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Article Archives > USDA News


11 Mar 2012

Conservation Reserve Program Initiative for Wetlands and Grasslands

On Friday, March 2, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Initiative to preserve wetlands and grasslands through a continuous signup process for up to one million acres of land targeted in the three following areas:
• New Continuous Pollinator Practice – up to 100,000 acres
• Increased Acreage for Wetland Restoration – up to 200,000 acres
• Restoration of Critical Grassland Ecosystems

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USDA Announces Two New Conservation Initiatives

USDA recently announced two new initiatives, the Highly Erodible Cropland Initiative within the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and the expanded On-Farm Energy Audits Initiative within the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).  Read more...

Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food: USDA Releases Report and Compass

On Wednesday, February 29 USDA released its Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food (KYF2) report and introduced the Compass, an expansive new resource for the KYF2 initiative.  The initiative was launched in 2009 to enhance coordination and efficiency among the various USDA agencies and programs that work to build local and regional farm and food systems.  Read more...

USDA Funding Available for Organic Research

This week, USDA announced the availability of $3.8 million in grants to fund research on organic production systems, under the Integrated Organic Transitions Program administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).  Read more...

USDA Solicits Stakeholder Input on Agricultural Research

Last week, over 150 people attended a stakeholder listening session to provide feedback on ways to improve the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) – USDA’s largest competitive grants program that funds agricultural research, education, and extension projects.  The session was hosted in Washington, D.C. at the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) – the federal agency responsible for administering AFRI.  Read more...