USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) recently released the Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America data set. The tool, an interactive mapping application, provides spatial information (national to county-level) of socioeconomic factors on four broad categories of : People— county demographic profiles including age, race/ethnicity, education, migration and immigration, household size and family composition (from the from […]
Research, Education & Extension
Organic Seed Alliance Releases “State of Organic Seed” Report
On February 16, 2011, the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) released a survey-based report entitled State of Organic Seed: Advancing the Viability and Integrity of Organic Seed Systems. The report serves as the first comprehensive analysis of the organic seed sector. Although the USDA National Organic Program (NOP) requires the use of organic seed when commercially […]
AFRI Awards to Study Effects of Climate Change on Agricultural and Forest Production
On Friday February 18, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), through its Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) funding opportunity, awarded three $20 million grants (over 5 years) to Coordinated Agriculture Projects (CAP) to study the effects of climate change on agriculture and forest production. Dr. Tim Martin, of the University of Florida […]
Take Action: Oppose Reckless Spending Cuts
Call Your Senators In the early hours of Saturday, February 19, the House of Representatives approved a government funding bill that would slash more than $60 billion from the federal budget for the last half of fiscal year 2011. The bill (H.R. 1) unfairly targets programs that serve sustainable and organic farmers. It makes steep […]
House Approves $60 Billion in Budget Cuts
In the early hours of Saturday, February 19, the House of Representatives approved on a near party-line 235-189 vote the government funding bill for the last half of fiscal year 2011. The bill, H.R. 1, would slash roughly $60 billion from the federal budget relative to fiscal year 2010 spending. Three Republicans voted against the […]
Obama USDA Budget Proposal a Mixed Bag
On Monday, February 14, President Obama submitted his budget request to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. For sustainable agriculture interests, the budget proposal is a mixed bag, with big cuts to farm bill conservation programs, though mostly good news on discretionary spending accounts. Mandatory Farm Bill Spending President Obama’s proposed budget calls for deep, […]
House GOP Funding Proposal Would Cut NSAC Priority Programs
Post updated 2/15/11 Following a revolt by some of their rank and file on Thursday, House Republican leaders on Friday night released their draft bill to cut government funding for the remainder of the fiscal year that end September 3 by a significantly larger amount then they planned for earlier in the week. The bill […]
GMO Alfalfa Approved With No Restrictions? Stay Informed & Take Action
The Obama Administration’s recent decision to allow unlimited, non-restricted commercial planting of genetically-engineered (GE) alfalfa resistant to the herbicide commercially known as Roundup was a huge disappointment to the sustainable and organic agriculture community. With the sudden decision and resulting outcry from organic and consumer groups, including many of our member groups working on this […]
Upcoming USDA Program and Grant Deadlines
In case you haven’t kept track of all of the blogs we’ve posted about USDA conservation and competitive grant programs over the past few months, here is a handy summary of the USDA programs with upcoming enrollment or application deadlines: Sign-up Deadlines for USDA Conservation Programs: Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) Organic Initiative, administered by USDA’s […]
AFRI Releases RFA for Childhood Obesity Prevention Projects
On Wednesday, January 26, USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) released a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s (AFRI) Childhood Obesity Prevention Challenge Area. AFRI has yet to release FY 2011 RFAs for the remaining four Challenge Areas: climate change, food safety, global food security, and sustainable bioenergy. […]
Taxpayers Believe More Should be Spent on Food Safety, Conservation, Reseach, Rural Development
A new study, to be presented at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association 2011 Annual Meeting in February, finds that taxpayers believe that less money should be spent on direct payments, price supports, and crop insurance, while more should be directed toward food safety, natural resource conservation, research and education, and rural development. The paper was […]
House Agriculture Committee Re-Organizes
As often happens following elections that shift the party in the majority, the new Republican leadership of the House Agriculture Committee reorganized the panel’s subcommittees. As we previously have reported, Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) is the new Chair of the Full Committee, and former Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) has been named Vice Chair. There are […]
First 2010 AFRI Awards Announced
USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) dribbled out two announcements last week on 2010 awards under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). AFRI is the largest of several NIFA competitive grants research, education and extension programs. On January 13, a grant award to Oregon State University for childhood obesity prevention in rural […]
USDA Releases First 2011 Request for Applications for AFRI
On Friday, January 7, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) released the first of seven 2011 requests for applications (RFA) for the Agriculture, Food and Research Initiative (AFRI) competitive grants program. AFRI is the largest of the NIFA competitive grants programs, which also include smaller specialized programs for sustainable agriculture, organic farming, and […]
Congress Extends FY2010 Budget through March 4, 2011
Late on Tuesday, December 21, Congress passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) scheduled to expire on March 4, 2011, which will fund most federal government agencies at the level provided in their FY2010 Appropriations Bills. The Senate voted 79-16 on Sunday, December 19 to amend the House-passed CR (H.R. 3082). The amended CR then went to […]
Lame Duck Appears Headed for End with No Appropriations or Food Safety Bills
In the early evening on December 16, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pulled the pending omnibus appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2011 when it became clear that no Republicans would vote for it. Earlier in the week, at least five and possibly as many as nine Republicans were indicating privately they would support the […]
Senate Omnibus Appropriations Bill Released
(Updated Version — 12/15/10 — of Original Post) The Senate Appropriations Committee released the long-awaited omnibus, government-wide appropriations bill the afternoon of December 14. The $1.1 trillion bill is a less than two percent increase over FY 2010, $26 billion less than what the Obama Administration requested in February, $18 billion more than the long-term […]
House Passes Senate Food Safety Bill with FY 11 Appropriations
On Wednesday evening, December 8, the House passed a combined Continuing Resolution-Food Safety bill by a vote of 212-206. All Republicans and 35 Democrats voted no. The Continuing Resolution would fund all government functions for the remainder of the current fiscal year 2011, which ends September 30, 2011. The current short-term Continuing Resolution expires on […]
SARE Announces New Director
On Monday, November 29, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program announced the appointment of Rob Hedberg, SARE’s interim director since January 2009, as its new national director. Since growing up on a small farm in Michigan, Hedberg has dedicated his career to agriculture science, education, and policy, most recently at USDA’s National Institute […]
Upcoming eOrganic Webinars on Climate Change and Cover Crops
Throughout November and December, eOrganic, an organic agriculture resource with extensions around the country, will host several webinars on climate change and cover crops. The upcoming free webinars include: Impact of Organic Grain Farming Methods on Climate Change by Michel Cavigelli of the USDA-ARS Sustainable Agricultural Systems Lab in Beltsville, Maryland. In this webinar, Dr. […]
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development Seeks Peer Reviewers
The Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD), which published its inaugural issue, “Growing New Farmers,” in August 2010, is gearing up for its second issue and seeking to expand its pool of peer reviewers. The JAFSCD is a peer-reviewed online publication focused on the practice and applied research interests of agriculture and […]
NIFA Announces Organic Research and Extension Grants
Today, October 27, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced 30 grants totaling over $22 million to enhance the ability of organic producers and processors grow and market high quality organic agricultural products. In announcing the awards, NIFA Director Roger Beachy noted “More and more farmers are adopting organic agriculture practices to produce […]
USDA Announces 2010 Specialty Crop Research Grants
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 […]
SARE Posts Audio and Presentations from Sustainable Ag Symposium
In September, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and Organic Farming Research Foundation co-sponsored an all-day symposium to discuss the recently published National Research Council report Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century. On October 8, USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), another co-sponsor of the event, announced that audio transcripts and powerpoint presentations are now available […]