crop, but for all the crops […]
More Money Now Available to Farmers Impacted by the Pandemic
This week, USDA is launching a second round of COVID-19 relief payments that will hopefully reach more farmers who were left out of previous aid programs. In this blog, we break down what farmers need to know about USDA’s revamped Coronavirus Food Assistance Program…. Read More →
New Urban Agriculture County Committee Accepting Nominations
One of the historic elements of the 2018 Farm Bill was the inclusion of dedicated resources and programs for urban agriculture, for the first time. Urban agriculture gives city residents a chance to purchase healthy foods from farmers not just in their state, but sometimes right in their very own neighborhoods. Urban farms can also […]
Grazing for Climate
Editor’s Note: This is the seventh blog in a series focusing on specific provisions included in the Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA) introduced by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) in February 2020. The ARA represents the first comprehensive piece of legislation introduced in the House of Representatives addressing climate change and agriculture. Read blogs one, two, three, […]
Big 2020 Signup Numbers For CRP Grasslands
In July 2020, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced that it accepted around 1.2 million new acres into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Grasslands initiative. These acres were accepted from applications submitted between March 16 and May 15, 2020. While other variations of CRP support conservation by removing land from cultivation for extended periods of […]
Calling all Researchers! Nearly $300 million in Ag Research Funding Now Available!
USDA recently announced over $290 million in research grant funding through the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative – including funding for research on plant breeding, local and regional food systems, beginning farmers, farmers of color, and the impact of COVID-19 on our farmers and the food supply chain…. Read More →
Do Cover Crops Help Farmers Save Costs?
After decades of research, cover crops have been widely shown to be beneficial to crop yields, soil health, and farmers’ bottom lines. However, many obstacles to cover crop adoption still remain – including start-up costs and the amount of time before benefits are seen…. Read More →
Thousands of Farmers Sign Congressional Call to Action on the Climate Crisis
Every farmer stands on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Last year, farmers and ranchers within the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) network mobilized to make certain that policymakers understood their concerns and desires to meet the climate crisis head-on. NSAC members worked with farmers and ranchers to draft a letter that lifts up farmer […]
Will More Produce Items Soon be Exempt from FSMA?
Over the last year and a half, many produce farmers across the country have been preparing for and going through first time produce safety rule inspections. However, not all produce farms, and not every produce item on inspected farms is subject to the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) regulations. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) […]
Grassroots Leaders Present Appropriations Asks in Virtual Fly-In
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 […]