Sustainable Agriculture News – Late July, 2014

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Funding Restored for Outreach and Assistance for Underserved Farmers – On Thursday, July 24, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the much anticipated, long delayed release of funding to support outreach and technical assistance for underserved farmers – including minority, tribal, and veteran producers.  USDA’s Office of Advocacy and Outreach (OAO) made the announcement that $9.1 million will be available in 2014 to make grants through the Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program – also known as the Section 2501 Program…

USDA Webinar on the Grass Fed Program for Small Livestock Operations – On Tuesday, August 5, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) will hold a webinar about the previously announced Grass-Fed Program for Small and Very Small (SVS) Producers.  The webinar will be held from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PMEastern Time.  During the webinar AMS will provide an overview of the USDA Grass Fed program, the program website, and detailed information about the application and evaluation processes for gaining approval for livestock to the Grass Fed Standard.

Waters of the US: What’s It All About? – There has been a lot of attention lately on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as it engages with the farming community on the proposed rule to define “Waters of the U.S.”  The so-called WOTUS rule would define which bodies of water fall under EPA’s Clean Water Act jurisdiction.  In this post, NSAC provides an update on where things stand with the proposed rule and the accompanying interpretive rule, and explores some of the confusions, myths, and facts surrounding both rules.

Q&A on the “Waters of the US” Proposed Rule and Interpretive Rule – In an accompanying post, we provided an update on where things stand with the proposed rule and the accompanying interpretive rule, and explored some of the confusion surrounding both rules.  This Q&A breaks the issue down even further.