June 11, 2020
Farmers understand that the rain that falls on their land does not always stick around. For some, it flows through tributaries towards the Mississippi River and down to the Gulf of Mexico. For others, it makes passes through the soil, into drainage tiles, into creeks, and into other iconic bodies of water like the Great […]
June 5, 2020
In May, as the country grappled with an emerging global pandemic and unprecedented demand for food assistance, a national collaboration of organizations working on food systems and healthy food access officially launched the Nutrition Incentive Hub. Funded through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the National Institute for Food and […]
May 28, 2020
Americans’ interest in knowing more about where, how, and by whom their food is produced has been growing for many years and the coronavirus pandemic has shown new light on the serious shortcomings in our highly concentrated food production system. Along with the rise of the local food movement there has also been a building […]
May 6, 2020
The Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) has helped conserve thousands of acres across the country by promoting partnerships between producers and organizations, with support from the federal government. These partnerships, most often led by non-profit conservation organizations, involve sometimes hundreds of landowners and work to address resource concerns across landscapes and watersheds. Earlier this year, […]
March 24, 2020
On March 9, 2020 USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced the availability of $27 million in funding for the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (FMLFPP). FMLFPP has two subprograms – the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) and the Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) – with a separate Request for Applications (RFA) for each […]
October 25, 2019
With the authorization phase of the Farm Bill concluded, attention has turned this year to implementation of the 2018 Farm Bill. During this phase, Congress continues to oversee and fund implementation, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is tasked with implementing the programs and policies authorized under the new farm bill. Congressional oversight is […]
July 30, 2019
After months of uncertainty and start-and-stop negotiations between Congress and the White House, last week congressional leaders finally announced a two-year budget agreement. In addition to setting top-line funding levels so that the government can keep running, the budget deal sets annual discretionary spending caps for defense and non-defense programs for fiscal years (FY) 2020 […]
July 10, 2019
Last week, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) brought in over a dozen farmers and advocates for the Coalition’s second “farmer fly-in” of 2019. Fly-in advocates from ten different states across the country came to DC to champion the federal programs important to them and their communities before congressional appropriators. Currently, Congress is negotiating federal […]
April 17, 2019
As part of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s (NSAC) ongoing efforts to ensure that farm bill programs are as successful and supportive of family farmers as possible, NSAC provides feedback and recommendations to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) following the bill’s passage. Earlier this spring, USDA launched a series of “listening sessions” to solicit […]
March 1, 2019
In an effort to engage farmers and other stakeholders in the implementation process for the 2018 Farm Bill, this week the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched the first of many formal listening sessions to gather public input. On Tuesday, USDA’s Farm Production and Conservation (FPAC) Mission Area held a formal listening session at the […]