Vilsack and Merrigan At Senate Agricultural Appropriations Hearing
March 10th, 2010
Appropriations season is in full swing in Washington, and appropriators are deciding which programs to fund and which to cut. Hearings on funding levels for 2011 are occurring almost daily, as the House and Senate Appropriations Committees begin the annual process that generally results in markups in late spring, floor votes in the summer, and a final bill in the fall. Agricultural spending hearings are taking place on specific topics, but start with a hearing with the USDA Secretary covering the whole budget.
Last week, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, FDA, and Related Agencies heard testimony from USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. Subcommittee Chair Herb Kohl (D-WI) used the hearing to comment on six trends in the Obama budget: increases in child nutrition programs (especially WIC), support for food safety, information technology upgrades to the Farm Service Agency, increases in competitive agricultural research funds, foreign agricultural trade promotion, and support for healthy local food initiatives.
Kohl also noted that the President’s budget cuts conservation, rural development, and non-competitive research dollars.Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) expressed strong disappointment at the conservation cuts. “We worked very had and had major support for conservation programs in the 2008 Farm Bill,” Harkin said. “We should not be backing off from those strides.” Harkin pointed out that there was demand for conservation programs, noting that the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) turned down 54,000 applications from farmers due to lack of funding.
Secretary Vilsack responded that the USDA’s proposed budget would still allow more money to conservation programs than last year, just not as much of an increase as the farm bill directed. The Obama-Vilsack proposal would take the money cut from farm bill conservation programs and spend it on other USDA programs.
In addition, Vilsack reminded Subcommittee members that the Natural Resources Conservation Service, which administers the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and EQIP, had been “under the cloud of an audit because it didn’t oversee and manage its resources effectively. We tried to do too much too soon, and now we have to be accountable to the taxpayers,” Vilsack said. “We don’t want people who aren’t qualified to get money under the program.”
The basic strategy of reneging on mandatory funding agreements included in the Farm Bill and then defending the cuts with the canard that they are not really cuts or that USDA decisions to flat line conservation personnel even as the farm bill expanded conservation programs, thereby setting up the train wreck revealed in the audit, was frequently used by the Bush Administration and has now sadly been adopted by the Obama Administration.
Also at last week’s hearing, Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan highlighted USDA initiatives such as the Healthy Food Financing Initiative and “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food.” Senator Harkin encouraged the USDA to continue pushing Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food, saying, “younger people are getting involved in smaller-scale agriculture, things like fruits, fresh vegetables, meat, and processing. This is a growing movement all over the country, and it’s good for the local economy.”
With regard to organic agriculture, Merrigan stated that it has “multiple footholds at the USDA, but there is no overarching organic initiative.” Merrigan signaled the Department’s intent to step up organic enforcement efforts, noting that the USDA’s budget includes a $3.1 million increase for regulatory activities such as residue testing and unannounced visits to organic facilities. Merrigan also mentioned a recent investigation by the USDA’s Office of the Inspector General which led to the criminal prosecution of a food processor and distributor who falsely labeled conventional food as organic.
NSAC is working hard to ensure that Congress funds programs that matter most to sustainable farmers, such as the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Individual Development Accounts, Conservation Stewardship Program, and Value-Added Producer Grants. To learn more about how you can support NSAC’s appropriations efforts,
sign up for our weekly roundup and action alerts.
Speed Up the 2010 CSP Sign-up
March 9th, 2010
Fat Toad Farm, Brookfield, Vermont
Please join the more than 60 organizations who have signed on to our letter urging Secretary Vilsack to make critical improvements to the Conservation Stewardship (CSP) Program and to initiate a 2010 Sign Up as soon as possible.
The letter urges Secretary Vilsack to:
• ensure that the program effectively rewards sustainable and organic farming systems
• base CSP points and payments on environmental outcomes rather than on when a practice was adopted
• provide a minimum CSP payment for small farms
• better define a resource conserving crop rotation to ensure high environmental standards
• reinstate incentives for the transition of cropland to pasture based production
Deadline for sign on is 5 PM Eastern on Wednesday, March 10th. Organizations only please. Sign on by replying to Annette@sustainableagirculture.net or by clicking here
The Atlantic Forum Tackles Food Safety
March 8th, 2010
Has the FDA’s experiment with self-policing failed? This was the question posed by Marc Ambinder, Politics Editor at The Atlantic, at the Food Summit hosted by The Atlantic Monthly on March 4. Ambinder noted that until the spinach, pet food, and baby formula scares in 2006, 2007, and 2008, funding for the FDA during the Bush era remained flat, on the theory that companies could and would ensure the safety of food products on their own.
Attendees may have sensed a shift towards more regulation from FDA officials who spoke at the Forum. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg cited food safety as one of the top issues on the agency’s agenda, and lauded the food safety legislation currently before Congress. Hamburg noted that the legislation would give the FDA some powerful new regulatory tools such as traceback requirements and mandatory recall authority. Another indication of change: just one day before Hamburg’s appearance at the Food Forum, the FDA issued warnings threatening legal action to 17 manufacturers about 22 food labels that the agency deemed false or misleading.
But if large food manufacturers are feeling more regulatory heat, they didn’t let on at the Food Forum. General Mills’ Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Operations Elizabeth Westring said the food industry “has enjoyed a great relationship with regulators” and said General Mills was “fully supportive” of FDA having mandatory recall authority. Westring and McCormick & Company President and CEO Alan Wilson both praised the proposed food safety bill, and downplayed the impact that the legislation could have on small producers and processors. When pressed on this point by Ambinder, who asked if holding everyone to the same standard without giving small companies the resources to do so was just “favoring the big guys,” Westring replied, “Food safety is the price of admission. If you’re going to play in this space, you have to have a basic standard that everyone complies with.”
While panelists did not tread into the details of what such a standard would look like, Director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Stephen Sundlof did acknowledge that the FDA was mindful of the lessons learned from the California leafy greens marketing agreement. He stated that because of this experience, the legislation pending in Congress requires the agency to consider the impact of any regulation on small and organic producers.
NSAC will continue to work with the USDA, the FDA, and members of Congress to educate and provide guidance so that new legislation does not undermine the administration’s efforts to develop more robust local and regional food systems or undermine conservation measures on the part of producers. To stay informed of NSAC’s work, sign up for our weekly roundup and action alerts.
With regard to the threat of antibiotic resistance due to sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animals, Hamburg acknowledged that the issue was “a pressing concern, and one that the FDA has not addressed even though we understand it.” Hamburg’s own experience includes researching the problem of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis in humans.
Erik Olson, Director of Food and Consumer Product Safety at the Pew Health Group/Pew Charitable Trusts, noted that “there is pending legislation that would address this issue, but it is very controversial.”
For more information on solutions to the problem of antibiotic resistance, go to the wise antibiotics page of the Food and Agriculture Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an NSAC member organization.
2010 Conservation Reserve Program Sign-up Announced
March 5th, 2010
At last Saturday’s Pheasants Fest in Des Moines Iowa, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced there will a general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) this year, the first general sign-up since 2006. In testimony before Congress last year USDA indicated there would not be a general sign-up this year, so this week’s announcement represents a change in policy.
The 2008 Farm Bill lowered the total acreage allowed in the CRP from 39.2 million acres to 32 million acres. There are currently 31.2 million acres in the reserve.
CRP pays annual rental payments to landowners who idle cropland in contracts that last 10 years. CRP contracts on close to 4.5 million acres expire in September 2010 and another 4.5 million in September 2011, which could mean a significant drop in acreage. Some of those acres will be re-enrolled, but in the past few years, many landowners responded to federal and state incentives for corn ethanol production and periods of higher commodity prices by taking land out of the CRP and putting it back into row crop cultivation. Secretary Vilsack emphasized his concern that the large amount of acreage coming out of CRP will lead to increased wind and soil erosion and the loss of important wildlife habitat, especially in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas.
The Secretary stated that USDA’s goal for the 2010 sign-up is to replace the 4.4 million acres leaving the CRP with newly enrolled acreage that can provide higher environmental benefit. He also indicated that the sign-up would target acreage where the program could reduce farm runoff into the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and noted the importance of buffer strips and other practices that are part of the continuous CRP signup.
NSAC is a strong supporter of the continuous sign-up CRP for conservation buffers, as well as the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), which allows states and non-profit organizations to join with USDA in projects focused on specific watersheds and wildlife habitat needs. We are urging USDA to ensure that 8 million of the CRP’s 32 million acres be used for the continuous signup and CREP.
In addition to the general sign-up announcement, the Secretary also announced that three specific CRP wildlife initiatives will be increased. The cap for the State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement (SAFE) initiative will increase by 150,000 acres to 650,000 acres, while the cap for the Duck Nesting Habitat Initiative will increase by 50,000 acres to 150,000 acres and the Upland Bird Initiative cap will go up 100,000 acres to 350,000 acres.
Specific details about the 2010 general sign-up will be available after the Farm Service Agency (FSA) completes a Supplemental Environmental Impact State (SEIS) for CRP that covers the changes to the program made by the 2008 Farm Bill. FSA has issued a notice that it is accepting comments on a draft of the SEIS until April 5, 2010. Information on the changes to CRP in the 2008 Farm Bill is provided in the NSAC Grassroots Guide to the Farm Bill.
The NSAC farm bill guide also contains information on the new CRP Transition Program which provides incentives to landowners with expiring CRP contracts who opt to sell or lease the land to a new beginning farmer who agree to a conservation farming plan. USDA expects to announce the rules for the Transition Option soon, hopefully in time for landowners and beginning farmers to consider the option on the millions of acres of contracts expiring this September 30. We will alert readers as that option becomes available. Click here to sign up to receive NSAC action alerts.
Farmers Market Grant Opportunity Announced
March 1st, 2010
USDA published a notice of $5 million in grant funds available through the Farmers Market Promotion Program (FMPP) in today’s March 1 edition of the Federal Register. NSAC and the Wallace Center developed this program and NSAC championed it in the 2002 Farm Bill.
FMPP grants vary in size from $2,500 to $100,000 and do not require a match. Competition for the funds may be intense so we encourage applicants to take advantage of two new tools available this year, the FMPP Pre-Application Guide for 2010 and a FMPP grant-writing PowerPoint presentation.
Proposals are due on April 15, 2010 and late applications will not be considered. Access an application packet here.
FMPP is designed to increase direct producer-to-consumer marketing opportunities and has funded more than 200 projects since 2006. The 2008 Farm Bill added a provision that at least 10 percent of FMPP funds be spent each year to increase low-income consumers’ access to farmers markets by equipping markets with electronic benefit transfer machines (EBT) that can accommodate SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly food stamp) sales.
This year’s FMPP application emphasizes several priorities including bringing new farmers into direct marketing venues and improving access to local food in under-served rural communities. These priorities harmonize with USDA’s Know Your Farmer Know Your Food effort that uses existing programs to strengthen regional food systems and knowledge between producers and consumers. They also fit nicely with the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative designed to eliminate childhood obesity in this generation by increasing knowledge and access to affordable, nutritious food and encouraging more exercise. Both administration efforts reflect a new, multidisciplinary approach that links improving health with strengthening local food economies.
New Farm to School Bill in House
March 1st, 2010
On Friday, February 26, Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced the Farm to School Improvements Act of 2010 (HR 4710), which would provide the USDA with $10 million a year for a competitive grants program to fund projects linking producers with the school lunch program. The proposed legislation’s goal is to improve nutrition in schools while boosting farm sales and stimulating rural economies. NSAC strongly supports this legislation and is encouraging Members of Congress to co-sponsor it.
Farm to School projects could include developing a supply chain (aggregating, packaging, distributing) to serve schools, purchasing equipment to minimally process food so it can be used by cafeterias, adjusting menus to take advantage of regional production, or organizing trips for children to local farms.
Similar Farm to School language is included in the Children’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Act of 2009 (HR 4333), introduced by Rep. Farr (D-CA) and Rep. Putnam (R-FL), that also includes funds for salad bars in schools and other improvements to school nutrition.
NSAC’s end-goal is to have a mandatory funding provision for Farm to School included in the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, scheduled for congressional action later this year. The first step in the process will be consideration of comprehensive reauthorization bills by the House Education and Labor Committee and by the Senate Agriculture Committee. NSAC will continue to work on the pending Child Nutrition legislation with the aim of ensuring inclusion of Farm to School as part of the larger bill.
Grant Opportunity: Community Outreach and Assistance for Risk Management
March 1st, 2010
Today’s federal register announced the availability of $2.5 million in grants for the Risk Management Agency’s (RMA) Community Outreach and Assistance Partnership Program and $1.1 million for Commodity Partnerships for Small Agricultural Risk Management Education Sessions.
The Community Outreach and Assistance Partnership Program targets limited resource, socially disadvantaged and other traditionally underserved producers with training, informational opportunities and assistance to understand risk management tools including crop insurance and forward contracts, as well as broader risk management topics such as crop and enterprise diversification, conservation planning, new and value-added markets, debt reduction, and asset building strategies.
In 2010 the Risk Management Agency (RMA) has expanded the scope of risk management projects it will fund to include Farm to School, Food Safety and addressing Food Deserts (areas underserved by food retailers) with products from small farmers and ranchers.
The awards are unique in that recipients work closely with the Risk Management Agency (RMA) to deliver outreach and assistance in their geographical area.
Applications are due by April 15, 2010 and awards will be made by September 30, 2010.
Read the full RFA here. To apply, complete the full application packet, available online and mail to the address listed in the RFA, or visit Grants.gov to apply online (as of 4pm EST 3/1/10 the application is still not listed in Grants.gov). If you want to use grants.gov register as soon as possible as the process can take several weeks and do not submit your application online at the last minute as the system has been known to crash.
For further information, contact:
- Jacquea Howard-Brock, Outreach Specialist, 202-690-1518, jacquea.howard-brock@rma.usda.gov
- Michelle Wert, Management and Program Analyst, 202-690-1687, michelle.wert@rma.usda.gov
- Ron Brown, Outreach Specialist, 919-875-4896, ron.brown@rma.usda.gov; or
- Rudy Perez, Outreach Specialist, 530-792-5875, cell:202-230-1606, rudy.perez@rma.usda.gov
Ranking the Sustainability of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
February 25th, 2010
Results from a recent survey conducted by Tufts University, in cooperation with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, demonstrate that a majority of the conservation practices funded by the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) are ranked as advancing sustainability, while several rank as not advancing sustainability. The survey results and accompanying article are published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.
The Tufts EQIP survey of academics, farmers, government, and NGOs with expertise in sustainable agriculture was conceived of as an alternative, complementary analysis to the sole use of environmental outcomes as an indicator of conservation program success. Sustainability incorporates not only environmental outcomes but also economic viability and social impacts. The survey asked respondents to rate 47 selected National Conservation Practice Standards as either Advancing Sustainability or Not Advancing Sustainability.
Of the 47 conservation practices that were considered by survey respondents, over 73% of the EQIP payments fell under the category of Advancing Sustainability, while over 26% of the EQIP payments fell under the category of Not Advancing Sustainability, including a number of irrigation and livestock waste-related practices.
Interestingly, the survey responses were also analyzed by sector. Overall, the respondents from academia ranked practices for which there were cross-sector discrepancies (anaerobic digesters, trickle irrigation systems, irrigation pipeline, and solid waste separation facilities) more favorably than did farmers and representatives of NGOs and government agencies.
The study’s primary investigator, Tufts doctoral candidate Melissa Bailey, notes the importance of evaluating whether the practices funded by EQIP are consistent with perspectives on what advances sustainability given that the USDA is increasingly “developing programs and policies that incorporate sustainability as a goal for our food system…”
Opportunity for Farmers to Speak About Justice to Power
February 25th, 2010
The U.S. Department of Justice and USDA have announced the agenda for the first in a series of 5 workshops intended to give these agencies and the public in-depth information about the increasing concentration and decreasing competition in the agricultural sector. The workshop will be held March 12 in Ankeny, Iowa. Attendance at all the workshops is free and open to the public. The agenda and other information on this workshop are posted on the Department of Justice website, along with information on the next four workshops.
Farmers are caught in the middle of concentration in the agriculture sector. Increasingly fewer corporations control both the purchase and processing of livestock, poultry and other agricultural products and the supply to farmers of agricultural inputs. At the morning session of the Iowa workshop, farmers will have the opportunity to tell USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney about the decreasing ability for farmers to contract on fair terms with processors, to buy seed and other inputs at a reasonable price, and to get access to markets and a reasonable price for their products. Iowa Senators Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley are tentatively scheduled to participate in the morning session, along with Iowa state officials. Both Senators support stronger protections for farmers and ranchers in federal laws that regulate livestock and poultry markets. The farmers participating in this morning roundtable session will be named in a future announcement.
The afternoon panel on competition in the seed industry will include a representative from the Monsanto Company, which is rapidly buying up much of the world’s seed resources, and a representative from the American Antitrust Institute, which recently released a detailed report on Monsanto’s dominance. Another afternoon panel on agricultural trends includes Professor Mary Hendrickson from the University of Missouri, who has conducted long-term research on consolidation of firms in livestock and poultry sectors and in the retail food sector.
The Obama Administration announced last August that it was concerned about the impacts of the concentration of power in the agricultural sector on food costs, the effect of agricultural regulatory statutes or other applicable laws and programs on competition, issues relating to patent and intellectual property affecting agricultural marketing or production, and the impact on farmers of market practices such as price spreads, forward contracts, packer ownership of livestock before slaughter, market transparency, and increasing retailer concentration.
NSAC supported comprehensive reform in the 2008 Farm Bill of the Packers and Stockyards Act and the Agricultural Fair Practices Act, the laws that govern market relations in the agricultural sector. A new Livestock Title in the Farm Bill included a few important reforms, which are described in our NSAC Grassroots Guide to the 2008 Farm Bill, but other reforms, which will be examined in depth at the upcoming workshops, were left on the table.
The 2008 Farm Bill also directed USDA to issue an important proposed rulemaking on unfair market preferences and on agricultural contract reforms. The proposed rule will be issued for public comment by USDA in the near future, probably fairly soon after the March 12 hearing in Iowa. NSAC will be alerting readers to the publication of that rule and will provide analysis and possible talking points for public comment.
House Ag Appropriation Hearings kick off with questions for Vilsack
February 25th, 2010
Yesterday’s hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture kicked off the annual ag appropriations cycle with a round of questions for Secretary Vilsack on the USDA’s budget proposals for 2011. Members covered a wide swath of issues, and specifically addressed a number of programs of interest to NSAC members, including the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), climate change, food safety, farm to school, and the recently announced Healthy Food Financing and Rural Innovation Initiatives.
Notably missing from the mix were questions on the Administration’s proposed major cuts to mandatory conservation programs. Despite urging from NSAC and a number of other farm, conservation and environmental groups to reject cuts to mandatory farm conservation programs, no subcommittee member raised the issue with Secretary Vilsack throughout the three-plus hours of questioning.
But on the other side of the budget spectrum, the ballooning Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) prompted Ranking Member Jack Kingston (GA) to dub it the USDA’s “cash for clunkers” equivalent and admonish that the agency could “do better.” BCAP was written in the 2008 Farm Bill at an estimated $70 million, but is projected to cost $479 million dollars in FY 2011.
Both Kingston and Representative Tom Latham (IA) also criticized the proposed $50 million within the Agriculture and Food Research Institute (AFRI) on climate change research to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies. Secretary Vilsack responded in defense of the investment, stating that the research was “consistent with the USDA’s responsibilities” and essential in order for the US to continue to be the “most productive and adaptive” agricultural power in the world. Kingston later questioned the impact that EPA regulations on greenhouse gases (GHGs) might have on farmers. The Secretary cautioned that the impact was difficult to assess in the absence of a specific proposal, but that preliminary studies show that GHG regulation could represent an economic opportunity for commodity growers.
Following on her press statement on the release of the budget earlier this month, Chairwoman Rosa De Lauro (CT) questioned the Secretary about the lack of increased funding for the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in light of growing concerns by consumers and policy makers about food safety. De Lauro drilled the Secretary on details about terminating School Lunch Program suppliers who violate safety standards, and about the agency’s role in beefing up oversight of the current Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) management system, which she described as “too much industry self-policing.”
Multiple committee members chimed in on the issue of Child Nutrition spending. Notably, Representative Sam Farr (CA) reminded the committee of his pending Children’s Fruits and Vegetable Act which includes $10 million in competitive grants and technical assistance for farm-to-school programs. Representative De Lauro asked for a breakdown of spending within the Administration’s proposed $1 billion per year increase for improvements to Child Nutrition Programs. The Secretary did not outline details, and in particular did not offer additional information on how Farm to School might be funded within Child Nutrition reauthorization, though he did reiterate the USDA’s commitment to the strategy and mentioned the potential for using Rural Development funds to address supply chain development for Farm to School programs in rural areas.
Rural development was another reoccurring theme with questions ranging from broadband spending to housing to electric loans. In response to each question about specific programs, Secretary Vilsack brought the conversation back to the concept of regional change made tangible in the USDA’s proposed Regional Innovation Initiative. In response to concerns about the program eating away at existing competitive grant programs (the initiative would establish modest funding set-asides from twenty different programs across the USDA but does not propose additional new funding), the Secretary reiterated the need for a new approach to rural development that leveraged resources from across communities and encouraged strategic planning to create better places to live rather than focusing on individual business development. With all respect to the work that’s been done, said the Secretary, “rural development is not working.” Based on 25 years of experience working on these issues, the Secretary views the new initiative as an exciting and innovative alternative make real improvements in the lives of rural Americans.
Click here to view the full webcast. Or click here to download a pdf of Secretary Vilsack’s testimony.