Farm to School Act, Conservation, and More

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The newest blog posts from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) feature information about the Farm to School Act, Appropriations News, Conservation News, and More…

APPROPRIATIONS NEWS  

Appropriations Victories In Sight, Farmers Flock to DC to Keep Momentum Going – Family farmers and sustainable agriculture advocates flocked to the Hill this week to help push funding priorities across the finish line. On Wednesday, twelve family farmers and farm/food advocates joined the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) in Washington DC to participate in the Coalition’s June Farmer Fly-in. Participants included farmers and advocates from California, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin. 

House Funding Bill Includes Strong Support for Sustainable Agriculture – The fiscal year (FY) 2020 “minibus” appropriations bill passed this week by the House consists of five bills to fund federal departments, including the Agriculture Appropriations bill. The House bill was praiseworthy for its inclusion of increases for sustainable agriculture research, food safety, local and regional food systems, training and outreach for beginning and socially disadvantaged, and other priority food and farm programs. All the House’s included funding levels are subject to change depending on the results of the budget deal and negotiations between the House and Senate-passed bills.  

NUTRITION NEWS  

RELEASE: Farm To School Act of 2019 Introduced With Bipartisan, Bicameral Support – A bipartisan group of Congressional leaders demonstrated their support for growing farm to school programming across the country by introducing the Farm to School Act of 2019. The bill, sponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), David Perdue (R-GA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Susan Collins (R-ME) and Representatives Marcia Fudge (D-OH) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), will expand funding for and programmatic scope of the highly successful USDA Farm to School Grant Program.  

CONSERVATION NEWS  

Difficult Planting and Cover Crop Decisons Compounded By Policy Uncertainty – Heavy, consistent rain and flooding so far this year have significantly obstructed planting for farmers in the Midwest and throughout the country. For farmers who cannot plant, there are a variety of options (including planting cover crops), but in some cases the details remain murky – complicating farmers’ planting decisions. At this late point in the planting season, farmers are facing several different scenarios: taking a prevent plant payment; planting in spite of the adverse conditions, either to try to salvage a crop or qualify for MFP2; or planting a cover crop, which will likely be eligible for some limited MFP2 payment, pending further details from USDA in coming weeks. 

Upcoming Deadline to Enroll in Continuous CRP or Transition Incentives Program – The deadline for farmers wishing to re-enroll or enroll new land under the Continuous Conservation Reserve Program (CCRP) signup period (“signup 52”) is August 23, 2019. Information provided about the signup window from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) originally stated that there was not a deadline set for applicants looking to enroll new land in CCRP, as is ordinarily the case for the program, reflective of its “continuous” enrollment nature.