Marketing and Labeling

Inaugural Regional Food Systems Partnership Program Funding Opportunity Announced

March 31, 2020

Local and regional food economy entrepreneurs and organizations received some long-awaited news earlier in March – the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) finally released the Request for Applications (RFA) for the Regional Food Systems Partnership (RFSP) Program. RFSP is a new program that supports foodshed-level approaches to developing regional food economies. […]

$27 million in Grant Funding Available for Farmers Markets and Local Food Projects

March 24, 2020

On March 9, 2020  USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced the availability of $27 million in funding for the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program (FMLFPP). FMLFPP has two subprograms – the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) and the Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) – with a separate Request for Applications (RFA) for each […]

COVID-19 Economic Impact on Local Food Markets

March 23, 2020

The following economic impact assessment was compiled on March 18, 2020 for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition by Dawn Thilmany, Becca Jablonski, Debra Tropp, Blake Angelo, and Sarah Low. More information about the authors can be found at the end of the document. Last updated March 21, 2020. Bottom Line Across key local and regional […]

RELEASE: National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Sets 2020 Policy Priorities

February 6, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reana KovalcikNational Sustainable Agriculture CoalitionP: 202-547-5754, E: rkovalcik@sustainableagriculture.net  National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Sets 2020 Policy Priorities Washington, DC, February 4, 2020 – Last week, representatives from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition’s (NSAC) 130+ member organizations voted on a final set of policy and funding priorities to guide the Coalition’s work through 2020. “This collaborative priority […]

Congress Clears FY 2020 Appropriations Packages

December 20, 2019

This week, after months of delay, Congress passed a much-anticipated deal to fund the government through the end of fiscal year (FY) 2020. FY 2020 runs through September 30, 2020. The $1.4 trillion package of discretionary spending bills, which was divided up into two “minibuses”, was finally delivered this week after months of rigorous advocacy […]

COMMENT: FY 2020 “Minibus” Bolsters Farm Bill Wins for Sustainable Agriculture

December 17, 2019

The final appropriations package builds upon the sustainable agriculture community’s hard-fought farm bill wins and delivers much-needed support to family farmers across the country at a time when good news is increasingly hard to come by.

VAPG Helps Farm and Food Entrepreneurs Bring Home the Bacon

December 3, 2019

Editor’s Note: On December 11, 2019 USDA Rural Development announced the availability of at least $37 million and a 90 day application period for VAPG grants. Stay tuned, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) will publish more information, including its updated Farmers’ Guide to Applying for the Value-Added Producer Grant Program in the new year. The […]

COMMENT: Farm Advocates Hope Senate Farm to School Month Resolution Signals Opportunity for Action on Upcoming CNR

November 1, 2019

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and National Farm to School Network (NFSN) jointly praised the effort to highlight the important relationship between farmers, schools, and our nation’s children. The organizations, which work closely together to advance federal policies that further farm to school connections and the socioeconomic benefits that those relationships confer, also underscored the opportunity for Senators to further support these efforts by including the Farm to School Act (S. 2026) and the Kids Eat Local Act (S. 1817) in the next Child Nutrition Act Reauthorization (CNR).

The Untold History of Federal Farm to School Support and its Impact on Local Food Research

October 4, 2019

Editor’s Note: This post was written by Debra Tropp, former Deputy Director, Local Food Research and Development, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Debra retired from USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service in January 2019 after 26 years of service. She continues to keep her hand in local and regional food issues through her appointments […]

Regional Meetings Give Voice to Small Scale Meat and Poultry

August 16, 2019

The rising demand for local, niche meat and poultry over the past decade has led to ever-increasing reliance on the country’s few small-scale independent processing plants that operate outside of the broader commodity meat sector. When one of these small plants is shutdown or suspended, therefore, the impact can be resounding. The National Sustainable Agriculture […]