USCC Releases Farm Bill Positions

Every three years, Congress works on the Farm Bill, an omnibus bill containing programs, funding provisions and policies for everything from subsidies to food assistance policy to grants for farm conservation practices. This time around, USCC is working to ensure that funding for composting is clearly called out in the bill, which will be the subject of hearings and reauthorization in 2023, which is when the 2018 version of the bill expires.
 
USCC’s priorities include:
1) Expanding the USDA’s Food Loss and Waste Reduction function from one person to an office, coordinating the many places in the USDA where issues of food rescue, food waste, composting and anaerobic digestion is addressed.
 
2) Expanding grant programs with specific callouts for composting as a conservation practice, with language encouraging public-private partnerships, allowing public "in-kind” funding to count towards matching funding, and addressing both compost use and on-farm and rural compost infrastructure. Grant programs such as Composting and Food Waste Reduction Cooperative Agreement Program, Climate Smart Commodities, EQUP, Conservation Innovation Grant, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, STRONG and Agriculture Innovation Center are all likely vehicles for compost funding.
 
3) Allowing premium discounts for farmers who utilize compost on their fields in lieu of chemical fertilizers, prioritizing soil health and resilience.
 
For more information on USCC's stance, see www.compostingcouncil.org/agriculture.