Sustainable Agriculture News January 16-20, 2012

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Latest news from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition for the week of January 16-20th 2012:

USDA NEWS

USDA Taking Applications for Rural and Farm Energy Funding: On January 20, USDA announced that it is taking applications for Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) funding. For FY2012, USDA has $25.4 million in budget authority for REAP, which will support at least $12.5 million in grant funding and approximately $48.5 million in loan guarantees. Read more…

Funding Available for Organic Research: On Tuesday, January 17th, 2012, USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture announced the release of its 2012 Request for Applications (RFA) for the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), which provides grants to academic, private, and non-profit research institutions to investigate research issues related to organic production.  Applications are due on March 9th, 2012, and approximately $19 million is available.  Read more…

USDA Announces CIG Funding for Water Quality Markets: On Friday, January 13, USDA announced the availability of $10 million for water quality credit trading projects through the Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) program. According to USDA’s vision of water quality credit trading, “a producer who implements conservation practices to reduce water quality pollutants can also benefit by generating water quality market credits that could be sold in an open market, which would reduce the costs of implementing and maintaining the conservation practices.”  Read more…

OTHER NEWS

New Regulatory Certainty Program Announced in Minnesota: On Tuesday, January 17, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, and USDA’s Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service Dave White met in Minnesota to announce a new partnership between the State, USDA, and EPA.  Through the partnership, producers would receive immunity, also known as regulatory assurance or certainty, from regulation under Minnesota’s water quality standards in exchange for the implementation of certain conservation activities.  Read more…