Young Farmers Rely on Affordable Health Care
With the Senate’s repeal of the Affordable Care Act looming, young farmers from across the country wrote to tell us about what’s at stake on their farms. If you have a health care story to share, let us know. Help us amplify the voices of young farmers as the health care debate continues.
Is Whole Farm Revenue Insurance right for your farm?
Whole Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) is a new national crop insurance program for farmers. Since it is so new, lots of people are unclear about how it works. Traditionally, CSA and market farmers didn’t buy crop insurance because the crops they grew weren’t covered, the paperwork was mountainous, or the coverage amounts were based on […]
Young Farmer Success Act Reintroduced in Congress
A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives took action to address our urgent national need for more young farmers by reintroducing the Young Farmer Success Act (H.R. 1060). The National Young Farmers Coalition first worked with members of Congress in 2015 to tackle one of the greatest barriers to young farmer success: student loan debt. The Young […]
FSA announces funding for loan program
USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) announced last Friday that they are transferring additional funding into their direct farm operating loan program. This program loans money to farmers to help them pay for farm operating expenses and equipment when they cannot find a farm loan with another lender. This program includes the incredibly popular microloan program […]
Convention recap: Is there a farming platform?
By Eric Hansen, NYFC Policy Analyst Agriculture was conspicuously absent from the conversation at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. We already noted in The Hill the missed opportunity this presented for the RNC. Unfortunately the Democrats did an equally poor job speaking to farmers. For Republicans, highlighting agriculture should be a no-brainer. Rural America […]
A Young Farmers Guide to Election Season
Election season is in full swing, and Congress is in recess, which means that instead of hanging out in D.C., most Senators and Representatives are in their home states, listening to voters. Agriculture hasn’t gotten much discussion at the national level, which makes it even more critical that candidates hear from farmers. Young farmers are […]
FSMA Update: FDA Finalizes the Produce Rule
By Eric Hansen, NYFC Policy Analyst This is what we have all been waiting for, at least those of us with a stake in farm policy. On November 13 , the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the final version of Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption, commonly […]
5 things to love about USDA's New Farmers website
By Eric Hansen, NYFC Policy Analyst Yesterday, USDA announced that they are doubling down on their commitment to new farmers. The Department is aiming to boost beginning farmer participation in their programs and services by focusing $5.6 billion of existing funding on these farmers over the next two years. It is exciting to see this […]
Farmer testifies to Congress about student loan debt
On Monday, farmer Emily Best was invited to testify at a Congressional hearing about the impact her student loan debt has on her ability to farm. As almost one million student borrowers prepare to receive their first student loan bills in November, United States Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), chair of the Democratic Steering and Outreach […]
FDA Begins Finalizing Food Safety Rules
Last month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began finalizing the new food safety rules under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). NYFC and our partners have been working on these rules for the past few years, and together or coalition provided FDA with a lot of feedback about how the rules could be effective […]