Kansas Rural Center - Policy Guidelines

2013 Legislative and Policy Watch Weekly E-Updates

2013 Weekly Updates and Alerts

Organic Farming Policy and Resource Informationl

Will Kansas try once again to ease rules on important issue such as CAFO’s and fracking? How will our tax system changes impact our state’s services and rural communities and overall economy? Will we ever get a Farm Bill out of Washington? And if we do, will it support sustainable agriculture, conservation of resources, small farms and local and regional food systems?

Once again in 2013, the Kansas Rural Center will have Policy Analyst, Paul Johnson at the Statehouse in Topeka to report every week from the State Legislature about issues and action that are important to our rural communities, our environment and our food and farming system. Plus, we will be monitoring activity in Washington, D.C. on the federal Farm Bill through out participation in the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC).

We will be sending those reports out to you every week from January-May 2013, and as needed thereafter, direct to your inbox as our Legislative and Policy Watch electronic newsletter.

KRC will provide information and analysis of state legislative issues, provide dates and times of critical hearings, and offer coverage and analysis of testimony and key decisions on both the state and federal level—allowing you the opportunity to understand and weigh in on the issues impacting you, your family, your community and your future.

2013 Key Issues

State agriculture department activities including anti-trust and moves to eliminate CAFO regulations
Programs impacting water conservation and quality
Implications of our new tax system such as its impact on our rural communities, education and environmental policy
Food safety, processing, labeling and marketing
Horizontal oil drilling (“fracking”) policy
And development of the 2013 federal Farm Bill, and budget and appropriations actions and how these do or don’t impact sustainable agriculture, conservation, climate change, local and regional food systems, food safety, and jobs and opportunities.

Contributors to the Kansas Rural Center may receive our Legislative and Policy Watch Weekly E-Updates. Suggested donation is $35. To register, (and to donate if you have not donated in 2012 and for 2013), click here.

You will receive:

Weekly Updates January-Mary 2013
KRC Policy Analyst Paul Johnson will track bills and issues related to farm and food policy at the State Legislature and provide weekly e-reports to your inbox.
Federal Farm Bill Updates as needed through 2013
As the 2012 farm bill debate moves into 2013, KRC will provide information on key issues and programs through the Weekly E-Updates January-May and as needed the remainder of the year.

If you have any questions about KRC’s Legislative and Policy Watch Program, please contact us at
785-873-3431 or Mary Fund at ksrc@rainbowtel.net

KRC’s Legislative and Policy Watch if funded if part by a bequest from long time KRC supporter Jan Garton who died in 2009. Your donations continue to help us provide advocacy activities along with research and education to support a sustainable food and farming system in Kansas. We suggest a minimum donation of $35 as a Friend of KRC. Thank You!

KRC Policy Background

For over thirty years, Kansas Rural Center, a non-profit research, education and advocacy organization, has been educating and advocating for a diverse, sustainable, economically profitable Kansas agriculture.

Our work focuses not only on the producers of food and how it is produced, but also on consumers and the health, safety and availability of food to rural and urban, including low or limited income, citizens, alike. Our vision encompasses independent family farms, healthy rural communities, and a safe and healthy food supply for all, with increasing emphasis on local and regional food production supported by partnership between farmers and consumers.

The public policy issues we are most concerned with at the state and federal farm policy level are:

Tying appropriate levels of government support to family farms in conservation practices and protection of natural resources;
Ensuring conservation of our natural resources to provide long term productivity and food security;
Providing rural development programs that build on the strengths and values found in rural Kansas.
Ensuring adequate and available supplies of good food for the most vulnerable in our society.
Encouraging the development of a local and regional food system.
Providing opportunity for the next generation of beginning farmers and entrepreneurs.

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition: The Kansas Rural Center is a member of the National Sustainable Agriculture (NSAC), a nationwide alliance of farm, rural and conservation groups, that together advocate for federal policies and programs that support long-term economic and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources and rural communities. NSAC monitors and helps shape the debate and development of the next Farm Bill, and the implementation of Farm Bill programs, offering analysis and information via news releases, Action Alerts and other updates. NSAC Weekly Updates detailing developments are available at the NSAC website. KRC ‘s new Legislative and Policy Watch Project will work with NSAC to monitor federal farm bill issues, as well as monitor state legislative issues in Kansas. Work focuses not only on the producers of food and how it is produced, but also on consumers and the health, safety, and availability of food to rural and urban citizens alike. Our vision encompasses independent family farms, healthy rural communities, and a safe and healthy food supply, with increasing emphasis on local and regional food production supported by partnerships between farmers and consumers.

Visit the NSAC website.

KRC Policy Guidelines

In 2006, the Kansas Rural Center developed, reviewed and approved a series of policy guidelines for KRC as we developed projects and made recommendations for public policy or responded to policy issues. These guidelines include:

Livestock Production
Energy
Trade
Transition to Conservation Supports

You can read these guidelines here.

For more information on the Kansas Rural Center and farm and food policy,
contact Mary Fund at 785-873-3431 or ksrc@rainbowtel.net

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