House Bill 2479 passed the Kansas House 85 to 39 and is now scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Natural Resources committee on Wednesday March 9 at 8:30 am in Room 159-S. For now, this most important bill is only scheduled for a one day - one hour hearing. If past practices are followed by the Committee Chair, the proponents will be given unlimited time to make their presentations and answer all committee questions. Usually there is very little if any time left for the opponents, so citizens have to drive back to Topeka and take another day off work to participate in this public process. 

If you want to testify, you need to contact the Committee Assistant - Toni Beck (at 785-296-7694) - on or by Monday, March 7. Through members on the Senate Committee, we have requested  that Wednesday be for the proponents and  a second day on Thursday for the opponents. Written testimony can also be very helpful especially if you can document the potential economic harm by chemical drift onto specialty crops and organic crops.

  Each year, Congress uses the annual appropriations process to decide funding levels and make certain policy decisions for federal programs. Food and agriculture programs, of course, are no exception. This spring, the appropriations committees in the House and Senate will make critical funding decisions on rural development, nutrition, research, conservation, and many other programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Following the release of   USDA's funding requests for fiscal year 2017 (FY17), the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittees in the House and Senate hold a series of hearings to examine the requested funds and their suggested purposes. At the time of this posting the Senate Subcommittee has yet to begin hearings; however, the House Subcommittee has already begun their process and held several meetings to discuss the USDA's requests.

Last week, several food and agriculture agencies came before the House Subcommittee to defend their programs and budgetary proposals, including: the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Following is a summary of the aforementioned hearings:

Read more  Here.

Commodification is on the rise in many sectors of the American economy, but lately many consumers have been bucking that trend when it comes to their food. Increasingly Americans are interested in food that is not only good for them, but also in food that is grown sustainably, by local and regional farmer and ranchers. Thanks to the efforts of local and regional farmers and ranchers, good food advocates, and Secretary Tom Vilsack and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), sustainable agriculture is experiencing a nationwide surge via growth in local and regional food systems. That growth in turn is linked, in part, to the interests of young and beginning farmers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently finalized two new food safety rules, the   Preventive Controls Rule  and the  Produce Safety Rule, under the   Food Safety Modernization Act  (FSMA). These rules establish new requirements for farms and food businesses, with different levels of compliance based on operation type and size. In order to help farmers and food businesses navigate the new federal food safety requirements, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) has released an updated version of our   "Am I Affected?" FSMA flowchart.   Read more  Here.