Support Sustainable Agriculture Today!

A gritty but incredibly important process called ‘appropriations’ is currently being hammered out between the House and Senate agriculture committees. Encourage your representatives to fully fund programs that support sustainable agriculture! Read on to find out how you can spend five minutes making your voice heard.

What’s going on with agricultural appropriations?

• At the beginning of summer, the House passed an agriculture spending bill with lots of wins in it for sustainable agriculture.
• The Senate passed their ag spending bill last week, which doesn’t support as many of our priorities.
• Now, the two bills are being combined into one through a process called Conference. This is a great time to weigh in to make sure that the wins from the House version end up in the final bill!

Priorities: Along with our partners at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, we are asking for support for:

• Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program – $45 million
• Food Safety Outreach Program – $10 million
• Farming Opportunities Training and Outreach Program – $10 million
• Local Agriculture Market Program – $20.4 million
• FSA Direct and Guaranteed Loans – Level Funding
• Conservation Technical Assistance – $741.36 million
• Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network – $10 million
• Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program – $3 million

What you can do:

• Call your Members of Congress! Now that conference is underway, this is a great time to reach out and remind your MoCs about your appropriations priorities, especially if you are represented by someone on the House or Senate agriculture appropriations subcommittee.
• Here’s some sample messaging to use or share with your base – this is about the Value Added Producer Grant Program but can be adapted for any of the above priorities:
  • Call the Capital Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
  • Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a constituent. I’m calling about funding for local food. As you work on this year’s agriculture spending bill, please make sure the final version contains $45 million in discretionary funding for the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Thank you!