By Gordon Merrick, OFRF Policy & Programs Director
If the past six months in the federal policy spheres have felt more like six years, know that you’re not alone. With endless stops and starts, shifting deadlines, and overlapping processes, it can be hard to track what actually matters and what is just noise. At OFRF, we want to keep our community grounded in the real implications for organic research and the systems that support and benefit from it. This month’s Policy Corner aims to give some brief updates on some of the processes we have been and continue to be engaged in, and how you can help support that work.
Reconciliation, the Farm Bill, and Legislative Movement
The reconciliation process is officially done, for now. While some Farm Bill programs were included in the final package, committee leadership has reiterated that they intend to try and pass the policy-focused Farm Bill provisions that were eliminated in the Senate’s “Byrd Bath.” This limited Farm Bill seems increasingly aspirational, with no clear floor time windows, mounting fractures in the traditional Farm Bill coalitions, and future reconciliation packages on the horizon, the outlook for passing a full, robust Farm Bill in the immediate term remains uncertain, and passing another extension of the 2018 Farm Bill increases in likelihood.
Meanwhile, the FY26 appropriations process is slowly moving ahead, but is significantly behind the normal schedule. OFRF worked with House offices on both sides of the aisle to ensure the House Report included important language supporting organic research and technical assistance. We’re now watching closely how that bill moves through the entire House as well as how the Senate version shapes up.
Programmatic Delays and Pending Announcements
We, like the entire research community, are still awaiting the release of the Organic Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), Organic Transitions Program (ORG), and all of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Competitive Grant Requests for Applications. These funding opportunities were generally all posted earlier this year, then retracted for administrative review in February. After months of delay, time is running out to allow for a strong application window (at least 30 days), peer review (~60 days), and award process by the end of the Fiscal Year (Sept. 30th). We will continue to monitor this closely, and if you’re a researcher or a farmer working with researchers, keep an eye out for urgent updates from both NIFA as well as us.
NRCS Comment Period is Open
Right now, NRCS is accepting comments on its Conservation Practice Standards (CPSs) that have been selected for review this year. We’ll be submitting detailed comments, especially on CPS-595: Pest Management Conservation System, which still has room for improvement to allow for organic systems management. We want to hear from you if you’re a researcher or practitioner with insights on organic pest management, or other areas that are covered in the CPSs that are open for review.
Keeping You Connected
Regardless of legislative delays or agency slowdowns, our mission stays the same. We work every day to ensure that organic research, and the farmers and researchers behind it, receives more-robust support through federal and state programming. That includes helping our community connect with elected officials to help educate them on what they do, why they do it, and how it impacts their District, State, and oftentimes the entire Nation’s food system.
Want to get involved? Check out our free, email-based Communicating with Legislators course! If you have a story or a data point that you would like to share, please reach out and we are here to help.
Eat well and breathe deeply,
Gordon
P.S. You can catch up on recent editions of Gordon’s Policy Corner here.
