Earlier this week, the Farm Bill conference report was approved by the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote of 251-166. In sum, 162 Republicans and 89 Democrats voted to pass the final farm bill and send it on to the Senate, with 63 Republicans and 103 Democrats voting no. The majority of votes in […]
Farm Bill
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 […]
New Resource Helps Farmers and Farmers Markets Accept SNAP Benefits
Last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) announced MarketLink, a website that provides farmers’ markets and direct-marketing farmers with a new, streamlined process for becoming authorized Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) vendors and information about obtaining the equipment needed to accept SNAP benefits. Up […]
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 […]
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 […]
Farm Bill Fits and Starts
The New Year hopes for quick action on a new five-year farm bill in the first half of January are fading as negotiations on certain issues stall. At the beginning of this week, the House and Senate lead negotiators were making progress on a compromise bill, and there were rumors of a possible meeting on […]
Busy Month Coming for Federal Agriculture Policy
Congress is due back from the holidays next week. The annual spending bills (appropriations) will be the first order of business. (For background on the new budget deal approved in December, read here and here.) The spending bill, which will include agriculture appropriations, is now expected to be unveiled next Wednesday, January 8, with the […]
New 5-Year Farm Bill and 1-Year USDA Spending Bill – End in Sight?
This week, the Senate voted 64-36 to pass the 2014 budget deal passed last week by the House and it now awaits the President’s signature. Congressional appropriators are now in the process of dividing the total discretionary spending allowed under the new bill for Fiscal Year 2014 between all the different parts of the government […]
Farm Bill and Budget Deal Moving Forward
Here is our latest Friday installment on the new federal budget deal and the emerging new farm bill deal, starting with the budget. Budget Deal We reported on the content of the new congressional budget deal earlier. On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed the package by an overwhelming margin, 332-94, with 73 percent of […]
Lawmakers Rated on Their Food and Farm Votes
On December 10, Food Policy Action released its 2013 National Food Policy Scorecard. The National Food Policy Scorecard was launched last year to rate members of Congress based on their positions on food and farm policy votes. Food Policy Action promotes policies that advance certain good food priorities, including supporting healthy diets, improving access to […]
Budget Deal Would Slash Farm Bill Direct Spending
On Tuesday, December 11, House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) unveiled a compromise budget deal that would eliminate $63 billion in automatic sequestration cuts to discretionary spending programs in fiscal year 2014 and 2015. While a significant political breakthrough, the deal manages to reduce the total […]
Law Professors Oppose King Amendment
Citing public health and constitutional concerns, a group of law professors from universities around the country wrote a letter to Congress critical of Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) amendment to the House farm bill. The “King Amendment,” as it is known, would prohibit states from imposing standards on agricultural manufacturing or production that are stricter than […]
Clock Ticking on Farm Bill and Budget Deals
Next week is the last week the House and Senate will both be in session at the same time for the rest of the year. That means it’s now or never on announcing a farm bill deal and a fiscal year 2014 government budget deal. We currently expect both announcements early next week, assuming the […]
New Report Examines Impacts of Farm-based Conservation on Chesapeake Bay
On Thursday, December 5, USDA released an updated Assessment of the Impacts of Conservation Adoption on Cultivated Acres of Cropland in the Chesapeake Bay Region. The report is part of the USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP). By combining edge-of-field and in-stream modeling along with farmer surveying, the report examines the impact that conservation practices […]
What’s At Stake? Water, Soil, Wildlife Conservation
In October of 2012, Congress allowed the Farm Bill to expire without a new bill to take its place. Instead, Congressional leaders cobbled together a temporary extension on New Year’s Eve that shut down a number of innovative programs indefinitely. On October 1 of this year, Congress allowed that farm bill extension to expire, and […]
NSAC Releases Farmers’ Guide to Value-Added Producer Grants
Whether enabling dairy farmers in Nebraska to expand their line of fluid milk products or allowing an organic grain farmer in Missouri to understand the feasibility of equipment purchases for on-farm processing, the Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program has been helping thousands of farmers around the country with expanding their customer base and income by […]
Community Food Project Grantees Announced for 2013
Yesterday, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced 26 awardees from 15 states and the District of Columbia for the 2013 Community Food Project (CFP) competitive grant program. Administered by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and launched in 1996, the Community Food Project program seeks to fight hunger and food insecurity […]
Farm Bill? Budget Deal? Nuclear Fallout?
Thursday was a momentous day in Congress. Senate Democrats went nuclear, voting by a simple majority to change Senate rules and end the minority party’s ability to filibuster presidential nominees other than Supreme Court nominees. Whether this action puts the Senate into a drawn-out series of procedural standstills for the rest of the year remains […]
Vilsack on Developing the Local Food Economy and Beginning Farmers in the Farm Bill
In a column published on the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” webpage on Friday, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack emphasized the benefits of local and regional markets for America’s farmers, ranchers, and consumers and the importance of timely passage of a Farm Bill. The column, which is reprinted in its entirety below, highlights several local […]
Farm Bill Progress Report
We have been hesitant to do much reporting on the House-Senate farm bill conference given the somewhat slow, step-by-step nature of the task of trying to hammer out a final, compromise bill. But inquiring readers have asked where things stand, and we don’t blame them for asking, so here is a quick summary. Conference Meetings […]
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 […]
Farm Bill is the Rural Bill Too
Today, following on the heels of yesterday’s first meeting of the Farm Bill conference, NSAC joined 28 other national, regional, and state-based organizations working to bolster rural community and economic development in a letter delivered to House and Senate conferees urging them to “provide a robust Rural Development title that promotes economic growth and stability in rural areas.” […]
As the Farm Bill Conference Kicks Off, A Reminder of What’s At Stake
Today marks the start of official conference negotiations over the farm bill, during which appointed members of the House and Senate will work reconcile two farm bills into one final conference report. By all accounts the task of reconciling the two chambers’ proposed bills will be a difficult one, but it is also critically important: […]