October 29, 2020
Beginning farmers and ranchers face a number of unique circumstances and challenges to establish themselves in the industry, and their path has become no easier in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, the Economic Research Service (ERS) published a report that found beginning farmers have higher debt-to-asset ratios, are less likely to receive […]
March 4, 2020
Editor’s Note: As the COVID-19 situation progresses, we will continue to update this blog with the latest available information on deadline extensions. Additionally, you can find information on administrative flexibilities issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) here. This is a key reference for anyone currently working under an active federal grant. The memo […]
November 7, 2019
The new farmer boom continues to grow all across the country, but barriers to entry (such as access to land, capital, and viable markets) continue to make it hard for new farmers to build a successful and sustainable farm business. In response, hundreds of farmer training programs and projects have emerged over the past decade […]
July 10, 2019
Last week, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) brought in over a dozen farmers and advocates for the Coalition’s second “farmer fly-in” of 2019. Fly-in advocates from ten different states across the country came to DC to champion the federal programs important to them and their communities before congressional appropriators. Currently, Congress is negotiating federal […]
May 2, 2019
Grant funding announcements from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been log jammed due to a series of government delays over the course of the last six months: passage of the 2018 Farm Bill was delayed by roughly three months, the last several appropriations and budget bills have been delayed, and the government shutdown […]
April 8, 2019
Note: This post has been updated to reflect changes made to the FY 2020 Request for Applications which was recently released on December 16, 2019. For further details on timing and updated application links, see below. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently announced the availability of $14 million in grant funds to help launch […]
February 19, 2019
Editor’s Note: This is the final post in a multi-part blog series digging deeper into some of the new programs and policies of the 2018 Farm Bill. These posts detail how the new farm bill is likely to impact core sustainable agriculture programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Previous posts focused on: working lands conservation, local and regional food systems, and nutrition incentive and anti-hunger programs. […]
December 12, 2018
Editor’s Note: This is the second post in a multi-part blog series analyzing the final negotiated 2018 Farm Bill, which was released on December 11, 2018 by the leaders of the Farm Bill Conference Committee. Subsequent posts focus on: organic agriculture, conservation, research and seed breeding, and crop insurance and commodity subsidies; previous posts focused on local and regional food and beginning/socially disadvantaged farmers. […]
October 3, 2018
Interest in careers in agriculture is on the rise, but many aspiring farmers and ranchers find themselves blocked from starting food and farm businesses because of the many significant barriers to entering the industry. Farmer training programs and projects, hundreds of which have emerged in the last decade alone, help aspiring and beginning producers to […]
September 13, 2018
Editor’s Note: The 2014 Farm Bill expires on September 30th. If the next farm bill is not finalized before that date, numerous “tiny but mighty” farm bill programs that support family farmers and food-producing communities will effectively shut down in terms of new funding and grant opportunities for fiscal year 2019. These workhorse programs, which […]