National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Supporting the economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities.

NSAC News

conservation

Release: Broad Coalition Calls on Congress to Defend Climate Spending in Conservation Programs

Advocates of conservation programs delivered a letter to House and Senate Agriculture Committee leadership calling for the defense of climate focused conservation spending in the Farm Bill. The letter, signed by 644 organizations, businesses, and farmers, makes clear to Congress that the historic investment in conservation programs made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022 must be preserved in the 2023 Farm Bill. The IRA provided sweeping greenhouse gas reductions across sectors including farming. … Read More →

NSAC’s Top 10 of 2022: A Year in Review

The end of a year signifies a time to reflect on all the most important accomplishments and tribulations of the past year. At NSAC, we had the opportunity to celebrate and find new reasons to expand our advocacy to support sustainable agriculture practices, small-scale producers, diversified farming, local food systems, and beginning and underserved farmers and ranchers. This post shares NSAC’s Top 10 accomplishments of 2022. … Read More →

Release: Farmers and Advocates Come to Washington to Call for Climate and Sustainability Action in the 2023 Farm Bill

This week, advocates and farmers from across the country came to Washington, DC to champion the federal programs important to them and their communities. A cohort of farmers, ranchers, and food systems advocates from 12 states joined NSAC for approximately 30 meetings with Congressional leaders and USDA officials to encourage them to prioritize sustainable food and farm needs in the upcoming farm bill and in ongoing program implementation efforts. … Read More →

RCPP Grants: A New Take on Alternative Funding

USDA recently announced the availability of up to $40 million for nutrient management projects funded through grant agreements, called RCPP Grants. Applications for RCPP Grants will be accepted until October 31, 2022. In this post, NSAC provides background on RCPP, highlights some FY 2022 awards, and provides details on this new iteration of RCPP…. Read More →

Managed Grazing Champions Celebrate Funding Announcement for GLCI

This guest blog post by Margaret Krome, Policy Program Director at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, an NSAC member based in East Troy, WI, details the recent announcement of $12 million for cooperative agreements under this year’s request for applications for the Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative (GLCI).
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Release: NSAC Urges Congress to Pass Historic Climate Package

Yesterday, after months of on-and-off negotiations, Senate leaders announced a proposed deal on legislation aimed at advancing key pieces of President Biden’s agenda, including measures to combat climate change. If passed, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 would, among other things, provide approximately $369.75 billion for energy security and climate change programs over the next ten years…. Read More →

A Year in Review: Wins and Reflections for Sustainable Agriculture in 2021

As this unpredictable year comes to a close and we look to the future, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition takes a look back at our coalition’s hard-fought wins towards building a more sustainable, equitable food and farm system in 2021…. Read More →

The Case for Next Generation Crop Insurance

Recently, the AGree Economic and Environmental Risk Coalition (AGree E2 Coalition) released a new paper: The Case for Next Generation Crop Insurance. The comprehensive paper reviews mounting scientific evidence for the risk reduction benefits of agricultural conservation practices as well as policy barriers to broad adoption, before proposing recommendations to bring the federal crop insurance […]

Farmers Virtually Visit the Hill to Advocate for Climate Action

What do you get when you mix a pandemic context, a carbon-conscious group of farmers and advocates, and a critical window for Congressional action on the climate crisis? The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)’s latest Virtual Farmer “Fly-In” on Climate and Agriculture. Bringing farmers to Washington, D.C. to tell their stories to their lawmakers and […]

Conservation Reserve Program Signup Extended

For almost 35 years, the farm bill’s Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has compensated farmers and landowners for taking highly erodible and other environmentally sensitive lands out of crop production and enrolling them instead in conserving practices. Through CRP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) pays farmers to set aside land for grass or tree cover […]

How the Biden-Harris Administration Can Support a More Sustainable and Resilient Food System

NSAC has identified the most pressing issues facing the sustainable agriculture community for the Biden-Harris Administration to prioritize in order to rebuild our food system. At the top of the list are issues like addressing the climate crisis, building a more resilient food supply chain, addressing longstanding issues of racial inequities, strengthening anti-trust enforcement, and scaling up investments in public research…. Read More →