{"id":49229,"date":"2018-06-09T17:27:22","date_gmt":"2018-06-09T21:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sustainableagriculture.net\/?p=49229"},"modified":"2018-08-21T09:12:06","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T13:12:06","slug":"senate-chairmans-mark-local-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainableagriculture.net\/blog\/senate-chairmans-mark-local-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Draft Senate Farm Bill: Local & Regional Food and Rural Development"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Spring<\/a>
Spring onions at the farmers market. Photo credit: Reana Kovalcik<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the fourth post in a <\/em>multi-part blog series<\/a><\/em> analyzing the draft farm bill released on June 8, 2018 by the Senate Agriculture Committee. Subsequent posts will focus on\u00a0beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers<\/a> and\u00a0crop insurance and commodity subsidies<\/a>. The bill is expected to be considered and \u201cmarked-up\u201d (aka amended) by the full Agriculture Committee on June 13 and on the Senate floor later this month. W<\/em>e expect further improvements to the food system provisions in the bill during mark-up and will report on those through updated and future posts.<\/em><\/p>\n

Consumer demand for local and regional products is on the rise nationwide. The growth of this marketplace has necessitated the development of \u201cfarm-to-fork\u201d pipelines through which farmers, food-related businesses, and consumers can easily connect. This is no small task, however, and lagging federal investments in infrastructure and farm-to-fork value chains has meant that many producers still struggle to break into the marketplace.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the draft farm bill introduced by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Ranking Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) helps to connect the dots between farmers and new markets by investing in local and regional food systems. This bill stands in stark contrast to the failed House bill<\/a>, which would have actively undermined the very programs and systems that have been the shining stars of the local and regional food renaissance.<\/p>\n

The Senate Agriculture Committee Farm Bill incorporates many of the provisions of the Local Food and Regional Market Supply (FARMS) Act<\/a>, which was introduced in both the House and the Senate and endorsed by NSAC as well as many other farm and food advocates. Most notably, the bill includes the centerpiece of the Local FARMS Act: the streamlining of the Farmers Market and Local Food Promotion Program<\/a> (FMLFPP), Value-Added Producers Grant Program<\/a> (VAPG), Value Chain Coordinators, and a new regional public-private partnership intiative into a single program that builds on the success of existing investments, while also establishing permanent farm bill baseline funding. Permanent baseline funding ensures that a program has a minimum amount of funding in perpetuity; farm bill programs without permanent baseline must negotiate funding from scratch in each new farm bill cycle.<\/p>\n

Below, we include a summary of the key takeaways on how the draft Senate bill approaches local and regional food system and rural development programs.<\/p>\n

Highlights<\/strong><\/h3>\n