Farm to School Grant Funding and More…

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The Latest news from the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, including farm to school grant funding and more…

Farm to School Grant Funding Now Available The growth in farm to school programs and the increased market opportunities for farmers has been aided by the small but powerful USDA Farm to School Grant program. On September 13, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Office of Community Food Systems released a request for applications (RFA) for up to $5 million in grant funds.

 

Release: Farm Credit Shortfall Must be Addressed Swiftly – Farms and farm lending organizations haved reached out to Congress, asking them to ensure that FSA has the necessary funding to continue providing critical operating loans to approved farmers in the coming fiscal year. Estimates are that FSA will be entering FY 2017 with a nearly $215 million backlog in farm operating loans from FY2016, and no new borrowers can be considered until all previously approved borrowers from FY2016 are funded.

 

States Receive $22 Million for FSMA Produce Rule   Implementation The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) directs FDA to work with the states in implementing FSMA as part of a National Integrated Food Safety System. FDA has been very public that it views state departments of agriculture as the primary agencies that will be interacting with covered farms. To this end, FDA entered into a cooperative agreement with the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture in order to assess each state’s authority to implement these new rules, and to subsequently develop an implementation framework.