Public Plant Breeding and Other News

Posted on August 1, 2017 by Taylor in News, Policy, Politics, Research // 0 Comments

The latest news from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) including Farm Bill, FSMA Produce Rule funding, and Sustaining Public Plant Breeding.

CONGRESSIONAL NEWS

Senate Agriculture Committee Tackles Farm Bill Heavy Hitters: Commodities, Credit, and Crop Insurance

Yesterday, Senate Agriculture Committee hunkered down for an epic farm bill hearing, during which 17 witnesses gave testimony on three of the bill’s most significant titles – the Commodity Title (Title I), Credit Title (Title V), and Risk Management Title (Title XI). Witnesses at the hearing included representatives from commodity groups, banks, general farm organizations, and the crop insurance industry, as well as the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC), a member of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)

FDA NEWS

Increased State Funding for FSMA Produce Rule

One of most common questions we hear at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is: Who is going to be enforcing these new rules on farms, and how? While many of the details surrounding how the rules will be implemented remain uncertain, we do know that FDA intends that – wherever possible – that state agencies serve as the primary enforcers of the new Produce Safety Rule on covered farms. Last year, FDA awarded $21.8 million to the states through cooperative agreements to develop implementation plans. This year, FDA funding for state implementation will increase to $30.9 million.

RESEARCH NEWS

Best Practices for Sustaining Public Plant Breeding

This is a guest blog by Kristina Hubbard, Director of Advocacy and Communications with NSAC member group, Organic Seed Alliance (OSA). OSA attended the Intellectual Property Rights for Public Plant Breeding Summit last year, and works independently as well as with NSAC on public plant breeding policy.