May 10, 2010
USDA announced today that farmers and ranchers have until June 11 to submit applications to enroll in the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) this year. The brief application form can be filed at a local NRCS service center. After submitting the application, farmers will be scheduled for a follow-up meeting with NRCS to complete the CSP […]
May 7, 2010
April was an eventful month for genetically engineered (GE) crops, with release of a National Research Council report and litigation developments, plus a news story on the concern of scientists about Roundup Ready crops, whose use has resulted in the application of massive volumes of glyphosate herbicide to the nation’s farmland. On April 13, Reuter […]
May 5, 2010
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the first three of a series of public meetings where stakeholders can offer input on the framework for a new APHIS rule on animal disease traceability. May 11, 2010: Kansas City, MO — Holiday Inn Kansas City SE—Waterpark, 9103 East 39th Street May 13, 2010: […]
April 30, 2010
The Environmental Protection Agency has provided USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) with $34 million to provide additional FY2010 funding to Farm Bill conservation programs in selected watersheds of the eight Great Lake states. The funding is provided under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a collaboration of federal agencies, state and local governments, tribes, businesses, […]
April 29, 2010
USDA’s Rural Development Agency has announced that it is taking applications for Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) grants and guaranteed loans. A total of $87 million is available in FY2010 for projects to develop and/or construct renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements. Applications for REAP grants and guaranteed loans must be received by […]
April 29, 2010
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced an initiative to use $2 million in FY2010 Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding to help farmers and ranchers conserve energy and reduce energy costs. Farmers and ranchers may apply for the funding in the following 29 states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, […]
April 26, 2010
More than 100 national, regional, state and local groups have signed on to a letter urging President Obama to pay for proposed increases in child nutrition and to settle long standing claims stemming from systemic discrimination in USDA programs without cutting critical conservation programs. The letter circulated by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the Rural […]
April 23, 2010
This post provides some basic updates on the status of the nearly completed 2009 sign-up as well as the upcoming 2010 version of the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP). 2009 Sign-up Nearing Completion Despite sign-up coming late in the year and being rushed, some 21,000 farmers and ranchers applied to enroll 33 million acres in the […]
April 23, 2010
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is taking applications for the Cooperative Conservation Partnership Initiative (CCPI) until May 27, 2010. The full Request for Proposals can be found here. The CCPI allows NRCS to partner with eligible organizations to provide financial and technical assistance to owners and operators of agricultural and nonindustrial private forest lands. […]
April 20, 2010
NSAC offers heartfelt congratulations to Lynn Henning, a southern Michigan farmer who has been awarded the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize for U.S. grassroots environmental activism. The Prize is recognition of Lynn’s unstinting work in exposing the impacts of pollution from large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), especially mega-dairies, in her southern Michigan community and across […]