NSAC Weekly Roundup

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ferd Hoefner, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Date: Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 4:50 PM
Subject: NSAC Weekly Roundup

January 27, 2012                                                                             About  Donate  Take Action Welcome to the NSAC Weekly Roundup! To access the full articles simply click on the title and you'll be taken to the specific post page. In this Week's Roundup... NSAC Members Set 2012 Agenda Earlier this week, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) held its semi-annual member meeting near Reisterstown, Maryland.  Every winter, NSAC members discuss, debate, and vote on the coalition’s priorities for the year.  In the coming year, NSAC will work with Congress and the Administration to: Create jobs and spur economic growth through food and farms. Invest in the future of American agriculture. Reward farmers and ranchers for the environmental benefits that they produce. Drive innovation for tomorrow’s farmers and food entrepreneurs. Equip America’s rural communities for economic growth and prosperity. Restore integrity and fiscal responsibility in farm policy. Preserve our natural resources while improving the farm safety net. Read more... USDA NEWS Women and Latino Farmers Now Eligible for Larger Discrimination Claims On January 25th, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the Obama Administration has increased the maximum cash recovery for claims from Latino and female farmers and ranchers discriminated against when seeking USDA loans.  Now, Latino and female farmers claiming discrimination in the USDA loan process between 1981 and 2000 are eligible to receive up to $250,000, rather than the $50,000 cap that had previously been in place, in cash recovery.  Read more... Office of Advocacy and Outreach Launches New Website! This week, USDA’s Office of Advocacy and Outreach launched their website located at www.outreach.usda.gov. The Office of Advocacy and Outreach (OAO) was established in the 2008 Farm Bill in order to increase access to USDA programs and to improve the viability and profitability of small farms and ranches, beginning farmers and ranchers, and socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers.  Read more... OTHER NEWS U.S. Conference of Mayors Establishes Food Policy Task Force At its January meeting in Washington, DC, the U.S. Conference of Mayors established a food policy task force to be headed up by Mayor Tom Menino of Boston and Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore.  Read more... Welcome New NSAC Members NSAC is excited to announce our newest member organizations: Fair Food Network, New England Farmers Union, Oregon Tilth, and Tilth Producers of Washington.  Member Spotlight Farm Aid Neil Young and John Mellencamp organized the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land. Dave Matthews joined the Farm Aid Board of Directors in 2001. Farm Aid has raised more than $39 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. Farm Aid is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to keep family farmers on their land. Farm Aid accomplishes this mission by: promoting food from family farms, growing the good food movement, helping farmers thrive, and taking action to change the system. Visit them here. 1. Sign up to receive blog posts in an RSS feed.  To sign up for the RSS feed, simply click here, or open your favorite RSS reader and subscribe to the following URL:  http://feeds.feedburner.com/SustainableAgricultureCoalition.  (For more information about RSS feeds, check out this article) 2. Sign up to receive the blog posts in your email inbox.  If you prefer to receive the blog posts in your email inbox, click here. When we add new content to the blog, you will receive it as an email.