May 27, 2015
On May 19, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a proposed rule that will enable more detailed data collection on antibiotic use in livestock production in the United States. This rule would require drug companies to obtain and report estimates of sales by major food producing species – namely cattle, chickens, turkeys, and pigs. The additional […]
February 3, 2015
On Monday, February 1, USDA’s National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) released a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s (AFRI) Food Security Challenge Area. The AFRI Food Security Program provides grants for research, education, and extension projects, with the long-term goal to sustainably increase agricultural productivity and the availability and accessibility […]
December 5, 2014
The recent news from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) that farm incomes are down — and expected to recede even more after several years of high incomes linked to historically high crop price — shines a light on something that NSAC has been talking about for many years. NSAC has long advocated for federal […]
October 21, 2014
The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program or SARE is a farmer driven research and education competitive grants program designed to help advance sustainable agriculture across the whole of American agriculture. North Central, Northeastern, Western, and Southern regional councils — comprised of producers, researchers, educators, and government representatives — individually set SARE policies and make […]
September 18, 2014
Decisions that legislators make in Washington, DC have real impacts on the ground in communities and on farms around the country. On Friday, September 12, 2014, several NSAC staff members toured several farms in and around Raleigh, North Carolina hosted by Farm Aid (an NSAC member) ahead of their 2014 Farm Aid Benefit Concert. The […]
August 1, 2014
On Thursday, July 31, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) released a report, Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Agriculture and Forestry: Methods for Entity-Scale Inventory, which provides scientific methods for quantifying the changes in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and carbon storage from various land management and conservation activities. The report is designed to aid […]
July 22, 2014
On Tuesday, August 5, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) will hold a webinar about the previously announced Grass-Fed Program for Small and Very Small (SVS) Producers. The webinar will be held from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Eastern Time. During the webinar AMS will provide an overview of the USDA […]
May 1, 2014
On April 30, the Livestock, Rural Development, and Credit Subcommittee of the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to discuss challenges facing the livestock industry. The most common topics cited were feed costs, drought, animal disease, trade, and the regulatory requirements that impact this sector of the agricultural economy. Panel 1 – Questions for USDA The […]
April 29, 2014
On April 29, USDA’s Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) announced the establishment of a new certification option for small grass-fed beef producers. The Grass-Fed Program for Small and Very Small (SVS) Producers is a new offshoot of the Grass-Fed Marketing Claim Standard available under the USDA Process Verified Program (PVP). The new option allows small operations […]