Category: Sustainability

A Look at the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production

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The 2018 Farm Bill offered a variety of victories for NSAC’s priorities. It also elevated attention and support for the growing number of urban agriculture and small-scale innovative producers across the nation by directing USDA to create an Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (OUAIP) and programs to support related activities. 

This blog post offers a look at the status of the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production’s program activities since the 2018 Farm Bill. While full implementation has yet to be fulfilled, there has been immense progress. We are optimistic that the 2023 Farm Bill will continue to build upon its successes to date.  

Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production 

The 2018 Farm Bill authorized a new Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production whose mission is to encourage and promote urban, indoor, and other innovative …

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Release: Briefing Addresses Building Agricultural Resilience for Future Generations

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

lzaks@sustainableagriculture.net

Release: Briefing Addresses Building Agricultural Resilience for Future Generations 

Farmer/Researcher Panel Encourages Increasing Public Investments in Ag Research

Washington, DC, February 28, 2023 – Yesterday, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), Union of Concerned Scientists, Carbon180, and the Breakthrough Institute hosted a joint briefing on how public funding for agricultural research and development (R&D) has the potential to improve sustainability and build farmer and rancher resilience in the face of increasing food system disruptions caused by climate change. Despite its proven economic and environmental benefits, public investment in agricultural research has stagnated. Adjusted for inflation, annual public agricultural R&D investments in the U.S. have declined by about one-third since peaking in 2002.

Representative Jimmy Panetta (D-CA 19), and Representative Jim Baird (R-IN 4), co-chairs of the House Agriculture Research …

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Release: USDA Announces Implementation Plans for Inflation Reduction Act and Plans Around Western Water

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For Immediate Release
Contact: Laura Zaks
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
lzaks@sustainableagriculture.net

Release: USDA Announces Implementation Plans for Inflation Reduction Act and Plans Around Western Water

Washington, DC, February 13, 2023 – Today, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced plans for the implementation of the agricultural conservation provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, an act that provided sweeping greenhouse gas reductions across sectors including farming. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) welcomes the Administration’s approach that encompasses both direct greenhouse gas benefits and the many co-benefits that accompany effective conservation practices.

In addition to the overall implementation of the conservation funds in line with the IRA, the agency also announced a Western Water and Working Lands Framework for Conservation Action to guide conservation spending in Western states toward practices that address drought and related concerns. The Secretary noted …

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AG-VOCATES ASSEMBLE: NSAC 2023 WINTER MEETING RECAP

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NSAC Policy Director Mike Lavender addresses coalition members

Last week, over 100 attendees from 61 member organizations came together for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) annual winter meeting. In light of the anticipated 2023 Farm Bill reauthorization, members gathered in Washington, DC, to strategically coordinate campaign tactics, meet with Congressional leaders and senior USDA officials, and connect through a shared vision of a just food and farm system for all.

Our first in-person winter meeting since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic gave coalition members the opportunity to catch up, strengthen relationships, and build momentum for the busy 2023 Farm Bill cycle. We also welcomed a few members who were attending one of NSAC’s biannual meetings for the first time!

Advancing the Work

With NSAC’s 2023 Farm Bill Platform recently released and our policy priority-setting process already complete, issue …

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Release: NSAC Hosts Farm Bill Lobby Day

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For Immediate Release

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

lzaks@sustainableagriculture.net

Release: NSAC Hosts Farm Bill Lobby Day
Members Meet with Lawmakers to Share Stories and Priorities for the 2023 Farm Bill

Washington, DC, February 1, 2023 – Today, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) hosted a lobby day for coalition members to meet with Congressional leaders and senior USDA officials to encourage them to prioritize sustainable food and farm needs and farmer-led solutions in the upcoming farm bill reauthorization. Members from across the country scheduled 100 visits throughout the day with members of Congress from their home states and districts to champion the federal programs and reforms most important to them and their communities. 

“As the new Congress settles in, our members and farmer advocates are convening in DC in preparation for the upcoming 2023 Farm Bill reauthorization.

…

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Record-High Crop Insurance Subsidies Are Unsustainable

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The federal crop insurance program is the most expensive program authorized in the farm bill, excluding nutrition spending, and is a primary driver of monoculture commodity production in the United States. Record-high taxpayer subsidies benefit private insurance companies and a small number of the largest commodity farms, while most farmers are unable to access insurance at all. NSAC believes that the 2023 Farm Bill is an opportunity to reform the farm safety net by capping wasteful crop insurance spending and investing in on-farm resilience. 

The farm safety net’s lost purpose

For decades, the farm bill’s farm safety net has had the same goal: to provide farmers some degree of protection against unpredictable disasters or sudden price declines, allowing them to stay in business for another year while providing for family living expenses.

Today’s farm safety net includes permanently authorized commodity …

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Release: Farmers Take Action on Climate Crisis, Urging Policymakers to Pay Attention

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| Sustainability

For Immediate Release

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

lzaks@sustainableagriculture.net

Release: Farmers Take Action on Climate Crisis, Urging Policymakers to Pay Attention

Washington, DC, January 19, 2023 – Coined “Farmers for Climate Action: Rally for Resilience,” a grassroots alliance of farmers, farmworkers and farmer allies will be heading to Washington D.C. during the week of March 6, 2023, with a singular ask for policymakers: make climate change policy a priority in the 2023 Farm Bill. 

Led by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), Farm Aid, and supported by an alliance of organizations, the event aims to bring a mass mobilization of producers to the Capitol, reminiscent of the 1979 Tractorcade. With the next Farm Bill on the docket for the 118th Congress, farmers, ranchers, and advocates want legislators to address the severe challenges facing the farming community due to …

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NSAC’s 2023 Farm Bill Platform: Advancing Racial Equity Across the Food System

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Photo credit: USDA

Editor’s Note: This is the fifth post in our series covering key pillars of NSAC’s 2023 Farm Bill Platform. The series begins here.  You can read the platform and take action to endorse it here.

Longstanding structural and institutional racism has excluded black, Indigenous and people of color, (BIPOC) from fair access to land, financial resources, information, political standing, and educational and professional opportunities. During the last several years, Congress has passed, and the USDA has implemented numerous policies and initiatives designed to repair harms and prevent future discrimination. For example, the USDA has launched an Equity Commission, part of the USDA’s Equity Action Plan, in part to determine how the Department and its programs may “exacerbate or perpetuate racial, economic, health and social disparities.” Congress has also recently passed initiatives in the …

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