Other Ag News: Summer in Saint Paul: NSAC Members Meet, Reenergize in Minnesota

NSAC members gathered once again for our annual summer Coalition meeting, this time on the banks of the Mississippi River in Saint Paul, Minnesota on August 5-8, 2024. Over the course of the meeting, NSAC members and staff strategized collectively about current campaigns and future Coalition activities. NSAC members also had the chance to hear from Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie and received a surprise visit from USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres-Small. To highlight the work being done by Coalition members in the region, NSAC members visited local farms that exemplify and embody our shared values and advocacy. As Saint Anthony Falls on the Mississippi powered the flour mills dotting the Twin Cities in the late 19th century, the summer meeting in St. Paul energized NSAC members to continue working on our shared priorities.

The gathering was bracketed by special appearances from federal agriculture policy leaders. On the opening night of the meeting, Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota and USDA Under Secretary Robert Bonnie spoke to NSAC members in a panel moderated by NSAC’s Policy Director, Mike Lavender. Their conversation focused on the need to ensure that farm policy and programs serve all farmers, especially considering the increasing challenges and extreme weather conditions farmers face due to a changing climate.

On the last day of the meeting, USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres-Small offered remarks over breakfast and took questions from NSAC members. In her remarks, Torres-Small referred to NSAC as a crucial partner, nodding to the influence the Coalition had on the positive strides the Biden USDA has taken. She acknowledged that much work remains to be done to address the challenges of underserved farmers and communities, and doing so remains one of her priorities.

Torres-Small also recognized the need to increase accessibility to USDA programs and pointed to the need to lower entry requirements, and the need to invest in local and regional food systems like small meat processors and the Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement (LFPA). She noted that another one of those challenges is making sure that disaster assistance programs are expanded to include farmers who are not enrolled in the commodity insurance program. Torres-Small implored NSAC members to continue to share its vision of federal programs with USDA. 

The “DC Report”, an NSAC meeting tradition, offers the opportunity to get up to date on recent legislative activities and to preview possible next steps the Coalition may take over the next six months. In this summers’ DC Report, NSAC Policy Director, Mike Lavender summarized recent legislative movement towards a new farm bill, including the Senate framework released by Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Stabenow (D-MI) and a House farm bill that went through Committee markup in late May before the legislative process in both chambers stalled. The report also highlighted recent agricultural appropriations developments in the House and Senate, as well as possible scenarios we may see after the November 5th elections. 

The report shared important agency updates related to our shared work with USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service release of the 2022 Agricultural Census that reported more small farms and beginning farmers in Minnesota in 2022 than in 2017. Another notable USDA highlight included the release of its Equity Commission’s Final Report and the announcement of one of the Packers and Stockyards Act final rules, designed to protect the rights of livestock and poultry producers. The report also touched on FDA’s final rule on Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water to a science- and risk-based approach that is adaptable to different scales of farming and models.

During strategy sessions, NSAC members received updates on recent advocacy efforts and took time to move forward the Coalition’s three grassroots campaigns: Climate Change and Agriculture, Farm Safety Net, and Local and Regional Food Systems. The Climate Change and Agriculture campaign advocates for programs that address climate change through support and implementation of climate friendly agricultural practices in programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). The Farm Safety Net campaign focuses on making crop insurance more accessible to small and diversified crop farmers who lack access to resources following climate disasters and not just the large agricultural operations that grow cover commodities and have base acres, as outlined in NSAC’s Unsustainable: The State of the Farm Safety Net, released earlier this year. Lastly, the Local and Regional Food Systems campaign seeks to strengthen local food systems by investing in local infrastructure and food supply chains while purchasing food from small, local farms and from farmers from socially disadvantaged populations that can go to schools and food pantries.

Farm tours have become a beloved feature of NSAC summer meetings. Collaborating with our local members who work directly with farmers and organizations building a more equitable and sustainable food system, we identify and ask local farms to host members to learn how our collective work translates on the ground. These visits demonstrate the challenges farmers and food businesses face and the innovative programs that help build stronger food systems. This year members visited four farms in central Minnesota.

Big River Farms is an incubator farm about 20 miles northeast of the Twin Cities in St. Croix, dedicated to fighting hunger by facilitating farmer learning through sustainable food production that is culturally appropriate for groups suffering from the most dramatic effects of limited food access. Big River Farms traces its roots to a 1970s Hennepin County effort to fight hunger.  It partners with organizations distributing fresh local produce and frozen meat to individuals and communities with limited food accessibility in the region.

Located in Falcon Heights, within the Twin Cities metropolitan area, The Good Acre serves as a food hub committed to farmer equity, food quality, and the environment. Their work is grounded on community well-being and sustainability.

Working to build a more equitable food system that centers and amplifies BIPOC voices, The Good Acre provides technical assistance to prepare farmers for wholesale production through their own Local Emergency Assistance Farmer Fund (LEAFF) program while living up to its sustainability tenets.

Seeds Farm is an organic farm located just south of Northfield where farmer Becca Rudebusch is making use of federal programs available for farmers like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to implement climate resilient practices such as high tunnels and cover crops.  The farm has also recently installed solar panels. They also provide organic produce to local food coops, food banks, restaurants, public schools, and regional distributors, as well as host occasional farm dinners for community members. 

Another farm incubator members visited is Sharing Our Roots, also near Northfield. Sharing our Roots is located on recovered wetlands and is invested in building community by providing land access to farming teams looking to make a living through resilient agricultural practices. They do this on the more than 100 acres of farmland serving 13 teams of farmers that include people of color and immigrants. The facilities include a space to water seed for starting and planting trays, and shipping containers turned into refrigeration units.

The full day of farm visits concluded at Bang Brewery, where organic ales and lagers are brewed and served in a grain bin brewery and tap room in Saint Paul. It was a lovely summer evening in the beer garden and members and staff got to sample Bang’s beers, many of which are crafted with certified organic malts, grains, hops and yeast. Some members sampled beer made from Kernza® – a perennial grain being developed by the Land Institute in collaboration with the University of Minnesota and other research partners. Bang Brewery has been brewing with the grain since 2017. NSAC members dined on delicious artisan pizza prepared on site by Farina Rosa, whose chef uses a blend of organically produced flours freshly milled right in the Twin Cities.

As the meeting closed, NSAC members made commitments to continue working towards shared priorities and build on previous efforts to create a more equitable food system. With the election on the horizon, members took pause to consider the Coalition’s recommendations for new members of Congress and a new presidential administration. Our work will be reshaped and reassessed at our winter meeting in Washington, DC in February 2025. In the meantime, our commitment to securing a farm bill that uplifts all farmers and centers climate resilience and racial equity remains unwavering. 

The post Summer in Saint Paul: NSAC Members Meet, Reenergize in Minnesota appeared first on National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.