Editor’s Note: This is the second post in a four-part blog series analyzing the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026, which was reported out of the House Agriculture Committee on March 5. The first post provides an overview of the markup process and the bill as a whole. This article provides a deep dive analysis of the bill’s potential impacts on local and regional food systems. The third post offers an analysis of its impacts on the farm safety net, farms’ ability to access land and capital, and fair competition. The fourth post covers conservation, climate resilience, and sustainable and organic research. 

In a moment where families and farmers are facing increased costs, The Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 (FFNSA) takes modest steps to invest in local food supply chains while unfortunately neglecting to address the historically deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program included in 2025’s budget reconciliation bill (H.R. 1). Most notably, the bill would create a permanent – albeit unfunded – program that empowers states to develop their own community nutrition programs that purchase from small and mid-size farms and beginning and veteran farmers to distribute in food insecure communities. At other times, the bill underfunds programs, significantly jeopardizing their success. 

The following analysis is divided into sections addressing local and regional market access and development, supply chain infrastructure and support, and food access:

• Market Access and Development
• Supply Chain Infrastructure and Support
• Food Access

Local Food: Market Access and Development

In 2025, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) unexpectedly terminated two programs that sought to connect producers to new markets via business technical assistance and market access. The March termination came at a time when many farmers had already purchased supplies or expanded operations in anticipation of future sales. Since then, there has been notable support in the House and Senate for a new, permanent program that would invest in reliable state and domestic markets. 

Local Farmers Feeding our Communities

The FFNSA creates a new program, the Local Farmers Feeding our Communities Program, which directs USDA to enter into cooperative agreements with state agencies and Tribal governments to provide them with funding to purchase and distribute local food to communities in need (Section 4306). Nestled in the nutrition title, it is clear that the program would readily provide healthy foods to food insecure communities. However, the primary focus of the program is to expand economic opportunities for small- and mid-sized farms, beginning and veteran farmers, while strengthening regional food networks. In addition to funding for direct food purchases, the new program includes:

• An emphasis on farm-fresh local products, requiring all food purchases to be minimally processed foods; 
• A requirement for at least 25% of the total annual value of products purchased under these agreements to come from small, midsize, beginning, or veteran producers; 
• Funding for administration and technical support that helps producers obtain food safety training and certification; 
• An authorization of appropriations for $200 million annually; 
• A directive that 10% of total funding be allocated first to Tribal nations, with each state then receiving 1% of funds, and all remaining funding to be allocated utilizing the Emergency Food Assistance state allocation formula. 

The inclusion of the Farmers Feeding our Communities Program is an instance of Congress responding to farmers and communities nationwide, celebrating the success of the previous Local Food Purchase Assistance Program while also making pragmatic improvements, such as directing technical assistance for food safety. However, without mandatory funding, the program would not be able to provide reliable market access, limiting program effectiveness and making farmers hesitant to participate. 

Food Safety Outreach Program

Investments in food safety education and equipment or training are essential to meeting ever-evolving market and regulatory food safety requirements. Without sufficient investments, these food safety requirements can prevent many smaller-scale producers from entering new markets. The FFNSA meets the bare minimum of reauthorizing some of the programs that provide these investments – such as the Food Safety Outreach Program (FSOP). FSOP, which funds education on a variety of food safety topics, includes an intentional focus on reaching underserved producer communities. However, FFNSA misses an opportunity to increase funding levels for FSOP, a crucial misstep, especially given the array of food safety regulations increasingly impacting smaller producers. It also makes the misstep of removing a community outreach and grant feedback component that may negatively impact program structure in the future (Sec. 7301).

Local Agriculture Market Program 

The farm bill has a longstanding history of supporting local market development through programs such as the Local Agriculture Market Program.  Yet, FFNSA fails to fully respond to the growing program demand and its proven track record in generating new business revenue and jobs. FFNSA offers program reforms that codify a simplified, turnkey application process, which will support essential activities such as farmers’ market manager time, marketing activities, and special purpose equipment. Unfortunately, it does not offer an increase in appropriations or mandatory funding levels. The combined effect of the changes may generate more demand than the program can support (Section 10102). 

Federal Procurement Reform 

Without a Child Nutrition Reauthorization anywhere on the horizon, the farm bill is the primary opportunity to update federal food procurement policies that respond to the needs of farmers, businesses, school nutrition stakeholders, and communities. FFNSA directs USDA to examine USDA’s food purchasing practices to understand 1) barriers for farmers and businesses to sell nontraditional, culturally relevant, or local and regional products directly to USDA, and 2) the quality of foods being purchased for USDA programs. This assessment would also make administrative, regulatory, and legislative recommendations to address barriers. This is a small but necessary step in updating long term commodity purchasing practices (Section 10106). 

Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program

Meat and poultry processing is a closely regulated industry. Yet, for decades, geographic and funding limitations have frequently prevented Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) personnel from providing food safety education before regulation. These same limitations have also made it challenging for FSIS to cost-effectively regulate smaller processors in many states. As a result, Congress created the Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program (CIS) in the Food Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (2008 Farm Bill) to enable products processed at state-inspected plants to be sold interstate if the state has a Meat and Poultry Inspection program equivalent to the federal inspection program.

CIS has expanded markets and opportunities and encouraged the creation of new products in the small plants it serves. Over time, however, it has become evident that the CIS program requires an expansion of scope and funding in order to serve more small and very small meat processors. The bipartisan Strengthening Local Processing Act (SLPA, H.R. 945) includes changes to the federal and state regulatory authorities’ cost-share model, which could alter the cost-benefit analysis for states that have their own meat and poultry inspection programs, ultimately making for more effective regulation of small and very small meat processors. Those plants will then be able to work more effectively with small and diversified farms that are an essential component of a sustainable and equitable food system. 

Unfortunately, the FFNSA declines to make any changes to the CIS program structure, instead promoting outreach about the program and requiring a report on that outreach each year (Sec 12113). While the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) supports more effective promotion of the CIS program, the failure to include many of the necessary structural and funding improvements means that the FFNSA misses a critical opportunity to expand markets for smaller processors, increase competition in the industry, and help bring more nutritious, locally, and often sustainably raised animal products to market. The FFNSA requires FSIS to provide more publicly available food safety resources designed for small and very small meat processors, including additional widely available validation studies, which small processors can use to support scale-appropriate food safety control techniques. (Section 12112). 

Business Technical Assistance 

Successful local market development programs have included temporary investments in value-chain coordination and business technical assistance that connect producers to scale appropriate market opportunities. These hands-on efforts can provide regionalized, specific support that strengthens local food networks. Two of USDA’s most notable initiatives to support these activities are the Regional Food Business Centers and the Meat and Poultry Processing Capacity Technical Assistance program. Unfortunately, the FFNSA does not authorize either program. It does, however, meet the bare minimum of reauthorizing a number of longstanding rural business development programs, such as the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP), Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA), Rural Business Development Grants, and Rural Cooperative Development Grants. Additional program changes to RMAP are noted in the following section. 

Local Food: Supply Chain and Infrastructure Support

USDA’s previous transformative food system initiative focused on improvements across the supply chain, with investments in infrastructure, workforce development, value-chain coordination, and business technical assistance. The FFNSA offers a few new options for infrastructure investments, but does not adequately respond to the needs of rural communities for specialized food workforce training and technical assistance for scaling businesses. Disproportionate investment along the supply chain can lead to supply without adequate markets for producers, or potentially new infrastructure for businesses without sufficient business planning to strategically scale. 

Infrastructure

The FFNSA attempts to sustain some of the meat processing expansion programs created by ARPA, for example, through a “new, mobile, and expanded meat processing and rendering grants” program (Section 6304). This section bears some but not enough resemblance to the original programs (MPPEP, Local MCap, MPIRG) that were developed, in part, based on the proposals in SLPA. 

At only $3 million in authorized appropriations funding, the FFNSA’s Section 6304 grants are insufficiently funded relative to the demand across the US. Furthermore, the bill expands eligible applicants to include land grant universities, state departments of agriculture, and other organizations with existing capacities well beyond the small and very small meat processors for whom this program was intended. Instead of limiting these grants to small and very small processors, the FFNSA only includes it as a priority that the funding goes to small and very small processors. This, combined with the lack of a ‘socially disadvantaged’ priority, means that the FFNSA-created grant program runs the risk of funneling money to processors that already have access to other financial instruments to expand capacity. This fails to meaningfully address the processing bottleneck that smaller-scale producers nationwide experience. 

The FFNSA expands upon the existing business and industry guaranteed loan program by setting aside a portion of its annual funding for a permanent food supply chain guaranteed loan that seeks to support food supply chain capacity by financing projects focused on aggregation, processing, distribution, and manufacturing. Additionally, it caps the guarantee fee institutions pay to USDA to 3%, which has been cited as a barrier for borrowers among a number of lenders. However, there is little specificity of program goals or parameters for business scale or production type. This financial product is unlikely to support emerging food enterprises or small and mid-scale enterprises participating exclusively in regional food supply chains due to the rigorous underwriting standards associated with USDA guaranteed loans (Section 6304, 6412). 

The Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program supports business enterprise development in rural communities by offering affordable loans and relevant ancillary business technical assistance. RMAP is long overdue for program updates to increase the allowable loan sizes and relax restrictions on building renovations, a critical need in many rural spaces. The FFNSA would increase the loan limit to $75,000 and up to 50% of that loan can support costs associated with renovation, construction or other real estate improvement (Section 6422). 

Finally, the bill codifies recent LAMP program updates by allowing the purchase of necessary special purpose equipment (Section 10102).

Workforce Development

Small and very small processors – for whom jobs tend to be more cross functional than in their larger industry competitors – have struggled to recruit and maintain the highly skilled workforce they need. More funding and programs specifically created to support the unique needs of small and very small meat workforce development are important to increase growth in the sector.

Unfortunately, the FFNSA does not offer any new funding or new programs to meet the much needed investment in this sector. The bill does amend the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) to include meat processing workforce development as an area of research. The bill also authorizes the creation of new community college grants oriented towards the development of a broader highly skilled agricultural workforce. While this may include meat processing training, it does not do so explicitly (Section 7123, 7503). 

Local Food: Access

While the Local Farmers Feeding our Communities Program would increase the circulation of farm-fresh foods in American communities, FFNSA does very little to otherwise support access to and affordability of nutritious foods for food insecure families. 

A number of USDA programs incentivize families to use their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance benefits (SNAP) to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables in local food settings by providing matching cash benefits, generating a win for families and farmers. These programs – namely the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) and the Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program (GusNIP) – receive bipartisan support. FFNSA makes common sense reforms to include popular items such as herbs, maple syrup, and tree nuts in the eligible foods for SFMNP (Section 4201). It also updates award criteria for GusNIP grantees by allowing the Secretary to waive the match requirement for applicants from persistent poverty counties and prioritize projects that increase year-round availability for fruits and vegetables (Section 4303). While NSAC is pleased to see efforts to reduce match requirements, the new prioritization stands to weaken the existing priority for direct-marketing settings, leading to potential shifts of spending away from American farmers. Overall, FFNSA does not succeed in meeting the growing needs of food insecure communities with no additional funding to either program in addition to a failure to restore the cuts to SNAP that were initiated by H.R. 1 in 2025. 

Some changes in the FFNSA likely stand to increase local food access in vulnerable communities by increasing the connectivity between farmers and their communities (Section 10003). The bill offers a number of reforms to the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production that are responsive to the growth of a new office since its initial implementation in 2020. Those changes include: 

• Expanding the responsibilities and improving the services of the Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (OUAIP) to better support the business and conservation needs of urban and innovative producers; 
• Renewing the Federal Advisory Committee until 2031; 
• Permanently authorizing the FSA Urban County Committees; 
• Directing USDA to increase outreach and technical assistance to producers through cooperative agreements with community experts; 
• Ensuring UAIP grants have broader reach to producers by allowing for awards to farmer cooperatives and subawards to individual farmers.  

Yet, due to the no-cost nature of the bill, the proposed changes will generate increased demand without any increase or guarantee of funding. OUAIP has consistently been underfunded or forgotten in Appropriations Cycles. Therefore, these program improvements stand to be delayed without adequate funding. 

The post Unpacking the House Farm Bill: Part 2 appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Small and mid-sized meat and poultry processors play a critical role in supporting resilient regional food systems by providing livestock farmers with a wider range of processing options and by providing more local and regional animal products for consumers. On April 30, 2025 a bipartisan group led by Senator John Thune (R-SD), Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME), and Representative Jim Baird (R-IN) reintroduced the Strengthening Local Processing Act (SLPA) in both chambers of Congress to help grow this sector.  SLPA  provides much needed support for small and mid-sized meat processors by providing grants, technical assistance, and workforce support to expand capacity, improve food safety, and strengthen regional food systems. 

One of the ways that SLPA supports the development of small and very small meat processors – defined by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as having fewer than ten or 10-500 full time equivalent employees, respectively, is by incentivizing maintenance and uptake at the state level of an already-established program: the Cooperative Interstate Shipping program (CIS). CIS allows states with their own meat and poultry inspection programs to allow state-inspected meat to ship across state borders and even internationally, helping farmers and regional processors expand their markets.. This simplifies market access by eliminating the need for additional federal inspection of plants in participating states.

CIS: An Underutilized Program

 More than a decade after its creation, only a handful of states and processors have successfully joined CIS. SLPA would help promote the expansion of CIS by:

1. Requiring the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to conduct outreach to states with state inspection programs that are not part of the CIS program, and to submit a report to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees each year detailing the activities and the results of the outreach conducted.
2. Increasing the share of total program costs that the USDA will cover from 60% to 80%.
3. Increasing the size of plants that are eligible to participate from plants with fewer than 25 employees to plants with fewer than 50 employees.

Together with the other aspects of the SLPA, the expansion of CIS builds more regional markets for farmers and consumers.

This blog post examines the most recent data on CIS participation, reveals just how underutilized the program currently is, and why Congressional action through the Strengthening Local Processing Act (SLPA) is needed to fulfill the full potential of the CIS.

A Well-Intentioned Program, Largely Sitting on the Shelf, Underfunded

The CIS program was created by Congress in 2008 to give small meat and poultry processors more market access without requiring them to obtain USDA inspection. Instead, plants operating under a state inspection system can ship across state lines if their state opts into the program and the plant is certified by FSIS.

Despite the flexibility it offers, participation in CIS remains limited, in part because FSIS does not currently promote the program. Just 163 plants nationwide are participating in the program and only 9 of the 29 eligible states (31%) currently have any plants enrolled in CIS.

Over the last several years, during the annual government funding cycle, both agencies, the President, and Congress have noted the need to increase funding for this program to prevent insolvency and strengthen the relationship between the federal government and states. In the FY24 and FY25 appropriation processes, Congress included report language that stated the importance of this program. 

Recently, USDA took some small steps to ensure the continued solvency of the program for several states, utilizing the Non-Recurring Expense Fund to help many states reach the mandatory 50% cost share. 

The Economic Potential: Thousands of Jobs, Millions in Payroll

Yet, with support from the SLPA, there is massive potential for CIS. Nationally, there are 2,133 plants with fewer than twenty employees and 2,614 plants with fewer than 50 employees, according to the 2022 County Business Patterns data from the US Census Bureau. With the larger plant size cap and the mandated outreach of the SLPA, the number of CIS plants nationally has the potential to grow more than sixteen times its current scope. 

Even among the twenty nine states currently eligible for CIS, the enrollment of plants is low and would benefit from all the additional support the SLPA offers: increased cost share, and promotion of the CIS program. Currently, among plants with fewer than 20 employees in those eligible states, only 12% participate in CIS. This limited participation is not due to a lack of need—but to administrative and structural barriers.

Small and mid-sized processors are vital to regional food security and rural economies, and support from the SLPA could help amplify their impact on rural communities. According to 2022 US Census Bureau County Business Patterns data:

• Processors with fewer than 20 employees account for 2,133 facilities, employing more than 13,500 workers, and generating $564 million in annual payroll.
• Processors with fewer than 50 employees account for 2,614 facilities, supporting more than 28,634 jobs, and generating over $1.34 billion in annual payroll.

If CIS participation were expanded, these small plants could grow their customer base across state lines, invest more in operations, and potentially create new jobs in rural communities. 

Potential for Administrative Simplification and Cost Cutting

By shifting inspectors out to state agencies, and eliminating some overhead in FSIS inspection and payroll, Meat and Poultry Inspection Program (MPI) and CIS programs often lead to lower costs for the same level of inspection, as statutorily required. More research, especially through the Government Accountability Office (GAO) or other congressionally mandated research would be useful in understanding whether there is further savings to be gained at the federal level by comparing inspection costs between CIS plants and federally inspected plants. 

While there is more research needed, the current positive economic impacts of MPI-CIS, and the greater economic potential for the program, make a compelling case for both expanding participation by modestly increasing size caps and expanding state incentives to participate in it.

Where the Gaps Are: State-by-State Participation

Nationally, twenty nine states are eligible to participate in CIS because they have established a Meat and Poultry Inspection Program (MPI) and maintain “at least equal to” FSIS regulatory standards. The eligible states are spread across the Midwest and Southeast, with a smattering of eligible states in the Northeast and the West. Of the eligible states, only nine have plants currently participating in the CIS program. 

The CIS program has been embraced most fully in a handful of Midwestern states. Ohio leads the country with 48 participating plants, followed by Wisconsin (33), Iowa (27), and Indiana (23). These four states alone account for over 80% of all CIS plants.

The majority of eligible states—including major agricultural producers like Texas, Missouri, and Minnesota—have no participation in the program. This is not for lack of processing infrastructure. For example: Texas has 165 processing plants with fewer than twenty employees and another 46 with between twenty and fifty employees, yet no Texas plants participate in CIS. 

The following map illustrates this mismatch, showing the number of small plants not enrolled in CIS—even in states eligible to do so. A darker color means more unused potential for CIS.

Why the Strengthening Local Processing Act (SLPA) Matters

The insufficient support and underutilization of CIS underscores the urgent need for broader reforms to support small and mid-sized processors. The Strengthening Local Processing Act (SLPA), introduced in Congress with bipartisan support, addresses several of these barriers head-on. SLPA takes several steps to support small and mid-sized processors, as it:

• Provides grant funding and technical assistance for small processors to expand capacity, meet regulatory requirements, and navigate programs like CIS.
• Invests in workforce development, helping processors recruit, train, and retain skilled workers in processing.
• Supports state-level infrastructure, including increasing minimum cost shares to MPI programs and the supplemental Cooperative Interstate Shipment, as well as the size (measured in full time equivalents) of plants that can apply to be in it

Together, these and the many other reforms included in the SLPA would not only make the CIS program more accessible but also help ensure that local processors are not left behind in a rapidly consolidating meat industry.

The post A Potential Opportunity for Small Processors and Rural Jobs appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

press@sustainableagriculture.net

Tel. 347.563.6408

Release: The Strengthening Local Processing Act Addresses Critical Livestock and Poultry Supply Chain Issues, Bolstering Resilient Food Systems

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) applauds the Senate introduction of this bipartisan, bicameral, comprehensive bill to support small processing plants

Washington, DC, April 30, 2025 – Today, Senator John Thune (R-SD), Senator Tina Smith (D-MN), Representative Chellie Pingree (D-ME), and Representative Jim Baird (R-IN) have reintroduced the Strengthening Local Processing Act (SLPA) in both chambers of Congress. SLPA is a comprehensive bill that promotes competitive agricultural markets and invests in economic development by addressing acute livestock supply chain issues, supporting small meat and poultry processing plants, and promoting training programs that will bolster the resilience of communities and their food systems. 

“NSAC applauds Senators Thune and Smith, and Representatives Pingree and Baird for leading the way on this bill, which will address real needs for small processing plants and the producers they serve, and foster a stronger sustainable livestock sector overall. NSAC and small processors across the country are pleased to see the introduction of this bill, which reflects key priorities identified by our Coalition members and partners engaged in the regional processing sector,” said Connor Kippe, NSAC policy specialist.  

SLPA will help catalyze a much needed expansion of choice for consumers, workers, farmers, and USDA. There is a need to build greater capacity among independent processors to meet the growing demand for regionally and sustainably produced meat. 

The bill includes support for small plants’ compliance with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans; increased cost share for state meat and poultry inspection programs; increased cost share and expansion of the Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program; a grant program to expand small plants, including small and very small federally inspected plants; and an education and training grant program. 

“Our 16 years of research, education, and providing technical assistance related to the viability of small and mid-scale meat processors shows that the solutions proposed by the Strengthening Local Processing Act are thoughtfully designed and will address persistent challenges that our processor members frequently share with us,” said Rebecca Thistlethwaite, Director of the Niche Meat Processors Assistance Network. “SLPA gets at some of the core and complex challenges in the sector that many other bills have not addressed.”

“The Strengthening Local Processing Act offers necessary resources that small-scale USDA facilities like ours have been advocating for. The appropriate allocation of these resources, as proposed in the Strengthening Local Processing Act, will allow establishments like ours to continue to survive and thrive during these immensely challenging times,” noted Nichole Sargent, Owner, Southpaw Packing Company, INC. (DBA Windham Butcher Shop), based in Windham, Maine.

“The programs created and enhanced in this bill are absolutely necessary for the safe processing and distribution of meat in our nation,” said Ben Meyer, co-owner at Revel Meat Company in Canby, Oregon. “As we have seen in the past years, relying on large, consolidated meat processing facilities to dominate our domestic markets leave consumers at dangerous risk of losing access to safe, clean meat from the local ranchers who produce it.”

Small processors are also excited to see a focus on scale-appropriate regulations, and support for education for the next generation of small-scale and niche meat processors. The bill will help support a wider variety of processing, as it promotes the scale of plants that work best with a wider variety of often smaller-herd producers, such as bison, goat, and sheep.

“The National Bison Association fully supports the Strengthening Local Processing Act, as the bison industry needs more small processor capacity to meet the needs of our growing sector of American Agriculture. The bison industry processes just .02% of what the beef industry processes annually in the United States, and our largest bison processing plant, by far, has less than 270 employees. This legislation is critically important as bison producers across the United States are more and more connecting directly to consumers seeking naturally raised local bison meat,” stated Jim Matheson, Executive Director of the National Bison Association.

This type of investment in plants will not only help farmers, ranchers, and processors but will also have multiplier effects in their local communities and for construction, retail, and other small businesses.

The following organizations endorse the Strengthening Local Processing Act:

• The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
• The Association of American Meat Processors
• The Niche Meat Processors Assistance Network
• The American Grassfed Association
• The National Bison Association
• The American Pastured Poultry Producers Association

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About the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more: https://sustainableagriculture.net/

The post Release: The Strengthening Local Processing Act Addresses Critical Livestock and Poultry Supply Chain Issues, Bolstering Resilient Food Systems appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

lzaks@sustainableagriculture.net 

Tel. 347.563.6408

Release: NSAC Applauds Final Rule to Bring Fairness to Poultry Tournament System

Washington, DC, January 14, 2025 – The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) applauded Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for today’s announcement of a new final rule under the Packers and Stockyards Act: Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems. 

“The latest rule is a long-anticipated and necessary step toward completion of a congressional directive from the 2008 Farm Bill to strengthen the century-old Packers and Stockyards Act,” said Billy Hackett, NSAC Policy Specialist. “The rule introduces guardrails and transparency to an otherwise opaque payment system that is commonly manipulated to unfairly benefit individual growers and punish others.”  

Specifically, the measures announced in the final rule:

• require poultry companies to provide contract broiler growers with a clear base pay rate in their contracts and prohibit any deductions from the base price, while allowing  performance bonuses to be paid above the base price;
• limit variability in grower payments to provide more financial certainty and stability; 
• ensure poultry companies comply with a “duty of fair comparison” to ensure that when growers receive different payment rates based on performance, those comparisons take into account factors including the quality of inputs provided by the company; and
• require disclosures to growers regarding the financial risks and rewards of making expensive capital improvements to their poultry operations.  

The final rule incorporated feedback from public comments submitted by stakeholders, including both industry and advocacy groups, in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking published in June 2022.

“NSAC looks forward to working with the incoming Administration to continue development and implementation of rules to protect fair trade, financial integrity, and competitive markets for meat and poultry, per the intent of the Packers and Stockyards Act,” concluded Hackett.

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About the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more: https://sustainableagriculture.net/

The post Release: NSAC Applauds Final Rule to Bring Fairness to Poultry Tournament System appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Release: NSAC Welcomes Further Investments in Local Meat Processors Markets

Washington, DC, September 20th, 2024 – Yesterday, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced further projects from the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program.  The investments were targeted at small to midsize operations with an emphasis on multispecies, value added, fee for service, and geographically isolated meat processing facilities.

“Investments in these operations are precisely what is needed to both provide sustainable slaughtering or processing volumes for processors and expand reasonably priced processing options for small and very small farmers and ranchers who raise a variety of livestock and poultry,” said Connor Kippe, NSAC policy specialist. “While some of the previous rounds of investments have had many projects focused on single species, this most recent series contains a greater concentration of multispecies investments.”

With this and the remaining funds anticipated from the Local Meat Capacity Grant, USDA continues to invest in the proper size and type of operations to bring down food prices and help serve local farmers. However, other small operations continue to experience issues with a lack of size-appropriate regulation, equitable enforcement, and proper educational opportunities from regulatory authorities. This combined with market consolidation, a lack of affordable equipment, and just workforce development stack the deck against smaller processors and the producers they serve. 

USDA must continue to use all investment and regulatory powers to improve market access for small producers and small processors, to continue to invest in rural America and the resilience of our communities. Similarly, Congress must advance the authorities that USDA has at its disposal to support small meat processors by including the Strengthening Local Processing Act in the farm bill. 

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About the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more and get involved at: https://sustainableagriculture.net

The post Release: NSAC Welcomes Further Investments in Local Meat Processors Markets  appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

press@sustainableagriculture.net

Tel. 347.563.6408

Release: NSAC Welcomes Proposed “Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets” Rule 

Washington, DC, June 25, 2024 – Today, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) applauded United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack for publishing another proposed rule to modernize the century-old Packers and Stockyards Act (P&S Act): “Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets.” This is the fourth rule to implement reforms first announced in President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy in 2022. 

“This highly anticipated rule offers important clarification to longstanding USDA interpretations of competitive injury under the P&S Act, which is intended to protect livestock and poultry growers from unfair practices,” said Billy Hackett, NSAC Policy Specialist. “The proposed rule represents one more step to give producers a fair shake in unbalanced contracts with corporate integrators.”

The proposed rule offers a comprehensive definition of “unfair practices” under Section 202(a) of the P&S Act, distinguishing between unfair practices with respect to market participants and unfair practices with respect to markets. This guidance will help USDA and courts to apply consistent guidelines when assessing alleged unfair practices, addressing inconsistent applications of the law.

“The standard put forward in the proposed rule clarifies that a farmer does not need to prove unfair practices harmed competition in the marketplace as a whole – a traditional standard for antitrust law – in order to bring a case about how unfair practices negatively impacted their own operation,” continued Hackett. 

In remarks at an event at the Center for American Progress, Increasing Competition and Fairness in Food and Agricultural Markets, Secretary Vilsack summarized the intent for all P&S Act rules to-date, saying:

“We focused on modernizing our P&S Act, working with the Department of Justice to ensure that we actually put some real opportunities in the P&S Act to create a more fair and transparent market… Today, we announced a fourth rule… [which provides] an enforcement tool that will provide for greater balance in the relationship between farmer and integrator.”

USDA is seeking public comments on the proposed rule. The comment period will end 60 days after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register. 

For more information, see the two-page summary and full text of the proposed rule. 

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The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more and get involved at: https://sustainableagriculture.net

The post Release: NSAC Welcomes Proposed “Fair and Competitive Livestock and Poultry Markets” Rule appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Contact: Steve Etka, Policy Director

Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform

steveetka@gmail.com | 703-519-7772

CCAR Praises Secretary Vilsack on the Proposed Rule to Infuse Basic Fairness Requirements into Poultry Grower Payments Systems and Capital Upgrade Requirements

Rule marks an important next step toward broader fairness for our nation’s poultry growers

Editor’s Note: NSAC shares the following statement by Steve Etka, Policy Director for the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform CCAR in support of the USDA’s Packers and Stockyards Act proposed rule on “Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems.”

June 3, 2024 – “Today, Agriculture Secretary Vilsack announced a new proposed rule under the Packers and Stockyards Act to make significant reforms in the payment system, often referred to as the ‘tournament’ or ‘ranking’ system, commonly used by poultry companies to pay contract poultry growers. The rule also addresses circumstances where poultry companies unfairly force poultry growers with whom they contract to make expensive capital equipment upgrades to their poultry houses, at their own expense. 

Specifically, the proposed rule would do the following:

• provide growers with a clear base price in contracts, by prohibiting deductions from the base price in contracts for broiler chicken growers, permitting only bonuses for performance;
• establish a “duty of fair comparison” to ensure that comparisons between growers are conducted in a reasonable and equitable way.
• establishes disclosure requirements to enable growers to better identify risks that may arise on capital improvement practices and enhance the ability for USDA to enforce existing prohibitions on unfair capital improvement practices.

This new proposed rule is an important next step in bringing fairness to the contracting practices used by large poultry companies to contract with farmers who raise chickens for them. It builds on a prior Packers and Stockyards rule (now final) that requires poultry companies to make full disclosures to prospective poultry growers about what they can expect if they sign a contract to grow chickens for the company, and to also disclose details to existing growers about how their pay is calculated. (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/11/28/2023-24922/transparency-in-poultry-grower-contracting-and-tournaments).

The new proposed rule also builds on a July 2022 U.S. Department of Justice Consent Decree related to the merger between Sanderson Farms and Wayne Farms, in which the merged poultry integrator firms agreed to make certain reforms to address abusive practices in how they pay contract poultry growers. (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-files-lawsuit-and-proposed-consent-decrees-end-long-running-conspiracy). 

This new proposed rule is the third of four important Packers and Stockyards Act rule updates being promulgated by USDA to address abusive and deceptive practices of poultry companies and meatpackers in their dealings with farmers and ranchers. Two rules, the ‘Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments,’ and the ‘Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act,’ are now in effect. The fourth Packers and Stockyards Act rule, the proposed rule on “Unfair Practices, Undue Preferences, and Harm to Competition Under the Packers and Stockyards Act” is at the Office of Management and Budget awaiting clearance. 

The members of the Campaign for Contract Agriculture Reform (https://contractagreform.org/members/) look forward to providing detailed comments on this important proposed rule as part of the public comment period.”

Link to USDA’s website about the proposed rule:

https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/poultry-grower-payment-systems-and-capital-improvement-systems

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The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more and get involved at: https://sustainableagriculture.net

The post Release (Cross-Post): CCAR Praises Secretary Vilsack on the Proposed Rule to Infuse Basic Fairness Requirements into Poultry Grower Payments Systems and Capital Upgrade Requirements appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Editor’s Note: This blog post is the second in a series highlighting how recent supply chain investments were unique and pivotal in expanding infrastructure to respond to growing farmer demand, reducing costly wait times, and reaching diversified operations. Part Three will move further along the supply chain, taking a deeper look at how federal market opportunities support the success of efficient regional food systems. 

As described in the first part of this series, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched a framework and series of investments targeting regional supply chains that would promote a more fair, competitive, and resilient food system. These investments focus in areas of production, processing, aggregation/distribution, market opportunities, and consumer access. 

An often invisible, yet essential element of an efficient regional supply chain that supports a range of producers is business technical assistance and value-chain coordination. Without coordination and assistance, investment dollars may be used ineffectively or not realize their greatest social return on investment. 

There are a handful of existing USDA programs under the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) that offer funding opportunities to support efforts like regional coordination of grower networks, facilitating farm to school programs, or community food assessments. However, newly established AMS programs have a more explicit focus on business technical assistance, federal funding outreach and application support, and value-chain coordination for mid-tier supply chain businesses. These particular business development activities described below are essential elements for processing, aggregating, and distributing local products through new or growing regional markets. 

Latest USDA Initiatives

Regional Food Business Centers operate under cooperative agreements with twelve unique regional centers serving all states, Tribal nations, and territories. Their core mission is to provide business technical assistance across the supply chain, deploy “business builder” grants, and collaborate with a range of regional partners and stakeholders to leverage existing resources and develop a comprehensive regional strategy. 

Meat and Poultry Processing Capacity Technical Assistance program of the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) established a nationwide network of support focusing on four key areas for applicants and recipients of meat processing funding: federal grant application management, business development and financial planning, meat, and poultry processing technical and operation support, and supply chain development. 

Existing USDA Efforts 

The Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP) awards competitive grants to organizations, local governments, cooperative businesses, and more to promote the availability of locally and regionally produced agricultural products with an emphasis on developing and coordinating intermediated networks for food aggregation and distribution. 

The Regional Food System Partnership Program (RFSP) awards competitive grants to multi-stakeholder partnerships that broadly support planning and developing regional food economies through a variety of activities, such as developing business plans, feasibility studies, mid-tier value chains, or city and regional planning activities that promote economic opportunities for producers and food businesses. 

Stories from the Field 

Technical Assistance Timing is Everything 

The Flower Hill Institute is a historically Indigenous-led organization and is the overall coordinator of the MPPTA network. It assists on all four scopes of the program and helps coordinate work across all of the other sub-awardees. 

The MPPTA network unites bodies of knowledge from across the value chain, specific regional knowledge of local markets, and the efficiencies of national coordination allowing each specific member to best serve the market of current and hopeful small and very small meat processors. 

“Building a new meat/poultry processing business or expanding an existing enterprise is extremely challenging. The grants and loans initiated by USDA are helping underwrite the cost of construction and equipment acquisition, but these small businesses face counting challenges in developing marketing plans, recruiting a qualified workforce, capturing value for byproducts, and more. The no-cost technical assistance offered through the network of organizations USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service enlisted in 2022 is a valuable service that smaller processors are increasingly utilizing.

More than 1,300 enterprises and individuals have requested technical assistance since the program was launched in March 2022, ranging from a pork producers’ cooperative in Puerto Rico to a cattlemen’s association in the northern Marianas Islands and everything in between. These projects are incredibly diverse and include tribally led processing enterprises nationwide, halal processing enterprises in New England and the southeast, women and veteran-owned initiatives, and more. Yet each is guided by determined, resilient people dedicated to improving food access for their communities.

Several are already making an impact as a score of small processors receiving grants in 2021 to become USDA inspected are now offering local ranchers access to new markets, and are expanding the selection of locally produced and processed meat and poultry in their communities.”  – MPPTA Network

The Niche Meat Processing Assistance Network (NMPAN) of Oregon State University Center for Small Farms is one of the sub-awardees of the MPPTA program and has helped numerous smaller and socially disadvantaged processors apply for the novel expansion grants, aligned with providing more general business technical assistance. (NMPAN is a member of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition) 

The College of Agriculture, Environment, and Nutritional Sciences at Tuskegee University hosts the award of the MPPTA for the southeast and has helped facilitate the application and post-award compliance of many of the grants in that region. 

“I will say this program [MPPTA] provides a lot of hope to our smaller producers and processors. These are people who are really rural, and haven’t always been reached by extension like this before.  It took time to build trust with them, but now they understand – hey if you need help, we are here.  I enjoy working with our processors, helping them navigate the messy world of food safety and processing law, and I think this program is really helping our local processors grow” – Veronica Royal, MPPTA Coordinator at Tuskegee University CAENS

“Tuskegee has a rich history of providing credible outreach and meeting underserved and producers and processors where they are. This history includes the appointment of Tuskegee Institute Graduate, Thomas Monroe Campbell as the first extension agent in the US after the passage of the Smith-Lever Act in 1914. This also includes the Jessup Wagon which was a mobile agricultural school that was designed to literally deliver agricultural content and technical assistance to the neediest constituents. The TU MPPTA program carries on this legacy through impactful outreach to producers and processors who have historically been excluded from the owner operator levels of meat and poultry processing industry.” – Derris Burnett, Associate Professor at Tuskegee CAENS

Food Hubs Going Beyond Aggregation and Distribution

Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA), an NSAC Member, received a Local Food Promotion Program grant in 2021 that sought to increase the organizational capacity of seven partnering food hubs and the farmers they work with. The work had distinct activities for the food hubs and their participating farmers. For the food hubs, a core part of the work was implementing quality management systems, developing standard operating procedures, and implementing food safety plans. CFSA provided farmers with food safety training and supported them in writing, implementing, and obtaining GAP certification. 

This LFPP project equipped CFSA and these seven food hubs with the appropriate knowledge, networks, and procedures to quickly implement the NC FarmsSHARE program in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, when North Carolina signed their cooperative agreement for LFPA, they quickly scaled the number of food hubs participating in order to meet increasing demand. However, some of the newly added food hubs, such as Operation Spring Plant (OSP), expressed the need for expansion in the same kinds of support that the LFPP enabled. NSAC staff recently reached out to Dorathy Barker of OSP to learn more about the food hub’s need for additional funding for technical assistance. 

Dorathy Barker has been working to create a better future for agriculture since 1987, when she co-founded OSP in Oxford, North Carolina with her husband, Phillip J Barker. The organization offers training, financial support, and technical assistance to Black, Indigenous, socially disadvantaged, and small farmers in North Carolina. OSP also advocates for economic development in agriculture programs as a member of the HEAL Food Alliance, the National Black Food & Justice Alliance, and the Rural Coalition. Additionally, last year, the Barkers were featured speakers during NSAC’s Farmers for Climate Action: Rally for Resilience. 

The organization’s work was highlighted in 2020, when the Barkers received a Leadership Award from the James Beard Foundation. Dorathy Barker dedicated the award to expanding OSP’s mission. Finding new markets for small, Black, and socially disadvantaged farmers is a key part of that work, as is ensuring that farmers have the correct food safety infrastructure to participate in those markets. 

Dorathy Barker encountered many farmers who wanted to participate in LFPA, but who did not know where or how to get the technical assistance they needed. Specifically, many of these farmers needed to be certified in Good Agricultural Practices, which is commonly referred to as GAP. Barker specifically highlighted this kind of technical assistance as a key need for the farmers she works with, particularly since GAP is key to accessing many institutional markets. OSP received a Food Safety Outreach Competitive Grant to support their efforts to reduce, help manage, and minimize food safety risks on farms.

“I want to make sure that TA and fair prices are going to Black, socially disadvantaged, and BIPOC farmers however that can happen,” she said in a recent conversation with NSAC. “Information needs to get to these communities quickly, otherwise they will miss out on a lot.”

She also described the positive impact that additional infrastructure support could have on these farmers’ ability to grow their businesses. “Buyers wanted the farmers to guarantee a 5 day shelf life; they couldn’t do that because they didn’t have the proper storage,” she said. She heard from farmers who needed help creating a cooling system to extend the shelf life of their produce. 

Dorathy Barker heavily emphasized the value of practical technical assistance in enabling farmers to participate in LFPA, noting: “Having the TA would feel like winning a million dollars. Having the infrastructure would mean that they could grow more. They wouldn’t have to limit themselves in terms of what they could handle due to their capacity.”

What Comes Next? 

Many of these new opportunities have been funded through cooperative agreements with project timelines that extend into 2027. However, without program authorization or an additional funding source, there will be limited resources for the network of technical assistance providers across the nation. The upcoming farm bill reauthorization offers an opportunity to embed some of these essential activities into existing programs as well as codify novel and impactful programs. 

The Local Farms and Food Act (S. 1205, H.R. 2723) offers improvements to existing, popular local food and farmer programs, the Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP), and the Regional Food System Partnership Program (RFSP), among others. LFPP and RFSP awards have been inadequately utilized to fund essential local food system technical assistance and value-chain coordination described above. The bill explicitly outlines that the program is intended to support partnerships that develop and implement regional food chain coordination projects or regional outreach and technical assistance projects. Further, it directs USDA to conduct outreach and technical assistance to prospective applicants, either directly or through cooperative agreements with community organizations. The outlined increases of funding in the bill are essential to address the current and anticipated increase in program demand. 

By design, the Regional Food Business Centers (RFBCs) and the Meat & Poultry Processing Technical Assistance Program (MPPTA) have capacity to conduct outreach to growers, small and very small meat processors, and other middle of the supply chain businesses to support them in accessing federal funding opportunities and ensure they are in compliance with all required food safety standards. Existing efforts, such as the Dairy Business Innovation Centers, have proven how specialized regional efforts can expand USDA’s outreach. The farm bill must support producers and ranchers beyond dairy initiatives. The RFBC and MPPTA programs provide a pathway to ensure meat, poultry, and specialty crop growers and businesses have adequate business support.

The Strengthening Local Processing Act (H.R. 945 and S. 354) also contains provisions to increase the ability of the Food Safety and Inspection Service of USDA to provide materials that would make this technical assistance easier to implement in the field by providing a more comprehensive publicly available set of HACCP models and validation studies for small and very small processors. 

These farm bill priorities will ensure existing and anticipated regional supply chain investments will be matched with sufficient technical assistance and training to producers and businesses to ensure ready access to retail and wholesale markets. However, there are numerous barriers for small and mid-sized farms and businesses to access public markets, such as USDA’s commodity procurement programs. Part three of this blog post series will dig deeper into how USDA’s federal food purchases can create an impact beyond providing safe and healthy commodities. 

The post How People Power Local Food Systems appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

press@sustainableagriculture.net 

Tel. 347.563.6408

Release: NSAC Applauds Final Rule on Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity under the Packers and Stockyards Act

Washington, DC, March 5, 2024 – Today, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) applauded Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for the publication of a final rule: Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act. This is the final policy from USDA to modernize the Packers and Stockyards Act (P&SA) following a public comment period to a proposed rule in 2022, a process set in-motion by President Biden’s Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy. 

“This is an important and long-awaited step to protect the rights and agency of livestock and poultry producers,” said Billy Hackett, NSAC Policy Specialist. “The deceptive and unfair tactics of corporate integrators in recent decades – tactics that writers of the century-old P&SA could not have predicted – have led to many instances of discrimination and retaliation or otherwise imbalanced contractual relationships against producers who until now had no explicit protections or avenues for recourse.”  

The final rule addresses many ways that livestock and poultry markets unfairly exclude producers or otherwise limit their ability to obtain the full value of their animals. Notably, USDA chose to forgo protections for “market vulnerable individuals,” a novel and expansive category included in the proposed rule that may have protected growers whose ability to compete fairly was impeded in a highly concentrated marketplace on those grounds. Instead, protections are explicitly outlined for growers on the basis of protected class and cooperative formation.

“The release of today’s final rule is worthy of particular applause given the recent high-profile attempts by lawmakers to sink USDA’s efforts to strengthen the P&SA,” continued Hackett. “It’s affirming to see the federal government stand firmly on the side of our country’s farmers and ranchers to promote healthy competition in the market, and we urge members of Congress to remain steadfast at their side.” 

In full, the newest Packers and Stockyards Act final rule will: 

• Prohibit the adverse treatment of livestock producers and poultry growers based on protected class. It also prohibits discrimination against a livestock and poultry producer cooperative. 
• Prohibit retaliation against producers and growers for their engaging in certain protected activities, including lawful communications or refusals to communicate, assertion of rights, participation in associations and cooperatives, and exploring or entering into a business relationship with a competing dealer.
• Prohibit false or misleading statements or omissions of material information in contract formation, performance, and termination. 
• Prohibit regulated entities from providing false or misleading representations regarding refusal to contract.
• Supports USDA monitoring, evaluation, and enforcement of compliance with aspects of this rule through certain recordkeeping requirements. 

Read the full text of the final rule here. 

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About the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC)

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is a grassroots alliance that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the long-term social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. Learn more and get involved at: https://sustainableagriculture.net

The post Release: NSAC Applauds Final Rule on Inclusive Competition and Market Integrity Under the Packers and Stockyards Act appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.

Seeds planted over the past two years with the Biden Administration’s billion-dollar commitment to foster a more resilient, diverse, and equitable meat and poultry processing system are now beginning to sprout across the country and U.S. Territories:

• A cooperative of Montana ranchers is purchasing and expanding a processing facility that was on the verge of closing;
• Muslim producers in Maine are developing a new regional halal processing and marketing enterprise;
• several tribally-led initiatives are building processing facilities to strengthen their food security; and 
• a producers’ co-op in Puerto Rico that supplies roasting hogs for restaurants is expanding to supply local retailers with fresh, locally grown pork. 

This list goes on.

The American Rescue Plan (H.R. 1319, 117th Congress ) provided most of the funding for these programs. However, the demand for these resources has far too often outstripped the available funding. 

For example, in last April 2023, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service offered a total of $75 million in funding to processors through the Local Meat Capacity competitive grant program to help existing processors improve their facilities and expand processing capacity. 

AMS anticipated receiving about 300 applications for this program. More than 700 applications requesting $400 million flooded the agency when the application deadline closed in July 2023.  

Similarly, the Indigenous Animal Harvesting Grant (IAG) offered $50 million to tribal governments to develop culturally appropriate processing facilities to help increase food sovereignty within their nations. Sixty-seven tribes requested over $350 million in funding. 

MCap and IAG struck a strong chord with small processors and tribal nations. Adding a couple of new equipment items to their operation enables many processors to expand and diversify their marketing abilities. New tribal processing facilities can support the ability of tribal nations to feed their people. 

At the outset of the Administration’s commitment, USDA enlisted a diverse group of organizations to provide technical assistance to people accessing the agency’s resources for meat and poultry processing expansion. That network includes the Niche Meat Processing Assistance Network at Oregon State University, Tuskegee University, the American Association of Meat Processors, the Intertribal Agriculture Council, American Meat Science Association, the Agriculture Utilization research Institute and Flower Hill Institute. Flower Hill, which has an agreement with AMS to coordinate this network, has partnered with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and 17 other organizations via MOUs to extend the outreach of the technical assistance program. Because of this highly diverse set of MPPTA organizations and MOU extensions, MPPTA has received over 1100+ TA requests in its short two years of existence.

This technical assistance network will continue until at least year-end 2026, but many of the grant and loan programs funded under the American Rescue Plan were one-time opportunities. That’s something that writers of the next Farm Bill should consider. Sustaining these funding sources, with a focus on socially disadvantaged processors will be critical for more equitably developing our local food economies and strengthening our meat and poultry supply chains for future shocks. Future programs to expand and diversify the meat and poultry processing supply chain should include the custom-exempt processors that are important in many small communities, including those in which many residents rely heavily on wild game to feed their families.

In concert with thinking about potential continuation of these grant programs, the need for application and post award technical assistance would continue to grow after the spend out for the MPTTA program, which as mentioned above would end in 2026. We know from other programs, and from these novel meat and poultry expansion programs, that technical assistance itself can be a critical part in ensuring more equitable uptake of grant opportunities and more generally in generating successful projects that more effectively steward received grant dollars.

The seeds of the Administration’s commitment are indeed sprouting. Continued attention to the small processor sector, via grants and loans or field based technical assistance is vital to help these enterprises grow and thrive in the years ahead.

The post From the Field – Meat Processing Technical Assistance Success appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.