Aimee Witteman’s Posts

• Carrots, sticks, and crumbs

  The farm bill is over, so what happens next? 3

  Posted 1 year, 4 months ago

  In a stuffy room on Capitol Hill last week, I joined a couple dozen activists and farmers to discuss the farm bill. Why would we bother to meet in hot-as-an-oven Washington D.C. to discuss the legislative mess that recently sputtered to an all too drawn-out end?

  While the ink is barely dry on the new farm legislation, the campaign for the 2012 Farm and Food Bill has already begun. The group of grassroots advocates met in D.C. last week to wipe the sweat from their brows, roll up their sleeves, and begin to strategize a coordinated effort to ensure… Read More

• Crunch time for the farm bill

  The legislation isn't perfect, but it's far better than extending the 2002 bill 0

  Posted 1 year, 7 months ago

  With the new farm bill languishing in the last stages of negotiations, many are bemoaning its lack of sweeping reform, suggesting that we have gained very little from months and years of work.

  But if the new bill is not to be the visionary document that many hoped and advocated for, what, if anything, do we stand to lose if the new bill is vetoed or negotiations reach an impasse and the 2002 farm bill is extended for two years?

  There are several small but important gains that we are poised to win if the new farm bill gets… Read More

• Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part V

  Direct and value-added marketing in the farm bill 3

  Posted 1 year, 10 months ago

  This is the last installment of a five-part series of farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For additional information about the status of sustainable agriculture priorities in the House and Senate versions of the farm bill, please check out SAC's farm bill progress chart.

  Farm Bill "conference" negotiations are underway at the staff level. Please call your Senators and Representative today and tell them what you want to see in the final Farm Bill!

  Increasing consumer demand for healthy, sustainably-produced food and agricultural products from local and regional markets has great potential to improve… Read More

• Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part IV

  The Conservation Security Program 1

  Posted 1 year, 10 months ago

  This is the fourth in a series of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For more information about the status of other sustainable agriculture programs in the Senate and House versions of the bill, please see this 2008 Farm Bill legislative tracking chart (PDF). The 2008 Farm Bill conference committee negotiations are just getting underway at the staff level -- please contact members of the Agriculture Committee and weigh in!

  In addition to food and fiber, farmers and ranchers are in a unique position to help provide healthy soils, clean air and water, habitat… Read More

• Countdown to the 2008 Farm Bill: Part III

  Organic production and research 2

  Posted 1 year, 10 months ago

  This is the third in a series of five farm bill fact sheets from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. For more information on the status of all sustainable agriculture provisions in the Senate and House versions of the farm bill, please visit SAC's farm bill legislative tracking center.

  Despite the fact that organic agriculture is one of the fastest growing sectors of American agriculture, the U.S. is currently experiencing a domestic shortfall of organically produced food as consumer demand continues to outpace supply. Considering the enormous potential organic practices have to increase farm revenue in our rural communities, preserve… Read More

All Posts

Aimee Witteman’s Recent Comments

• Click here to view comment in original post

  CRP Transition Program

  Hi Matt,
  Great point about the pressures to sensitive agricultural land - one of the many challenges associated with rising commodity prices.  The USDA has yet to announce their intentions, but several groups, including the one that I work for (www.sustainableagriculturecoalition.org) sent a letter to Agriculture Secretary Schafer last week, encouraging him not to cave into pressures to allow penalty-free early releases of Conservation Reserve Program land.
  Even if USDA does not allow early-outs, millions of acres worth of CRP contracts expire in the next few years.  With high commodities prices, it is likely that many producers will not renew or extend their contracts.  To ensure the land going back into production is managed as sustainably as  possible, advocates successfully got a provision in the new farm bill that provides incentives for landowners to lease newly-expired CRP land to beginning farmers and ranchers who have  plans for conservation and land improvements.  The intent is to preserve the conservation value while fostering new farming opportunities.      On The farm bill is over, so what happens next? posted 1 year, 4 months ago 3 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  Help for Beginning Farmers in New Farm Bill

  Thanks for the great post, Zoe.  

  An observation and then some info at the bottom about new programs in the farm bill that can help beginning farmers.

  The inverted pyramid is even more precarious: the number of farmers in the U.S. is actually about 1 million less than the statistic you stated. Beyond the ability of a shrinking number of fossil fuel-dependent farms to feed a growing population, there is also the incredibly negative impact that land and farm concentration have on rural communities (plenty of sociological and economic documentation to back this up - see Goldschmidt Hyopthesis).

  Ok - some good news about the farm bill.  Despite the many problems that the 2008 farm bill will continue to perpetuate, a couple of the 'bright spots' are new programs that address the challenges facing beginning farmers, including access-to-land:
  

  • there is a new Individual Development Account program that will be available in 15 states (the states haven't been chosen yet: contact your representative to get your state in line). The program uses financial training and matched savings accounts to assist those of modest means to establish savings.  The savings in the account can be used toward capital expenditures for a farm or ranch, including the expenses associated with purchasing land, buildings, equipment, or livestock, or toward training.  CA and MI have had pilot IDA programs that have been very successful at helping new farmers purchase land.  
    
  • there is a beginning farmer contract land sales program that provides a new permanent, nationwide authority for federal guarantees on private land contract sales from retiring to beginning farmers and ranchers.
    
  • there are changes to the beginning farmer and rancher down payment loan program with lower interest rates, better lending terms, and higher maximum purchase price on first-time land purchases.  
    
  A bunch more is in there - check out www.sustainableagriculturecoalition.org for more info.  We need to get the word out to aspiring new farmers that there is some (modest) assistance for them in the new farm bill.
        On Much depends on finding a new generation to put dinner on the table posted 1 year, 6 months ago 10 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  true dat

  Amen, Tom.  Thanks for posting a great response to the NYT article (and filling in some missed details about the featured farmers).  I tried to get the following LTE printed in the NYT but to no avail.

  Allen Salkin's article "Leaving Behind the Trucker Hat" uncovers the exciting new trend of young post-urbanites pursuing niche market farming, but in focusing narrowly on one demographic and region of the country ignores a much more complex and interesting story taking place in agriculture.  

  Salkin's article neglects to show that despite the growing demand for organic and locally-produced foods, many would-be farmers are still impeded by expensive land and a lack of access to loans, credit, and technical assistance.  We have a chance to fund programs in the next Farm Bill that can ensure that all budding agrarians, whether young or second-career, new immigrant, rural or urban, can afford to farm and become the future of agriculture.  Only by ensuring access for all can farming be a trend that is not fleeting.  On The NYT hails the era of the hipster farmer posted 1 year, 7 months ago 9 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  UFCW announces support for the packer ban

  In an important, related develpment to Tom's post, the United Food and Commerical Workers International Union announced today that they are endorsing the ban on packer ownership of livestock.  In their press release and full page ad run in Roll Call (a publication circulated on Captiol Hill), the Union stated that when packers own livestock the companies can move livestock and production to wherever they can find the cheapest land and labor.  

  UFCW's support for the packer ban is a huge development - important in terms of securing enough votes during the Senate's consideration of the farm bill and in highlighting the impact of market concentration on meatpacking workers.  On Don't let Big Meat slaughter the packer ban posted 2 years ago 9 Responses

• Click here to view comment in original post

  you go, goldengirl

  Absolutely. It's challenging to pick apart how different farm bill programs work, what you should support, and who you should listen to.  It's even tough to 'arm yourself with the facts' when groups have various lenses through which they analyze the same program/topic.  It's particularly important that farmers like yourself provide input into the process and speak truth to power - it's what keeps things grounded - quite literally in some cases.        On Good farm policies support good farm practices posted 2 years, 1 month ago 5 Responses