NSAC – Farming Opportunities and Fair Competition

Farming Opportunities and Fair Competition

The family farm as the nucleus of American agriculture is in jeopardy. There is no longer a wide range of farm types in the U.S. and our agricultural system is nearly limited to two types of farm: very small and very large. At one end of the spectrum are small, often part-time farms, producing a limited amount of all farm products and depending primarily on non-farm income for their livelihood. At the other end are very large farms that account for a majority of all farm product sales. Just over one percent of all farms account for nearly half the total value of farm product sales. In the middle, and hanging in the balance, are full-time family farms, intermediate in size, which still account for a sizable share of total sales.

The family farm matters to the viability of rural communities. Family farmers buy most of their inputs from local suppliers. They sell most of their products in local and regional markets. Many of the business enterprises in rural towns and small cities are farm-connected. A system of economically viable, midsize, owner-operated family farms contributes more to communities than systems characterized by mega-farms with hired managers and large numbers of farm laborers with below average incomes and little ownership or control of productive assets. Replacing midsize farms with big farms reduces middle class entrepreneurial opportunities in farm communities, at best replacing them with wage labor. The result is harmful to society.

Priorities for the Farming Opportunity and Fair Competition Committee for 2011:

Increase New and Expanded Farming Opportunities, including
• Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program
• Minority & Beginning Farmer Grants, Loans, & Conservation Assistance
• USDA Office of Advocacy and Outreach
Renew Fair and Competitive Markets
• USDA Fair and Competitive Markets Rulemaking
• Department of Justice Enforcement Activities
• Future Rulemakings and/or Legislation to Strengthen Packers & Stockyards Act

Learn more about NSAC’s advocacy in support of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. Get the Spanish version of the document Promoción y Apoyo de NSAC a Granjeros y Rancheros en Condiciones de Desventaja Social.

NSAC helped develop USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and is campaigning to have the program renewed in the 2012 Farm Bill. Click here to read about some of the innovative projects being funded by this program.

For information on NSAC’s appropriations campaign priorities, check out this page.

Recent Actions Take by NSAC:

NSAC, along with 38 other organizations, submitted a letter on October 27, 2011 to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees in support of mandatory funding for farm bill research programs that support beginning farmers, organic and specialty crop producers.

NSAC, along with 115 other organizations, submitted a letter on October 24, 2011 to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees in support of farm bill programs that support beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including tribal producers and farmworkers.

NSAC helped develop and facilitate the introduction of the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2011 [HR 3236], a marker bill for the 2012 Farm Bill that was introduced in Congress in October 2011.

NSAC submitted comments on the proposed Farm Credit Administration rule which would require Farm Credit Systems lending institutions to emphasize borrow diversity on July 25, 2011.

NSAC member Bob Junk (Fay Penn Economic Development Council) testified in support of the GIPSA proposed rule at a House Small Business Subcommittee hearing on July 7, 2011.

NSAC and several member organizations hosted a beginning farmer fly-in on June 15th, 2011, to bring farmer advocates to Washington, D.C. to speak with their representatives about the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act of 2011.

NSAC submitted a data request to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and prepared this report on Beginning and Minority Farmer Conservation set-asides for FY2010.

NSAC submitted a letter signed by 144 organizations in support of USDA’s proposed GIPSA rule to all members of Congress on Thursday, April 21, 2011.

NSAC collaborated on a report evaluating USDA’s 2010 grant allocations through Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), recently released by the Land Stewardship Project.

NSAC submitted a letter to President Obama and the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform in response to the cuts to mandatory agricultural spending proposed in the draft deficit commission report, November 15, 2010.

NSAC submitted comments on the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA) rule, and signed on to a sign-on comment letter sent on behalf of 136 organizations.

NSAC supports the Network of Black Farm Groups and Advocates in their efforts to secure funding for the Pigford settlement. Read their letter to Senate urging funding.

Twenty-one Senators joined this letter to USDA Secretary Vilsack in support of a proposed rule to clarify and strengthen the protections for farmers and ranchers provided in the Packers and Stockyards Act, August 13, 2010.

NSAC joined with more than 66 farm, rural and sustainable agriculture groups on a Letter to the House Agriculture Committee in support of USDA proposed regulations restoring competition and contract fairness to livestock and poultry markets, July 23, 2010.