We have been fielding lots of questions in the past few weeks following the congressional meltdown on the new farm bill. This is not surprising, given Congress’ failure to date to either pass a new farm bill or to enact a short-term extension of the existing farm bill before the farm bill expires at midnight, […]
Local & Regional Food Systems
USDA Announces 2012 Farmers Market Promotion Program Awards
Today USDA announced the recipients of this year’s Farmers Market Promotion Program awards. The 2012 awards span 131 projects in 39 States and total over $9 million in funding. The full list of projects can be found here. The Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) aims to increase and strengthen direct producer-to-consumer marketing channels. Through a […]
Congress Votes to Slash Conservation Spending, Extends FY 2012 Funding Levels
The Senate voted (67-31) this morning to proceed to a vote to pass a 6-month continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government funded at FY 2012 levels through March 27, 2013. The final vote will likely occur sometime this weekend, slowed down by several procedural moves related to votes on extraneous matters. It may take […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: House Letter to Protect Organic Programs
Today, House Organic Caucus co-chairs and House Agriculture Committee Members sent a bipartisan letter to the House leadership regarding the core organic programs that expire on September 30 unless Congress takes action to reauthorize and fund these programs. A number of beginning farmer, rural development, and marketing programs are in the same situation. In the letter, […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Congress Returns to DC with No Clear Path Forward
Earlier this month, when Congress left the heat and humidity of the DC summer to go on August recess, the fate of the 2012 Farm Bill remained unclear. (If you need a refresher on where we are in the process, recall that the House Agriculture Committee passed its version of the bill in July, but […]
USDA Launches Organic Literacy Initiative
On Tuesday, September 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a series of resources as part of its new Organic Literacy Initiative, an effort to help connect current and prospective organic farmers, ranchers, and processors with the USDA resources available to them. The purpose of the Organic Literacy Initiative is to provide USDA staff as […]
Fall 2012 National Organic Standards Board Meeting Announced
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) will be holding its next meeting in Providence, RI, from October 15 to 18. The NOSB was established by the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 and is charged with making recommendations on allowed and prohibited substances in organic production and handling, assisting in the development of standards for […]
Rural Business Enterprise Grant Awards Include Food and Agriculture Development
USDA announced two rounds of funding for the Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) program this summer. On June 26, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced funding for seven projects in two states. The second round of RBEG awards was announced August 21 for 16 grant recipients from 17 states. USDA explains RBEG as a program […]
USDA Approves Ohio Program for Interstate Shipment of State-Inspected Meat and Poultry
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 […]
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 […]
Guest Blog: Celebrate National Farmers Market Week! — August 5-11
We want to thank Stacy Miller from NSAC member Farmers Market Coalition (FMC) for her contribution. Stacy is Executive Director of FMC, and will be transitioning to the role of Project Director with the expected arrival of her first child later this month. FMC works to strengthen farmers markets for the benefit of farmers, consumers, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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: Draft House Farm Bill Drilldown
On July 5, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) released their draft farm bill ahead of the House Agriculture Committee’s farm bill markup scheduled for next week beginning Wednesday, July 11. The bill generates $35 billion in savings by cutting over $16 billion from nutrition programs and more than $6 billion […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Draft House Farm Bill Highlights
On July 5, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Lucas (R-OK) and Ranking Member Peterson (D-MN) released their draft farm bill ahead of the House Agriculture Committee’s farm bill markup scheduled for next week beginning Wednesday, July 11. The bill generates $35 billion in savings by cutting over $16 billion from nutrition programs and more than $6 billion […]
Sportsmen, Conservation, and Agriculture Groups Support National Sodsaver Legislation
A diverse group of sportsmen, scientists, and conservation and agricultural organizations delivered two letters to Representatives Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) this week in support of the Protect Our Prairies Act (H.R. 5879). Representatives Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Tim Walz (D-MN) introduced the legislation in late May as a marker bill. Marker bills […]
ERS Releases Report on Local Meat Processing
On June 19, USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released a report titled “Slaughter and Processing Options and Issues for Locally Sourced Meat.” The report sought to evaluate “the availability of slaughter and processing facilities for local meat production and the extent to which these may constrain or support growth in demand for locally sourced meats.” […]
Path to the 2012 Farm Bill: Success Continues on Day Two of Senate Farm Bill Deliberations
The good news continues! Yesterday we reported on major farm bill floor victories on amendments to improve funding for rural economic development and beginning farmers and to cap commodity subsidies. Today, on the second full day of the Senate’s “vote-o-rama” on the 2012 Farm Bill, NSAC-supported amendments to reform federal crop insurance were victorious, against […]