Farm Bill Update – the Committee Drafts are in
Last week we told you that the Senate and House Agriculture Committees were having their respective committee markup sessions, where the committees wrote a basic draft of the Farm Bill. Here’s a quick recap on the process: the Chairs and Ranking Members of each committee putting together an initial draft and presenting it to the […]
This week the House and Senate Agriculture Committees are working on the 2013 Farm Bill!
Things are really picking up with the new Farm Bill. After the painful slowness of last year, it’s surprising to see Congress actually building real momentum into writing the new five-year bill. Here is the latest news from Washington: Last week, the House and Senate Agriculture Committees released draft farm bills. Now, members of the […]
Get the inside scoop on the Farm Bill with farmbillprimer.org
Congressional voting records. Appropriation amounts. More acronyms than you can shake a scuffle hoe at. Starting to feel overwhelmed already by the massive amount of data surrounding the Farm Bill? Sometimes when we’re feeling swamped, we turn to FarmBillPrimer.org, a great resource for data, maps, and analysis. This week we scored an interview with Marjorie Roswell, […]
New Marker Bill Promises Local Food Support
We are happy to announce the release of the new Local Farms, Food, and Jobs Act of 2013! The bill, introduced by Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine, addresses a range of farm bill titles, from extension programs to processing and distribution as it works to aid farmers and consumers […]
Food Safety Rules – Coming to a farm near you!
It’s time to start talking about the new food safety bill and how it’s going to affect you. Food safety isn’t high on anyone’s list of exciting things to spend their free time reading about, but take a few moments, because how the law gets written this year will have a long-running impact on how […]
Tell me more about… the Conservation Stewardship Program
This is a part of a blog series on different federal programs in the USDA and how they affect the average beginning farmer. As we work towards improving legislation and pushing for reform in the Farm Bill, we decided to create these quick tutorial pages to act as a reference. Let us know if there is […]
Young Farmers Take to Washington!
The halls of Congress heard ringing of cowboy boots and the stomping of mud-stained muck boots this past week as farmers from across the country descended on our nation’s capitol. On Monday and Tuesday, the Young Farmers Coalition brought five beginning farmers from California, South Dakota, Colorado, and New York to Washington, DC to meet […]
A Brief History of the 2012 Farm Bill
We get a lot of questions about exactly what went down with the Farm Bill last year. (Honestly, it was head-spinning confusion even for seasoned policy experts.) To help shed a little light, here’s a play-by-play recap: For starters, what is the Farm Bill and how does it affect me? The Farm Bill is an […]
Young Farmers in the House at NSAC winter strategy meeting
Last month, the Young Farmers’ Coalition took part in the semi-annual planning meeting of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). NYFC is a member group of NSAC, which advocates nationally for agricultural reform and also coordinates the advocacy efforts of nearly 100 member organizations. The winter meeting – this most recent one held in Haines […]
For Better or Worse, a Farm Bill – A Quick Wrap-up
At long last, the Farm Bill race of 2012 is over. The past week has been a flurry of activity in Congress, as the looming fiscal cliff spurred Washington to action. Despite the public attention on the Farm Bill over the past year, the conclusion to the long drama came not in a fiery showdown […]