Tag: funding

Stewarding Success: IRA Funding is Cultivating New Conservation Acres and Farmers

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| Sustainability

EDITOR’S NOTE: On October 9, 2024, NSAC released Stewarding Success: CSP Under the 2018 Farm Bill, a comprehensive analysis of the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) over the course of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill). The report offers an in-depth analysis of CSP’s enrollment trends, conservation practices supported, and funding impacts, including the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. This post is the second in a series of five blog posts highlighting the key findings of the report and offering a deep dive into the success of the IRA within CSP.

The Conservation Stewardship Program

The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) is a voluntary program run by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) through its Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). CSP aims to enhance natural resources while maintaining profitable agricultural production. It does this by …

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Government Funding and Farm Bill’s Future Top Congress’ September To-Do List

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| Sustainability

On September 9, 2024, Congress will be back in session in Washington, DC for the first time since early August. Yet, their return will be short lived. In an election year, Members of Congress spend all of October and early November in their states and Congressional districts. In total, Congress will be in session for three full weeks before adjourning on September 27.

During those three weeks, there are two major items on Congress’s to-do list. By October 1, Congress will need to fund the government for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 and determine how to extend (again) the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill). Failure to complete either or both of these tasks will likely impact farmers, ranchers, and food system stakeholders nationwide who utilize federal programs. This post examines where both tasks stand as September …

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Funding Available to Support Underserved Farmers: A Look at USDA’s 2501 Grants

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| Sustainability
Photo Credit: USDA by Preston Keres.

Last week, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced $ 22.3 million in funding for 2501 grants to help organizations conduct targeted outreach and provide technical assistance to socially disadvantaged farmers. 

The Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program, more commonly known as the “2501 Program” and administered by USDA’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement (OPPE), helps to ensure that historically underserved producers have equitable access to the information, programs, and opportunities that will help them find success in agriculture. While 2501 typically has a 90-day application period, this year’s window is only 60 days.

All applications must be submitted via grants.gov by 11:59 pm EDT on July 5, 2024.

USDA will host two upcoming webinars to answer questions from potential grantees. 

Session 1: May 22, 2024, …

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RFA Roundup: Spring 2024 Sustainable Agriculture Funding Opportunities 

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| Sustainability

Photo credit: Lindsey Scalera

With spring on the horizon, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a number of funding opportunities for sustainable agriculture. This blog post outlines the funding guidelines, application deadlines, and program requirements for a range of food and farm system grants funded through USDA that are currently accepting applications.

The funding opportunities listed below are broken down into three categories:

  • Research and Education
  • Local Food (including urban and rural-focused programs) and Nutrition
  • Climate, Conservation, and Energy

The Requests for Applications (RFA) in this post are organized by category and then by application date, from earliest deadline to furthest out. Many deadlines are rapidly approaching in February and early March!

For more detailed information on these and other USDA grant programs, see NSAC’s Grassroots Guide to Federal Food and Farm Programs.

Research and Education Programs

…

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Farmer Roundtable Highlights Urgent Need to Bolster IRA Funding for Sustainable Farming

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| Sustainability
Pryor Garnett, Ariana Taylor-Stanley, Rep. Kim Schrier, Rep. Chellie Pingree, Denise Jamerson, John Jamerson, Lindi Phillips, and Jared Phillips stand together after the briefing.

The farmers settled into their chairs at the Congressional briefing room. With the urgency climate change demands, they came from a diverse array of states with an important and powerful message to share: keep IRA funding for conservation programs in agriculture. The group gathered on January 11 on Capitol Hill to share their stories with members of Congress in a briefing hosted by the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) and organized with the support of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) and its members. Representing the states of Arkansas, Indiana, New York, and Oregon, the group spoke before members of the Coalition and Congressional staffers about the ways that they are using …

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Maine towns band together to offer ‘energy navigators,’ extra funding for home energy upgrades

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| Pollution

This story first appeared on Energy News Network and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Communities in southern Maine are collaborating on a pilot program that aims to help residents overcome cost and logistical barriers to accessing climate-friendly home energy upgrades.

Five towns and two regional nonprofits received a three-year, $ 800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program in late 2023. The budget for the program is now being finalized for launch this summer or fall.

The grant will fund AmeriCorps members to provide one-on-one energy coaching for residents. These “navigators” will help identify the best cost- and emissions-cutting retrofits for each home, and will help residents apply for a range of accompanying tax credits, rebates and other incentives. The grant also includes about $ 500,000 to directly offset residents’ …

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Release: Farmers Shine Spotlight on Vital Impact of Climate Funding at the IRA Conservation and Farmers Roundtable

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| Sustainability

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

lzaks@sustainableagriculture.net 

Tel. 347.563.6408

Release: Farmers Shine Spotlight on Vital Impact of Climate Funding at the IRA Conservation and Farmers Roundtable  

Washington, DC, January 11, 2024 – Today, members of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) hosted a public roundtable highlighting the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) transformational investments in climate and clean energy solutions for America’s food producers. Farmers from across the country discussed firsthand how the IRA has provided much-needed, long-sought federal funding to bolster farmer-led conservation efforts. Farmers’ firsthand stories of how climate change is affecting their farms demonstrate the importance of protecting the federal programs helping them build resilience.   

Panelists included SEEC Climate and Agriculture Task Force Co-Chair Chellie Pingree (D-ME 1, SEEC Climate and Agriculture Task Force Co-Chair Kim Schrier (D-WA 8), Lindi and Jared …

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Farmer Conservation Stories: Why Inflation Reduction Act Funding Must Remain Focused on Climate Change

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| Sustainability
After heavy grazing, a mixed summer forage is still building soil. The mix includes sorghum-sudangrass, sunn hemp, cowpeas, and millet. Photo credit: Cathy Day

Editor’s Note: This post is the second in a two-part series. Last week’s post highlighted the stories of farmers who have used practices from the Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry practice list to build climate resilience and mitigation solutions. This week’s post adds stories created and gathered by National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) members around the country. They have gathered more than two dozen additional stories of how farmers are preparing for and responding to climate change. Some of the links below include multiple stories, so we encourage you to explore them all. The full list of contributors is at the end of this post.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided an historic investment of nearly $ …

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