Each year, Congress passes far-reaching funding legislation, known as appropriations legislation, to fund federal programs across the government. This includes many of the programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On Wednesday, May 9, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee passed its agriculture appropriations bill for fiscal year […]
Rural Development
RELEASE: USDA Study Shows Value-Added Agriculture Creates Jobs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reana Kovalcik or Wes King National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition 202-547-5754, rkovalcik@sustainableagriculture.net, wking@sustainableagriculture.net Job Creation through Value-Added Agriculture: An American Success Story New Economic Research Service Report on Value-Added Producer Grants Washington, DC, May 8, 2018 – Yesterday, the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the USDA released a new report assessing the impact of the Value-Added Producer […]
Top Ten Reasons to Reject the House Farm Bill
1. Helps the big get bigger and rich get richer Over the last three decades, American agriculture has become increasingly consolidated. As of 2015, a majority of our food (51 percent) came from farms with over $1 million in annual sales – up 20 percent since 1991. Federal policy has historically contributed to this consolidation […]
House Ag Committee Passes Farm Bill, Members of Congress Speak Out
The farm bill is a near trillion dollar, 600-plus page legislative package that governs all aspects of the American food and agriculture system and comes up for debate only once every five or so years. With the current farm bill expiring at the end of September, the farm bill reauthorization process has officially kicked off […]
Draft House Farm Bill: Local & Regional Food and Rural Development
This is the third post in a multi-part blog series analyzing the draft farm bill released on April 12, 2018 by House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX). Other posts in this series focus on: beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers, crop insurance and commodity subsidies, research and seed breeding, conservation, and organic agriculture. The bill is expected to be considered […]
RELEASE: Draft Farm Bill Delivers Knock-Out Punch to “Tiny but Mighty” Programs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reana Kovalcik National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition 202-547-5754, rkovalcik@sustainableagriculture.net Draft Farm Bill Delivers Knock-Out Punch to “Tiny but Mighty” Programs Local/regional food system and rural development programs are among the hardest hit Washington, DC, April 13, 2018 – At a price tag of well over $800 billion dollars, the farm bill wouldn’t be considered by […]
COMMENT: American Agriculture Needs a Strong Farm Bill, Draft House Bill Doesn’t Deliver
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reana Kovalcik National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition 202-547-5754, rkovalcik@sustainableagriculture.net American Agriculture Needs a Strong Farm Bill, Draft House Bill Doesn’t Deliver National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition urges Congress to develop a bipartisan bill Washington, DC, April 12, 2018 – Today, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-TX) introduced his draft of the 2018 […]
Wins for Sustainable Agriculture in FY 2018 Omnibus
Early this morning, Congress passed a government spending package (the “omnibus appropriations bill”) to fund federal programs through the end of September, which is when the current fiscal year expires. The House passed the package 256-167 on Thursday, the Senate passed the bill 65-32 Friday morning, and the President signed the bill into law that […]
President’s Budget Proposal Threatens Food, Farm, and Nutrition Programs
The deeply problematic proposals of the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget, released on Monday of this week, include devastating cuts to critical farm and food programs. The budget, if enacted, would reduce the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) budget by a whopping 25 percent, from $24 billion to $18 billion. In addition to cutting […]
RFA Roundup: Funding Opportunities in the New Year
The New Year may have just started, but there are already many federal funding opportunities available for eligible farmers, ranchers, non-profits, and universities. Several of these opportunities opened last year and have rapidly approaching deadlines. Others have been more recently posted, and you may have missed the Request for Application (RFA) announcement during the end-of-year […]
Deadline Approaching for Value-Added Producer Grant Applications!
Editor’s note: This blog post was originally published in August of 2017 and has been republished to highlight the approaching application deadline: January 24, 2018 for electronic applications and January 31, 2018 for paper applications. To learn more about the Value-Added Producer Grant Program (VAPG), please see the blog post below. You can also consult our […]
Path to the 2018 Farm Bill: A Comprehensive Approach to Food and Farm Policy
Editor’s Note: On October 24, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) released its 2018 Farm Bill policy platform, An Agenda for the 2018 Farm Bill. NSAC has been a leader in agricultural policy for over 30 years, and has been instrumental in helping to develop some of our nation’s most successful agricultural programs for conserving […]
Clock Ticking On FY 2018 Appropriations
The end of the fiscal year (September 30) has come and gone, and with fiscal year (FY) 2017 funding levels extended through December 8, the time Congress has to negotiate final spending levels for FY 2018 is quickly running out. There is a lot on the line in this appropriations package for farmers and consumers […]
Trump Administration Undertaking Historic Reorganizing of USDA, But to What End?
Back in May, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a USDA reorganization plan that eliminated its Rural Development Mission Area and downgraded the status of what was the Under Secretary for Rural Development to an Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development, closing the Office of the Under Secretary in the process. […]
RELEASE: “Farmers’ Guide” Will Help Producers Navigate VAPG
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reana Kovalcik 202-547-5754, rkovalcik@sustainableagriculture.net “Farmers’ Guide” Will Help Producers Navigate Value-Added Producer Grant Program National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Releases Newly Updated Resource Washington, DC, September 11, 2017 – Following months of consternation by farmers and advocacy groups alike, on Monday, August 28, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) finally announced […]
$18 million Available for Value-Added Agriculture
Editor’s note: Following the publication of this blog post, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) will publish its updated Farmers’ Guide to Applying for the Value-Added Producer Grant Program. The Guide is a free resource that walks farmers through the program’s application requirements, including a step-by-step description of the application and ranking processes. Producing fresh, […]
Say Cheese! NSAC Hosts 2017 Summer Meeting in Madison, WI
This summer, farm and food advocates have more on their minds than just vacation planning and sweet corn picking. Even though the current farm bill doesn’t expire until next September, the content of the 2018 Farm Bill is already being debated in the halls of Congress, on the farm, and in homes across the country. […]
Federal Reserve Puts Its Money on Regional Food Systems
The Federal Reserve, better known for setting the nation’s monetary policy than promoting locally-grown produce, released a book this week celebrating the growing local and regional farm and food sectors as key drivers of economic and community development. Harvesting Opportunity: The Power of Regional Food System Investments to Transform Communities, produced by the Federal Reserve […]
Senate Appropriators Prioritize Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development
Following closely on the heels of the House Agriculture Appropriation Subcommittee’s funding bill, which was approved by the full House Appropriations Committee last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced its agriculture appropriations funding measure for fiscal year (FY) 2018. The Senate bill moved quickly through the Subcommittee and full Committee approval process, with just […]
The Numbers Behind the Farm Bill: A Little-Known Factor for the Fate of Sustainable Ag Programs
Editor’s Note: This is the third of a four-part series explaining the background budget information that will be used to craft the upcoming 2018 Farm Bill. In this post we look in more detail at the smaller, more innovative programs that receive direct farm bill funding but will need to have their funding renewed in […]
RFA Roundup: Deadline Reminders and New Funding Opportunities
Many program application deadlines are quickly approaching, so if you are a farmer, rancher, non-profit organization, university or other eligible entity and are interested in securing some federal support, make sure you get your application in on time! As part of our ongoing efforts to help farmers and advocates stay up to date with federal […]
House Appropriations Bill Largely Rejects President’s Proposed Cuts to Agriculture Programs
“Dead on arrival” is what many in Congress called the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget request – which included a discretionary funding cut of 21 percent ($47 billion over 10 years) to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) – when it was released earlier this year. This week’s FY 2018 funding bill from the House […]
Congressional Appropriators Question Secretary Perdue on USDA Budget and Reorganization Plans
On Tuesday, June 13, shortly after appropriators received a letter from nearly 600 organizations, businesses, and local governments opposing the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) plan to eliminate its Rural Development Mission Area, the Secretary of Agriculture returned to Capitol Hill to once again defend his plans for a Departmental reorganization. This week, the Secretary […]
USDA Secretary Testifies on Administration’s Budget Proposal, Department Reorganization
One day after the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget was released, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Sonny Perdue headed to Capitol Hill to testify before the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee. This subcommittee, along with its counterpart in the Senate, is comprised of the members of Congress who will ultimately determine discretionary funding levels […]