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action alert! upcoming farm bill listening sessions.

Posted: July 29 2017

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pictured: Colin Thompson, a Community Food Systems Educator for Michigan State University Extension credit: OFRF


As the next Farm Bill approaches, the House Agriculture Committee members are beginning to gather input from farmers, ranchers and other stakeholders. As you may know, several current programmes that contribute to the success of organic agriculture are under threat of elimination as so it is imperative that policy makers hear directly from organic farmers, researchers and organic farming advocates.
There are three upcoming listening sessions in the next week organised by the Organic Farming Research Foundation.
Monday July 31 2017 - 1.00 pm. Texas
Angelo State University,
C.J. Davidson Conference Centre,
1910 Rosemont Drive,
San Angelo, Texas
Thursday, August 3, 2017 – 9:30 a.m. Minnesota 
Farmfest,
Gilfillan Estates,
28366 Co. Hwy 13,
Morgan, Minnesota
Saturday, August 5, 2017 – 9:00 a.m. Modesto, California
Address to yet to be announced.
If you are hoping to speak at one of the listening sessions, arrive early as the opportunity to speak will be decided on a first come first served basis and speaking time will likely be restricted to approximately 2 minutes.
Recently, at OFRF's recommendation, Reps. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA) introduced H.R. 2436, the Organic Agriculture Research Act (OARA). This historic bipartisan legislation reauthorizes USDA’s flagship organic research program, the Organic Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), and increases its mandatory funding from $20 million to $50 million annually. If passed, the Organic Agriculture Research Act would become part of the 2018 Farm Bill. It is important to show your support now.
If you would like more information about the listening sessions or the issues at stake, please email [email protected].