On Tuesday, September 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a series of resources as part of its new Organic Literacy Initiative, an effort to help connect current and prospective organic farmers, ranchers, and processors with the USDA resources available to them. The purpose of the Organic Literacy Initiative is to provide USDA staff as […]
Commodity, Crop Insurance & Credit Programs
House Farm Bill Extension Would Hurt Farmers and Economy, Undermine Conservation Efforts
On Friday, July 27, the House Rules Committee posted the text of a one-year extension to the 2008 Farm Bill. In our earlier post, we noted that we strongly oppose a clean extension of the Farm Bill, given that the bill would allow many critical programs expire. Unfortunately, the bill posted on the Rules Committee […]
“Plain Language” Guide to Farm Service Agency Loans
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) has issued a “plain language” guide to applying for FSA loans and FSA loan servicing entitled Your Guide to FSA Loans. USDA was required to issue the guide as a part of the settlement in the case Keepseagle v. Vilsack. This case was a class action lawsuit brought in 1999 by […]
NSAC Comments on FSA Microloan Proposal
On Tuesday, July 24th, the public comment period closed on the Farm Service Agency’s (FSA) proposed rule to modify their Farm Operating Loans program to include microloans in order to better address the needs of very small and beginning family farmers. FSA — a USDA agency in charge of federal credit and other agricultural programs — […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: NSAC Assessment of House Committee-Passed Bill
In an earlier post we provided highlights and lowlights of the House Agriculture Committee one-day markup of their version of the 2102 Farm Bill, including a rundown of sustainable agriculture amendments passed and defeated. Here we turn to an assessment of the bill overall. Still to come is a piece discussing possible next steps in […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Agriculture Committee Debates and Passes Its Farm Bill
After a full-day marathon markup that started on Wednesday morning and went into the early hours of Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee passed its version of the 2012 Farm Bill by a vote of 35-11. Seven Democrats and four Republicans voted against the bill. The Republicans who voted against the bill did so based on […]
Path to 2012 Farm Bill: House Markup Looms
The House Agriculture Committee will debate and vote on its version of the 2012 Farm Bill tomorrow, Wednesday July 11. It is now widely expected that the House Agriculture Committee “mark-up” of the 2012 Farm Bill will take less than a day, rather than the normal multi-day process. The markup will begin at 10 AM […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Draft House Farm Bill Drilldown
On July 5, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) released their draft farm bill ahead of the House Agriculture Committee’s farm bill markup scheduled for next week beginning Wednesday, July 11. The bill generates $35 billion in savings by cutting over $16 billion from nutrition programs and more than $6 billion […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Draft House Farm Bill Highlights
On July 5, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) released their draft farm bill ahead of the House Agriculture Committee’s farm bill markup scheduled for next week beginning Wednesday, July 11. The bill generates $35 billion in savings by cutting over $16 billion from nutrition programs and more than $6 billion […]
House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee Passes FY2013 Funding Bill
UPDATED: June 18, 2012 On Wednesday, June 6, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY 2013 agriculture appropriations bill. The spending bill covers the majority of the functions of USDA as well as the Food and Drug Administration. In late April, we happily reported that the Senate Appropriations Committee’s FY 2013 agriculture appropriations bill […]
For Immediate Release: NSAC Comments on Proposed USDA Microloan Program
For Immediate Release May 23, 2012 Contact: Juli Obudzinski, 202-547-5754 NSAC Comments on Proposed USDA Microloan Program Washington, DC – Today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a proposed rule for a new microloan program that would be part of the suite of credit options available to farmers through the Farm Service Agency (FSA). The new […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Credit Hearing
The House Agriculture Subcommittee held a hearing today, Thursday May 10th, to examine federal credit programs as they take up writing the 2012 Farm Bill. In addition to Chairman Fortenberry (R-NE-1) and Ranking Member Fudge (D-OH-11), Reps. King (R-IA-5), Crawford (R-AR-1), Baca (D-CA-43), and Pingree (D-ME-1) were also in attendance. The panel of witnesses were […]
Farm Service Agency Continues Close Scrutiny of Loans to Contract Poultry and Hog Producers
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) provides guaranteed loans and direct loans to farmers for the purchase or operation of their farms. FSA can provide lenders with a guarantee of up to 95 percent of the loss of principal and interest on a guaranteed loan. FSA has a duty, both to the public and to farmers […]
Senate Committee Approves 2013 Agriculture Spending Bill
On Thursday, April 26, while the Senate Agriculture Committee was busy passing their version of the 2012 Farm Bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee was also meeting to approve the Fiscal Year 2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill. The spending bill covers the majority of the functions of USDA as well as the Food and Drug Administration. We […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Markup – Beginning Farmers
Note to Readers — This is the first in what will be a series of posts on the 2012 Farm Bill reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee on April 26. The Senate Agriculture Committee voted the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act — the proposed name for the 2012 Farm Bill — out of […]
House Sets Government Funding Allocations
On April 19, we reported that the Senate Appropriations Committee had approved discretionary spending allocations for the coming 2013 fiscal year. The size of the total spending pie, as laid out by the Committee, was completely consistent with the levels set by law in the Budget Control Act of 2011. Today, the House Appropriations Committee […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Draft Farm Bill – Local Food and Rural Development Drilldown
Agricultural policy that bolsters community economic development serves as a cornerstone of NSAC’s advocacy. Within this framework, we support strong Rural Development programs that target small business development and job creation. Similarly, NSAC recognizes the economic opportunities inherent in food produced for local markets and thus urge Congress to address infrastructure and information barriers to […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Senate Draft Farm Bill – Beginning Farmer Drilldown
Overall, while beginning farmers did not fair too poorly in the Senate draft farm bill that was released by the Senate Agriculture Committee last week, they were certainly far from being the highlight of this legislative package. There were some small wins for beginning farmers in the draft conservation and credit titles, which included provisions […]
Loan Programs that Help Farmers Bridge the Conservation Cost-Share Gap
Background – Why there is a Gap USDA’s conservation programs, as well as numerous state conservation programs, provide financial resources for farmers to implement conservation practices that protect natural resources and the environment. Many of these programs fund only a share of the cost of implementing the practices, and hence are referred to as cost […]
Conservation Loan Program Final Rule Shows Need for Revisions in the Next Farm Bill
Conservation Loan Program Final Rule This month, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) issued a final rule, effective May 18, 2012, for the Conservation Loan Program (CLP). The CLP was included in the 2008 Farm Bill as a stand-alone program to provide guaranteed and direct loans to farmers and ranchers to implement conservation practices. It has […]
Senate Subcommittee Holds Hearing on FY 2013 Agriculture Appropriations; NSAC Delivers FY 2013 Appropriations Testimony to Senate
On Thursday, March 29, the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee held its first hearing on USDA’s fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget request. The Subcommittee will consider USDA’s requests as it writes its funding bill for the year. Individual funding requests by Senators and outside groups were also due yesterday. You can download and read our FY […]
House and Senate Move Forward on Different Paths with FY 2013 Appropriations
NSAC Testimony On Tuesday, March 20, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) delivered its fiscal year (FY) 2013 agriculture appropriations testimony to the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. The testimony includes NSAC’s FY 2013 appropriations requests for critical conservation, rural development, marketing, research, credit, and beginning and minority farmer programs. We will deliver matching funding requests […]
FSA Increases Flexibility for Loans to Beginning Farmers
Earlier this month, FSA announced several revisions to its program handbook to increase flexibility and broaden the scope of “farm management experience” a borrower is required to have before being eligible for a federal loan. This experience requirement is in place in order to assure that an applicant has sufficient managerial ability that will convey […]
Beginning Farmers Tell Their Stories at Hill Briefing
This week, four beginning farmers and ranchers came to Washington, D.C. to participate in a congressional briefing on the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act (S.1850, H.R.3236). The briefing was hosted in the House by Reps. Tim Walz (D-MN-1) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE-1), and in the Senate by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). The farmers came […]