Today, October 25, USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan announced the 28 recipients of 2010 Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) grants. The SCRI, administered by USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), was established in the 2008 Farm Bill to support the specialty crop industry through research and extension activities. Specialty crops are defined as […]
Food Safety
Consumer Groups Get it Wrong on Tester
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, representing 40 grassroots family farm, food, rural, and conservation organizations from all regions of the country, today responded critically to a letter and analysis sent to the United States Senate by a coalition of 9 national consumer organizations opposing an amendment to be offered by Senators Jon Tester and Kay Hagan to S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act…. Read More →
Reid Files Cloture on Food Safety Bill
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) signaled his intent late Wednesday night to move the Food Safety Modernization Act forward when Congress returns to session in mid-November. The bill, which has strong bi-partisan support, has been held up for weeks by the objection of one lone Senator, Tom Coburn (R-OK). Reid filed for “cloture,” a […]
USDA Announces 2010 Recipients of Specialty Crop Block Grants
On Friday, September 17th, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan announced the awards made under this year’s Specialty Crop Block Grant program. The grants to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops are made in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. […]
Food Safety Bill Remains Stalled In Senate
The Senate Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510) remains deadlocked over Senator Tom Coburn’s (R-OK) objections to the bill’s potential $1.4 billion price tag, despite Senator Harry Reid’s (D-NV) decision to “hotline” the bill yesterday in order to check for any remaining Democratic objections, a critical step toward speeding the bill’s progress. Lawmakers at a hearing […]
Legislative Update and Action
One week down, three weeks maximum left to go before the congressional recess prior to the November elections. The Senate this week passed the small business tax cut bill and draft bills and trial balloons are circulating on the big tax cut extension bill, but on the four bills left on the NSAC agenda – […]
Senate Confirms Hagen and Woteki at USDA
On Thursday, September 16th, Senate voted to confirm Elisabeth Hagen as USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety and Catherine Woteki as USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. The appointments are encouraging, not least because the position of Under Secretary for Food Safety has remained unfilled for over a year. Hagen was appointed back […]
Food Safety Legislation Heading for the Senate Floor
ACTION ALERT! September 15, 2010 FOOD SAFETY LEGISLATION MUST PROTECT FAMILY FARMS, SUSTAINABLE & ORGANIC AGRICULTURE CALL YOUR SENATORS TODAY AND URGE THEM TO SUPPORT THE TESTER AMENDMENT The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) could reach the Senate floor as early as tomorrow. NSAC has been able to win several improvements to the bill […]
Congress Back for Three Weeks – Time (Barely) for Action
Summer recess has come to a close and Congress returns to Washington next week, with three weeks and less than 12 actual legislative days before the start of the new federal fiscal year on October 1. With a packed agenda – including a small business tax bill, extensions of some or all of the 2001 […]
Revised Senate Food Safety Bill Includes Important Amendments
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee released a copy of the “manager’s amendment” to the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) which is, in essence, the bill as reported out of the HELP Committee late last year as modified by a long and arduous set of negotiations that have taken place […]
Know Your Farmer Blog and Agency Guides
USDA programs can often seem enigmatic and confusing. Many farmers, rural development and conservation groups in need of financial or technical assistance are often either unaware of what USDA programs exist, or lack access to the assistance they seek. The USDA’s Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative seeks to remedy this disconnect by strengthening […]
Legislative Roundup: Farm Credit Funding Passes, Other Food and Farm Legislation Could Move
[Friday July 30 update to story below — A measure to fund the Pigford II class action settlement between USDA and black farmers is now expected to come to the Senate floor early next week as a stand alone measure. The Food Safety Modernization Act (S 510) is now not expected to be taken up […]
FSIS Names Advisory Committee on Meat & Poultry Inspection
On Thursday, July 15, USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service announced the reestablishment of the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) and the newly appointed members of the committee for 2010-2012. Established in 1971, the National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) advises the Secretary of the USDA on federal and […]
FDA Calls for Comments on Antibiotics Use Guidance
On Monday June 28th, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a draft guidance entitled “The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food-Producing Animals,” calling for public comment during the next 60 days. The use of antimicrobials, including antibiotics, whether in people or animals, hastens the development of resistant microbes, including bacteria. […]
Food Safety Talks: An Interview with NSAC’s Ferd Hoefner
By Patty Cantrell, Senior Policy Specialist at Michigan Land Institute, a consultant for the National Good Food Food Network & Co-Chair of NSAC’s Marketing, Food Systems and Rural Development Issue Committee As the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on new food safety regulations, the National Good Food Network (NGFN) has posted a series of interviews […]
First FSIS Public Hearing On Controversial Guidance
On June 14, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) held the first of three public meetings to discuss and receive comments on their controversial HACCP Systems Validation Guidance document aimed at small and very-small meat and poultry facilities. View the FSIS Press release here. The guidance document issued in March of 2010 is intended […]
FSIS Announces Public Hearing on Controversial Guidance
On June 4, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced a series of public meetings in response to the release of their controversial guidance document back in March on HACCP Systems Validation for small and very small meat and poultry processing facilities. The first public meeting will be held on June 14 from 8:30-1:00 at […]
Moving Legislation – What’s in it for Food and Agriculture
With the financial regulation bill approved in the Senate and moving to conference with the House-passed bill, and with the one week Memorial Day recess just a week away, several key legislative items are starting to move quickly. A brief review follows, highlighting what is in the bills for food and agriculture. Budget Resolution – […]
Food Safety Bill Still Pending in the Senate
S. 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, is expected to be considered by the Senate right after the Memorial Day recess, according to Senate staff. The bill is the first significant effort to increase food safety in decades and gives the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) new enforcement authority over industry and will also […]
USDA Seeking Public Input on Animal Disease Traceability
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced the first three of a series of public meetings where stakeholders can offer input on the framework for a new APHIS rule on animal disease traceability. May 11, 2010: Kansas City, MO — Holiday Inn Kansas City SE—Waterpark, 9103 East 39th Street May 13, 2010: […]
Senate Food Safety Bill Includes Improvements That Support Farmers
UPDATE: The food safety bill (S 510) was supposed to go to the full Senate next week, but as of Thursday, April 15, we have heard that the timing is being pushed back a week or two because the Senate will instead be debating finance reform. The Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) would provide […]
USDA Releases Request for Applications for AFRI Competitive Grants
This week, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (formerly, the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service) released the long-anticipated 2010 Request for Applications (RFAs) for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). Significantly overhauled and with more funding to award than ever, the AFRI RFAs define a substantive portion of USDA’s research agenda, […]
Antibiotic Use Facing Growing Scrutiny by FDA, Congress
The widespread use of antibiotics in livestock production, and the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, is a topic of increasing interest among policymakers. After delving into the topic less than a week before at the Atlantic Food Summit, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg returned to the antibiotics question again during the House Agricultural Appropriations Subcommittee hearing […]
10 Days of Sustainable Ag Advocacy: An Intern’s Perspective
by Kara Slaughter, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute “With reference to individual or national welfare, agriculture is of primary importance.” -George Washington So reads one of the three quotations at the top of the stone edifice at the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, D.C. Part of what prompted me to quit my “real job” […]