Weekly Political Roundup from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

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From the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC):

With Congress back in session, wheels began turning on the Senate food safety bill, S510. On Wednesday, we reported on a number of important improvements that have been added to the manager’s amendment that will support small and mid-scale farmers, local and regional food systems, conservation, and organic farming. Though the timing of the bill has been pushed back to make way for a debate on finance reform, NSAC intends to continue to maintain these improvements throughout the process. Thank you to all who flew in for a visit or made a call — your voice has been heard!

As always, to access the full articles and leave comments, visit our “Something to Crow About” Blog.

USDA News

4/13/10 – Research Grants Drilldown: Conventional Breeding and Climate Adaptation

The overarching goal of the RFA is to reduce use of energy, nitrogen, fertilizer, and water by ten percent and increase carbon sequestration by fifteen percent by the year 2030.  While this goal focuses on mitigation, most of the programs in the RFA focus on strategies for climate change adaptation.

Congressional News

4/16/10 – Senators Chide Administration on “Actively Engaged”

A bi-partisan group of Senators sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday criticizing the Administration’s loose interpretation of “active personal management” in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) final rule on farm program payment limitations, released on January 7, 2010.

4/14/10 – Senate Food Safety Bill Includes Improvements That Support Farmers

In most areas of the legislation, sustainable agriculture and family farm groups think the Senate bill is a very significant improvement over the companion bill passed by the House of Representatives (HR 2749) last year.   If the Senate passes the bill next week or soon thereafter, it will head to a conference committee to work out differences between the two bills.