Conservation, Energy & Environment
May 14, 2021
On April 21, 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced the availability of $25 million in funding to advance the adoption and evaluation of innovative conservation practices on agricultural lands. The funding is for on-farm trials, a sub-program of the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program. CIGs are designed to support collaboration between NRCS and […]
May 5, 2021
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced its list of fiscal year (FY) 2021 Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) awards. In addition, USDA announced the availability of up to $75 million for Alternative Funding Arrangements (AFAs) under RCPP. Applications for RCPP AFA will be accepted until May 28, 2021. In this blog post, we […]
April 22, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Eric Deeble National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Email: edeeble@sustainableagriculture.net Agriculture Resilience Act Delivers Bold Vision for Net Zero Agriculture National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Applauds Trailblazing Climate and Agriculture Bill Washington, DC, April 22, 2021 – Today, Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) introduced the Agriculture Resilience Act (ARA), which […]
April 21, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Eric Deeble, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalitionpress@sustainableagriculture.net COMMENT: NSAC Commends Expansion and Enhancement of Conservation Reserve Program Higher payment rates, new incentives, and a greater focus on climate change mitigation better support farmers and ranchers Washington, DC, April 21, 2021 – In response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s announcement on the changes made to the […]
April 1, 2021
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Franklin Egan, Director of Education at Pasa Sustainable Agriculture, an NSAC member organization. This article originally appeared in March 2021 on Pasa’s blog. Our new report offers fresh insights into how farmers can improve soil stewardship to more effectively protect ecosystems and communities, better withstand severe weather, and […]
March 18, 2021
The Conservation Stewardship Program As our nation’s largest working lands conservation program, the Farm Bill’s Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), can and should be a boon for wildlife. But cuts in program funding under the previous administration left limited resources that farmers can use to enhance their conservation efforts on the lands they steward. During these […]
March 5, 2021
Energy and momentum to address the climate crisis is building under the Biden-Harris Administration. Many parts of the agriculture sector, previously opposed to climate action, have shifted their stance as agricultural soils come into focus as potentially powerful carbon sinks – and source of profit. Legislators, farm groups, advocates, and corporations have been churning out […]
February 25, 2021
Contact: Eric Deeble, Policy Director,National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)edeeble@sustainableagriculture.net Agriculture Needs Multifaceted Climate SolutionsCongress and USDA Should Prioritize Existing Conservation, Agricultural Research, and Rural Economic Development Programs Washington, DC, February 25th, 2021 – This comment was issued on Thursday, February 25, 2021 in response to the hearing “Climate Change and the U.S. Agriculture and Forestry […]
February 16, 2021
For almost 35 years, the farm bill’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has compensated farmers and landowners for taking highly erodible and other environmentally sensitive lands out of crop production and enrolling them instead in conserving practices. Through CRP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pays farmers to set aside land for grass or tree cover […]
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 […]
