Wednesday night update to original post: Late Wednesday, Senate Republicans coalesced around the package they will offer on the Senate floor on Thursday. Their plan would leave the $85 billion in total budget cuts in place, but instead of requiring across-the-board cuts via the sequester, they propose to give President Obama until March 15 to […]
Farm Bill
Time for a Deeper Farm Safety Net Discussion?
The farm bill portion of the Senate Democratic bill to delay the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration has surfaced an interesting debate over numbers. The bill to be presented next week by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would delay sequestration (scheduled to take effect March 1) until next year, in hopes that in the […]
Impact of Sequestration on Agriculture: More than Just Meat
The Senate Appropriations Committee held a hearing on February 14, 2013 on the varying doomsday scenarios that will play out should Congress fail to prevent the self-imposed sequestration. The hardline cuts are expected to take effect on March 1 and the damage could begin immediately in some cases. Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack was not present […]
Natural Disasters Spur Crop Insurance and Farm Conservation Discussion
On Thursday, February 14, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing on “Drought, Fire, and Freeze: The Economics of Disasters for America’s Agricultural Producers.” The first panel of witnesses consisted of Dr. Joe Glauber, USDA’s Chief Economist, and Dr. Roger Pulwarty, Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Integrated Drought Information System. The […]
For Immediate Release: NSAC Endorses Protect Our Prairies Act
For Immediate Release February 14, 2013 Contact: Greg Fogel, 202-547-5754 NSAC Endorses Protect Our Prairies Act Washington, DC – On Thursday, February 14, Representatives Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Tim Walz (D-MN), along with six additional cosponsors, introduced bipartisan legislation that would protect our nation’s remaining native prairies and prime grasslands. The Protect Our Prairies Act creates […]
AGree Issues 2013 Policy Proposals
AGree, an initiative to seek consensus on proposals to transform food, agriculture, conservation, energy, nutrition policies, today issued some near-term recommendations for the 2013 Farm Bill and other food and agriculture-related legislation. The five areas included – immigration and work force issues, nutrition and food systems, conservation, young people in food and agriculture, and agricultural […]
USDA Begins Wetlands Reserve Program Sign Up for FY 2013
The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has given state NRCS offices the green light to begin accepting producer applications for the FY 2013 Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) sign up. States will establish their own application deadlines. Some state offices have already begun to accept applications. It is not yet precisely clear how many new […]
Tentative New Farm Bill Budget Projection
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its first snapshot of the budget projections for 2014 and beyond on Tuesday. The snapshot includes projections for federal farm bill spending. The final version of the projections, which will be published in late March, will be the version that is used for determining the costs and savings of […]
New Budget Timeline – A Way Forward for Farm Bill?
On Thursday, January 31 the Senate approved the bill to postpone the debt ceiling battle for four months. The proposal was developed by the House Republicans. The Senate adopted the House GOP measure by a vote of 64-34, albeit with only 11 Senate Republicans in support. Republican Plan Pushed Over the Top by Democratic Support […]
NSAC Members Set Comprehensive 2013 Agenda
Last week, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) held its semi-annual member meeting near Haines City, Florida. Every winter, NSAC members discuss, debate, and vote on the coalition’s priorities for the year. Amidst abundant sunshine, lunchtime canoe trips, and late-night bonfires, the coalition came to consensus on a wide-ranging slate of priorities for 2013. This […]
Budget Debate Takes New Turns, with Unclear Impact on Agriculture
Sometimes Washington spends a lot of time talking about how and when to proceed to looming big issues. And sometimes those process and timing decisions are very important. And sometimes the situation surrounding those process issues is very fluid. This is one of those times. Very quickly after the House GOP decided on a brand […]
34 States Shut out of Organic Farm Program by Congress and White House
On Thursday, USDA published a notice in the Federal Register reminding the 16 states eligible for the Agricultural Management Assistance (AMA) program to submit their application by February 7 for federal assistance in order to be able to provide cost-share assistance to their certified organic farmers. Those 16 states – the 12 Northeast states plus […]
New House GOP Debt Ceiling Plan Could Affect Farm Bill
The House of Representatives will vote on Wednesday on a new plan, cobbled together last week, to raise the debt ceiling for several months without demanding any matching spending cuts. The sudden about face on the debt ceiling issue was reached during a House GOP caucus retreat in Williamsburg, VA last week. Instead of dealing […]
The 2012 Farm Bill (that never was) Year in Review
Although 2012 ended on a sour note for farmers and ranchers across the country, there were some notable moments to celebrate for the sustainable agriculture movement, amidst all the ups and downs of the 2012 Farm Bill debate. In this final blog post of our “Path to the 2012 Farm Bill” series, we include twists […]
Congress Includes Awful 2008 Farm Bill Extension in Fiscal Cliff Deal
On New Year’s Eve, the Senate passed a simple extension of the 2008 Farm Bill through September 30, 2013, as part of a much bigger legislative package to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. The House approved the Senate bill late on New Year’s Day and President Obama signed it into law on January 2. The […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: One Week to Go, What Next?
Last night House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) pulled his so-called “Plan B” — with tax and spending cut measures — from the floor when it became clear that he didn’t have the Republican votes needed to pass it. The Speaker launched his now-failed Plan B plan at the beginning of the week, calling off any […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: The Stakes Keep On Climbing
One of the hard parts about working on federal policy is that it can be easy to get wrapped up in policy details and forget that decisions — and indecisions — made in Washington affect people and communities throughout the nation. So when Congress decided to let the current farm bill expire on October 1, […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Is there a Farm Bill Plan B?
Much of the national policy news this week has focused on House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) sudden move, in the middle of negotiations with the President over the so-called fiscal cliff issues, to take time out to have the House vote (this evening) on his “Plan B.” That Plan B would combine votes on tax […]
Stories from the Field: Show Me the Numbers – The Importance of Data
Due to Congressional inaction, the 2008 Farm Bill has expired without a new bill or extension to take its place. In the absence of a farm bill, numerous innovative programs that invest in sustainable agriculture systems are shut down and left without funding. This post is the final post in our 10-week blog series that […]
New Report Evaluates 2012 Beginning Farmer Awards
The Land Stewardship Project (LSP) has recently issued a report evaluating the 2012 grant allocations through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). NSAC collaborated on the evaluation and report. The evaluation included a phone survey of 36 out […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: No Bill is Better than a Bad Bill
Last week we tried to address what a good 2012 Farm Bill deal would look like. This week, as last, the so-called “gang of four” — Senate Agriculture Chair and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Pat Roberts (R-KS) and House Agriculture Chair and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) — are meeting […]
What’s at Stake: Data on Organic Farming
Due to Congressional inaction, the 2008 Farm Bill has expired without a new bill or extension to take its place. In the absence of a farm bill, numerous innovative programs that invest in sustainable agriculture systems are shut down and left without mandatory funding. This is the last post in our 10-week “What’s at Stake?” […]
Strengthening Policy for Soil Health and a Food Secure World
All week we have posted articles from people involved with USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program about soil health and cover cropping. SARE offers a rich stockpile of research results and educational materials on these issues that will help farmers adopt best practices and also help inform USDA’s Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Is a Deal Possible and What Would A Good Deal Look Like?
Last week we tried to briefly summarize the options remaining for Congress on the farm bill. Since then, there have been some new signs of progress on getting a full five-year bill finished this month, though also signs of continuing confusion and uncertainty. Last week we rated that option as possible, but did not give […]