Last week the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) reported on Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s plan to reorganize the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) by eliminating the Rural Development Mission Area and moving the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) from the Natural Resources and Environment Mission Area to a newly created “Farm Production and Conservation” Mission […]
Rural Development
USDA Trades Away Rural Development
In its first reorganization in over two decades, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) stands to lose one of its core Mission Areas – Rural Development – according to a plan released yesterday by USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. The Department’s restructuring is the result of a congressional directive included in the 2014 Farm Bill, which […]
RELEASE: Proposed Reorganization of USDA Trades Away Rural Development
Editor’s note: This release has been updated to correct a previous misstatement that USDA was restricted by law to having a maximum of seven undersecretary positions. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Reana Kovalcik, 202-547-5754, RKovalcik@sustainableagriculture.net Greg Fogel, 202-547-5754, GFogel@sustainableagriculture.net Proposed Reorganization of USDA Trades Away Rural Development Washington, DC, May 11, 2017 – On Thursday, May […]
Value-Added Producer Grant Webinar This Week
NSAC is partnering with USDA to provide a free webinar for prospective applicants to the VAPG program on May 6th at 2 p.m. EST…. Read More →
NSAC Guide Helps Farmers Navigate Value-Added Grant Application
NSAC releases an updated version of its annual Farmers’ Guide to Applying for the Value-Added Producer Grant … Read More →
Rural Tax Education Website Launched
Utah State University Cooperative Extension recently launched a Rural Tax Education website to provide farmers and ranchers and Extension educators with agriculturally-related income tax information. The homepage of the website includes information about upcoming free-of-charge webinars related to agricultural taxes, as well as a highlighted hot topic in the farm tax field. It also includes […]
2011 Budget Drilldown: Regional Innovation Initiative
This post is the sixth in a series of commentaries by NSAC staff on the President’s 2011 budget, released on February 1st. Read the overview by Executive Director Aimee Witteman. Look out in the following days for the final budget analyses on conservation and organic programs. USDA’s 2011 Budget request includes a new Regional Innovation […]
Transition Team Project: Transforming Rural Development in the Obama Administration
The following is the first in a series of posts about potential policy recommendations for the Obama Administration to act upon during its first year. These policy recommendation ideas are born out of SAC members’ extensive on-the-ground experience with what is and is not working in American agriculture and federal farm policy. In December SAC […]