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local food

2017 Ag Census Reveals Some Bright Spots Despite Increased Farm Consolidation

April 17, 2019

Delayed by the government shutdown, last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the long-awaited 2017 Census of Agriculture. The 2017 Census surveyed nearly three million potential U.S. farms and ranches. Spearheaded by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), the Census remains the most comprehensive source of agricultural data for state and counties across […]

Filed Under: Beginning and Minority Farmers, General Interest, Local & Regional Food Systems, Organic

A Closer Look at the 2018 Farm Bill: Local Agriculture Market Program

January 22, 2019

Editor’s Note: This is the second post in a multi-part blog series digging deeper into some of the programs and policies of the 2018 Farm Bill. These posts will 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. Subsequent posts will focus on: nutrition incentive and anti-hunger […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems

With the Farm Bill’s Future Uncertain, USDA Announces Local Food and Specialty Crop Awards

September 20, 2018

Local and regional food chains have long been part of the social and economic fabric for some American communities. With the American farm economy is in a multi-year downturn and commodity prices at historic lows, interest has peaked and family farmers nationwide are realizing that big economic opportunities can be found close to home. The […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Grants and Programs, Local & Regional Food Systems, Marketing and Labeling

What’s at Stake: Local and Regional Food Programs

September 10, 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 […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems

LAMP Promises to Brighten Future for Family Farmers

August 31, 2018

With the 2018 Farm Bill moving into conference and the first conference committee meeting now set for September 5, both the House and Senate will have many difficult decisions before them. One decision that should be easy to make is the decision to support our nation’s farmers markets and local and regional food economies. Once […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems

RELEASE: Long-term Solutions Needed to Protect Vital Relationship Between Local Farmers, Farmers Markets, and SNAP Customers

August 20, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reana Kovalcik National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition 202-547-5754, rkovalcik@sustainableagriculture.net  Long-term Solutions Needed to Protect Vital Relationship Between Local Farmers, Farmers Markets, and SNAP Customers National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition issues statement on the future of SNAP at farmers markets Washington, DC, August 20, 2018 – In early July, Novo Dia Group, a major […]

Filed Under: Local & Regional Food Systems, Marketing and Labeling, Nutrition & Food Access, Press Releases

Celebrating Local Food by Taking Action for Family Farmers

August 16, 2018

Editor’s Note: This blog is a guest post written by Ben Feldman of the Farmers Market Coalition, a National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) Member group, and edited by Reana Kovalcik. Ben Feldman currently serves as the Policy Director for the national Farmers Market Coalition. He has spent his career working with farmers’ markets and the farmers […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems

Draft Senate Farm Bill: Local & Regional Food and Rural Development

June 9, 2018

This is the fourth post in a multi-part blog series analyzing the draft farm bill released on June 8, 2018 by the Senate Agriculture Committee. Subsequent posts will focus on beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and crop insurance and commodity subsidies. The bill is expected to be considered and “marked-up” (aka amended) by the full Agriculture Committee […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Food Safety, Local & Regional Food Systems, Marketing and Labeling, Nutrition & Food Access, Rural Development

Top Ten Reasons to Reject the House Farm Bill

April 30, 2018

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 […]

Filed Under: Beginning and Minority Farmers, Commodity, Crop Insurance & Credit Programs, Conservation, Energy & Environment, Farm Bill, Food Safety, Grants and Programs, Local & Regional Food Systems, Nutrition & Food Access, Organic, Research, Education & Extension, Rural Development

Draft House Farm Bill: Local & Regional Food and Rural Development

April 14, 2018

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 […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems, Marketing and Labeling, Nutrition & Food Access, Rural Development

$89 Million in Funding Available to Support Local Food Systems

March 12, 2018

Editor’s Note: USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service is hosting two webinars to help prospective applicants better understand the application process and requirements. The first webinar is on Tuesday March 27 at 2 p.m. ET and will cover how to use Grants.gov. The second webinar will be held the following day, March 28 at 2 p.m. ET and will focus specifically […]

Filed Under: Grants and Programs, Local & Regional Food Systems, Marketing and Labeling, Nutrition & Food Access

Deadline Approaching for Value-Added Producer Grant Applications!

January 3, 2018

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 […]

Filed Under: Grants and Programs, Local & Regional Food Systems, Marketing and Labeling, Rural Development

Path to the 2018 Farm Bill: Local and Regional Food Economies

November 21, 2017

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, which provides a comprehensive vision for a more sustainable farm and food system based on the recommendations and experience of American family farmers and the organizations that represent them. This […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems, Nutrition & Food Access

Path to the 2018 Farm Bill: A Comprehensive Approach to Food and Farm Policy

November 1, 2017

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 […]

Filed Under: Beginning and Minority Farmers, Commodity, Crop Insurance & Credit Programs, Competition & Anti-trust, Conservation, Energy & Environment, Farm Bill, Food Safety, Local & Regional Food Systems, Marketing and Labeling, Nutrition & Food Access, Organic, Research, Education & Extension, Rural Development, Sustainable Livestock

$5 Million Available for Farm to School Grant Projects

October 20, 2017

America’s family farmers are planting, harvesting, and selling fresh, healthy produce year-round. They’ve got the farming thing down; but barriers exist that often prevent them from reaching new and expanding markets for their products, including customers that might be in the same town or state. One way the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) hopes to […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Grants and Programs, Local & Regional Food Systems, Nutrition & Food Access

Harvesting Local Food Opportunities

October 11, 2017

For family farmers, fall is one of the busiest times of the year. While farmers are keeping busy harvesting their fields, food and farm advocates have been occupied with their own bumper crop of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program announcements. In fact, in the past two weeks, USDA awarded approximately $40 million in grants […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Food Safety, Grants and Programs, Local & Regional Food Systems, Marketing and Labeling

Filling the Local Foods Gap in the Farm Bill

October 10, 2017

Editor’s Note: This article originally ran on the website of the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy, a member of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). To view the original article, click here.  When we started our partnership with St. Cloud’s Reach Up Head Start program, Nutrition Services Coordinator Haley Anderson knew she wanted to […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Marketing and Labeling, Nutrition & Food Access

RELEASE: Local FARMS Act Will Make Farm to Fork Investments in American Communities

October 4, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reana Kovalcik National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition 202-547-5754, rkovalcik@sustainableagriculture.net   Local FARMS Act Will Make Farm to Fork Investments in American Communities National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Praises Bipartisan Effort Washington, DC, October 4, 2017 – Today, a bipartisan coalition led by principal bill authors Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Representatives Chellie Pingree […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems, Press Releases

$16.8 Million Awarded to Increase Access to Healthy Food

August 16, 2017

Millions of Americans struggle each day to access fresh, nutritious food. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) bridges that gap for many lower-income families across the country, connecting them with healthy foods in their supermarkets and at local farmers’ markets. Making healthy purchases at farmers markets has become a particularly desirable option over the last […]

Filed Under: Grants and Programs, Local & Regional Food Systems, Nutrition & Food Access

Federal Reserve Puts Its Money on Regional Food Systems

August 4, 2017

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 […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems, Rural Development

Celebrate Community Supported Agriculture on National CSA Day!

February 24, 2017

You’ve probably heard about “CSA”s before, those boxes and bags of fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs and meat that your friends or neighbors get once a week from a local farmer – but what exactly are they, and should you sign up for one? Community Supported Agriculture programs, or CSAs for short, are a marketing system […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems, Nutrition & Food Access

Local/Regional Food Sector Moves Out of Data Dark Ages

December 20, 2016

Data is crucial for any well functioning market – producers, investors, and consumers alike need to understand market trends and dynamics in order to make sound business decisions. This is as true for farmers and ranchers as it is for Wall Street executives. Growers, however, have long struggled due to a lack of useful data […]

Filed Under: Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems, Marketing and Labeling

Comprehensive Urban Agriculture Bill Can Help Grow More Sustainable Cities

September 29, 2016

Americans’ interest in knowing more about where, by whom, and how their food is produced has been steadily building over the last decade. As the local food movement has grown, so too has interest in urban agriculture. Urban agriculture gives city dwellers a chance to purchase foods from farmers not just in their state, but […]

Filed Under: Beginning and Minority Farmers, Farm Bill, Local & Regional Food Systems, Nutrition & Food Access

Direct-marketing Farms have Double the Regional Economic Impact

August 3, 2016

Editor’s Note: In honor of the upcoming National Farmers Market Week, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is proud to present this guest blog from Dr. Shermain Hardesty, Small Farm Program Leader the University of California (UC) Small Farm Program and Cooperative Extension Economist in the Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics at UC Davis. […]

Filed Under: Local & Regional Food Systems, Research, Education & Extension

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