On August 9, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced Ohio as the first state to receive approval for the interstate shipment of state-inspected meat and poultry products under a cooperative federal-state inspection program created by the 2008 Farm Bill. Prior to establishment of this Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, state-inspected meat and poultry products could not […]
Farm Bill
USDA Announces Funding Opportunity for Value-Added Producer Grants
On August 15, USDA’s Rural Business-Cooperative Service announced the availability of $14 million in funding for its Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) competitive grants program. The Notice of Funds Available (NOFA) can be found in the August 15, 2012 Federal Register. Applications are due October 15, 2012. Program Basics: VAPG is a competitive grants program that […]
Glickman, Moseley Urge Conservation Compliance in Farm Bill
On Thursday, August 2, two former senior-level Administration officials penned an op-ed in The Hill urging Congress to reattach basic soil and wetland conservation requirements to federal crop insurance premium subsidies. Dan Glickman, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Bill Clinton, and Jim Moseley, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture under President George W. […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Passes Stand-Alone Disaster Bill
On Thursday, August 2, the House of Representatives passed a stand-alone disaster bill by a vote of 223 to 197. Thirty-five Democrats voted for the bill, while 46 Republicans voted against the measure. The bill would cut $639 million from two conservation programs — the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program — […]
One Year Farm Bill Extension Pulled, New Bill Being Prepared
We are delighted to report the proposed House bill to extend the current farm bill by a year that we have campaigned against since it was hastily introduced last week has been pulled and will not be considered. Elsewhere we have reported on all the huge negative ramifications that bill would have had. We now […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Local Food Marker Bill: Where Are We Now?
Last fall, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME) introduced the Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act to create jobs and spur economic development through food and farms. This bill funds and improves critical programs that create economic opportunities for farmers, support local and regional food systems, and improve food access for all. […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Beginning Farmer Marker Bill: Where Are We Now?
Last fall, Senator Harkin (D-IA) and Representatives Fortenberry (R-NE) and Walz (D-MN) introduced the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act to invest in the next generation of American farmers. This bill funds and improves critical programs that provide training, outreach, and technical assistance for new farmers and ranchers. As a marker bill, it’s not intended […]
Groups Oppose House Farm Bill Extension in Letter to Speaker
On July 30, 2012, NSAC joined 12 other national conservation groups in sending a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner opposing the House farm bill extension and arguing instead for a full five-year farm bill re-authorization this year. “We are writing on behalf of our millions of members to convey our strong and unified […]
Path AWAY from a 2012 Farm Bill: Pending House Extension Dooms Farm Bill Programs
For the past two days we have reported on the surprise move by the House Republican leadership to pull the rug out from under the 2012 Farm Bill. Rather than complete its business by taking the farm bill reported out of the House Agriculture Committee to the floor and then to conference with the Senate-passed […]
House Farm Bill Extension Would Hurt Farmers and Economy, Undermine Conservation Efforts
On Friday, July 27, the House Rules Committee posted the text of a one-year extension to the 2008 Farm Bill. In our earlier post, we noted that we strongly oppose a clean extension of the Farm Bill, given that the bill would allow many critical programs expire. Unfortunately, the bill posted on the Rules Committee […]
Congress Mulls Continuing Resolution, Sends Sequestration Bill to the President
As the highly contorted farm bill process continues to unfold, Congress is simultaneously working in abnormal ways to address important budget and appropriations matters. Neither the full House nor the full Senate has yet to pass an agriculture appropriations bill for FY 2013. Both chambers did, however, begin to address the looming matter of budget […]
NSAC Comments on House Farm Bill Extension Bill
For Immediate Release July 27, 2012 Contact: Ferd Hoefner, 202-547-5754 NSAC Comments on House Farm Bill Extension Bill NSAC vehemently opposes the dirty extension bill filed today by House majority leadership. Passage of this bill would ensure there is no action this year on the 2012 Farm Bill. It prevents agricultural reform from happening. It […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Moves Toward Extension Rather than Reform
With daily national press accounts on the serious drought affecting substantial segments of the heartland as backdrop, the House Republican leadership decided this week to use the drought as a cover story for extending the current farm bill for a year rather than passing a new farm bill with substantial reforms. NSAC opposes extending the […]
NSAC Briefs House Members on Conservation and Crop Insurance
On Friday, July 20, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition joined with the National Wildlife Federation, American Farmland Trust, and Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership to brief more than 30 House legislative aides on the importance of attaching basic conservation requirements to crop insurance subsidies. The briefing, entitled “Preserving soil and wetlands through the farm safety net: a […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Jockeying Continues
The future of the 2012 Farm Bill remains unclear. While many members of Congress, and agriculture, environment, and advocacy groups have repeatedly called for the farm bill to be brought to the House floor, leadership continues to stonewall the effort. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor apparently do not plan give […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Agriculture Bill Includes Anti-Farmer, Anti-Environment Riders
The House Agriculture Committee farm bill that passed out of committee early yesterday morning includes a number of anti-regulatory riders. As we previously reported, the House mark included three riders before Committee markup began. The mark includes a provision that significantly weakens USDA’s ability to regulate the use of genetically engineered (GE) organisms. The provision […]
Path to 2012 Farm Bill: Appeal to House Leadership
On July 13, NSAC joined 45 national farm, commodity, financial, conservation, rural, religious, and research organizations to send a letter to the House leadership urging them to schedule floor consideration of the House Agriculture Committee’s version of the farm bill. The current farm bill is set to expire September 30, 2012 and without a guarantee […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Boehner Still Hedging His Bets on Farm Bill
The House Agriculture Committee approved its farm bill at 1 am Thursday morning with a bipartisan vote of 35-11. The next steps for the bill are uncertain, however, as Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) today again refused to guarantee it any floor time before the authorizations expire Sept. 30. Journalists at Politico and […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: NSAC Assessment of House Committee-Passed Bill
In an earlier post we provided highlights and lowlights of the House Agriculture Committee one-day markup of their version of the 2102 Farm Bill, including a rundown of sustainable agriculture amendments passed and defeated. Here we turn to an assessment of the bill overall. Still to come is a piece discussing possible next steps in […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Agriculture Committee Debates and Passes Its Farm Bill
After a full-day marathon markup that started on Wednesday morning and went into the early hours of Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee passed its version of the 2012 Farm Bill by a vote of 35-11. Seven Democrats and four Republicans voted against the bill. The Republicans who voted against the bill did so based on […]
Release: NSAC Applauds House Agriculture Committee for Adopting Fudge-Fortenberry Microloan Amendment
For Immediate Release Contact: Ferd Hoefner or Juli Obudzinski, 202-547-5754 NSAC Applauds House Agriculture Committee for Adopting Fudge-Fortenberry Microloan Amendment Washington, DC – Today the House Agriculture Committee adopted by voice vote an important amendment to its draft farm bill that will authorize microlending programs within USDA. “Capital is the number one need of young […]
Release: NSAC Pleased with House Agriculture Committee Adoption of Pingree-Ellmers-Gibson Farm to School Amendment
For Immediate Release Contact: Ferd Hoefner or Helen Dombalis, 202-547-5754 NSAC Pleased with House Agriculture Committee Adoption of Pingree-Ellmers-Gibson Farm to School Amendment Washington, DC – Today the House Agriculture Committee adopted an important amendment to its draft farm bill that will authorize certain farm to school programs. “We applaud the Committee for adopting this […]
Path to 2012 Farm Bill: House Markup Looms
The House Agriculture Committee will debate and vote on its version of the 2012 Farm Bill tomorrow, Wednesday July 11. It is now widely expected that the House Agriculture Committee “mark-up” of the 2012 Farm Bill will take less than a day, rather than the normal multi-day process. The markup will begin at 10 AM […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Funding Decisions Loom Large for New Farmers, Rural Communities, Local Food
Program funding decisions are always front and center in farm bill debates. Generally, most of the attention goes to the big money titles — nutrition, crop insurance, commodity programs, and conservation. Though smaller programs for beginning farmers, rural economic development, renewable energy, organic agriculture, and healthy food get less attention, those funding choices are nonetheless […]