The House and Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittees held a total of four hearings this week to examine the Obama Administration’s FY 2015 Budget Request. The House Subcommittee heard testimony from the heads of two USDA mission areas—Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (FNS), and Research, Education and Economics (REE)—as well as the Food and Drug Administration […]
Commodity, Crop Insurance & Credit Programs
USDA Secretary Explains 2015 Funding Requests to Congress
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies today to discuss the Department’s FY 2015 Budget Request, which he delivered to Congress earlier this month. The Subcommittee will consider USDA’s requests as it writes its agriculture funding bill for the year. In […]
Expanding Packing and Cold Storage Loan Options for Diversified Farms
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced several changes to the Farm Storage Facility Loan Program that will greatly improve the program’s ability to support diversified producers that sell their produce through localized market channels, such as farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSAs), and farm-to-institution. Farm Storage Facility Loans are financed through the Farm […]
What Does the President’s 2015 Budget Mean for Sustainable Agriculture?
President Obama sent his budget proposal for 2015 to Capitol Hill yesterday. The overall spending number in the proposed budget for the next fiscal year (FY) would match the two-year budget deal Congress reached last year, though the President also includes an aspirational $56 billion add-on, which he calls the Opportunity, Growth, and Security (OGS) […]
Congress Extends Automatic Spending Cuts
Last week, the Senate voted 95-3 to pass a House-passed bill that reverses a $6 billion cut to cost-of-living increases (COLA) in military pensions. The cut was included in last year’s bipartisan budget deal. To pay for the restoration of funds, Congress chose to extend automatic, across-the-board cuts to direct spending (also known as mandatory […]
2014 Farm Bill Drilldown: Subsidy Reform and Fair Competition
With the 2014 Farm Bill recently signed into law, NSAC is doing a blog series that delves into the details of the bill for sustainable food and farming systems. This post discusses the highlights and the missed opportunities for commodity and crop insurance reform and agricultural market competition. Previous “drill down” posts on a wide […]
2014 Farm Bill Drill Down: Conservation – Crop Insurance Linkages
With the 2014 Farm Bill recently signed into law, NSAC is doing a blog series that delves into the details of the bill for sustainable food and farming systems. Our coverage of the conservation title is divided into three parts: working lands conservation programs; this one on the linkage between conservation and crop insurance; and […]
2014 Farm Bill Drill Down: Conservation – Working Lands Programs
With the 2014 Farm Bill recently signed into law, NSAC is doing a blog series that delves into the details of the bill for sustainable food and farming systems. Our coverage of the conservation title is divided into three parts: this one on working lands conservation programs; the linkage between conservation and crop insurance; and […]
2014 Farm Bill Drill Down: The Bill by the Numbers
With the 2014 Farm Bill recently signed into law, NSAC is doing a seven-part series here on our blog that delves into the details of the bill for sustainable food and farming systems. This first post summarizes the big picture funding decisions reflected in the final bill. Coming posts will look at specific issues within […]
Organic Producers Can Insure Crops at Contract Price
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) recently issued a fact sheet explaining the organic Contract Price Addendum — a crop insurance option that allows organic producers to insure their crops at the contract price specified in a guaranteed contract. The Contract Price Addendum is available for 62 crops. The list of qualifying […]
What is in the 2014 Farm Bill For Sustainable Farms and Food Systems?
At the start of this long and twisted farm bill reauthorization process, NSAC released an ambitious farm bill platform with the goal of expanding opportunities for family farmers to produce good food, sustain the environment, and contribute to vibrant communities. Reflecting input from sustainable and organic farmers, rural and urban communities, and food entrepreneurs, the […]
Cover Crop Webinar Recording Now Available
The National Center for Appropriate Technology and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition held a webinar yesterday that addressed when and how to terminate cover crops and maintain eligibility for crop insurance coverage of subsequently planted cash crops. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed cover crop termination guidelines that were recently updated to address this […]
Closer To Sealing the Farm Bill Deal?
As we head into the second half of January, House and Senate negotiators inch closer to finalizing the 2014 Farm Bill. At least one of the lead negotiators has said that he expects the bill to be reported out of the Farm Bill Conference Committee during the final week of January. However, it is not […]
Congress Outlines 2014 Funding Package
Update: Both the House and Senate passed the omnibus package this week, and the President is expected to sign the bill shortly. For a detailed breakdown of the funding levels provided in the bill, see our updated appropriations chart. On Monday, January 13, House and Senate appropriators released the text of the fiscal year (FY) 2014 […]
Uncapped Entitlement is Bad for Agriculture and Holding up the New Farm Bill
As Congress heads into the home stretch of finalizing the long-awaited passage of a new 5-year farm bill, the issue of payment limit reform for farm commodity subsidy programs remains up in the air, holding up the completion of the House-Senate conference proceedings. At first blush, you wouldn’t think this could be the case. After […]
Interagency collaborations developing farms and rural businesses
In an effort to better meet the financing needs of small businesses and agricultural producers in rural areas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published a notice in December providing guidance for increasing collaboration between the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and USDA. The notice included a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the USDA and SBA signed […]
NSAC Delivers 2014 Sustainable Agriculture Funding Requests
On Tuesday, December 17, NSAC delivered a letter to members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, urging them to support sustainable agriculture priorities in the final fiscal year 2014 appropriations legislation. The Committees are currently working to finalize legislation that would fund the government for the rest of FY 2014. Both Committees passed their […]
Cover Crops and Crop Insurance: What’s the Connection? Webinar Announced
The National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) will host a national webinar on January 23, 2014. The webinar will address the important question: when and how can you terminate your cover crops and not risk losing crop insurance coverage of cash crops that follow? Why is this important? […]
Are USDA Microloans Reaching Farmers Across the Country?
Earlier this year, USDA announced a new microloan program that would specifically target the smaller credit needs of beginning farmers and other small farm operators selling to local and regional food markets. Launched in January 2013, the program has so far made over 3,400 loans in all 50 states, including the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, […]
Bipartisan Letters Urges Farm Bill Conservation Linkage to Subsidized Insurance
Last week, Representatives Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) and Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Jon Tester (D-MT) delivered a letter to farm bill conferees urging them to reattach soil and wetland conservation requirements to the receipt of crop insurance premium subsidies. The Senate farm bill takes this step, however the House farm bill […]
Senators Call On Farm Bill Conferees to Aid Underserved Producers
Thirteen Senators have delivered a letter to Senate Farm Bill Conferees calling for a final farm bill to include provisions that will help make crop insurance appropriate and accessible for a wider range of producers. In the letter, the Senators stress that: Specialty crop growers, organic producers, diversified operations, and young and beginning farmers, who have […]
Senators Stand Up for Historic Farm Program Reforms
In a letter to Senate Agriculture Committee Leadership, a bipartisan group of eleven Senators voiced their strong support that a final farm bill retain common-sense reforms to commodity program payments. Both the House and Senate versions of the farm bill contain these historic reforms that place a hard cap on the total commodity payments a producer […]
278 Organizations Demand Wetland, Soil, Grassland Conservation in Farm Bill
On Tuesday, October 29, 278 national, regional, and state-based organizations delivered a letter urging House and Senate farm bill conferees to reattach basic conservation requirements to federal subsidies for crop insurance, and to include a nationwide Sodsaver provision in the final farm bill conference report. The letter comes as farm bill conference begins with conferees’ opening […]
House Votes to Go to Conference with Senate on Farm Bill, Supports Crop Insurance Reform
Saturday Update: The House this morning completed its actions to move on to conference with the Senate to fashion the final version of the new, five-year farm bill. There will be 13 Republican and 10 Democratic conferees: Republicans – from the Agriculture Committee, Frank Lucas (OK), Mike Rogers (AL), Randy Neugebauer (TX), Michael Conaway (TX), […]