National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture

National Campaign Appropriations Committee Stated Purpose, Goals, and Priority Work

For information about engaging in the appropriations campaign, contact .

For years now, Margaret Krome, Policy Program Director for the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and coordinator of the National Campaign's Appropriations Committee, has coordinated an annual, nationwide effort to educate folks and mobilize support for optimal funding for sustainable agriculture programs.

The National Campaign's annual appropriations work involves polling grassroots partners about funding priorities, linking them with DC analysis from the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and other DC based partners, as well as educating and mobilizing our grassroots action network at critical times in the budget and appropriations process. Our work in the annual appropriations arena takes many forms and follows the budget/appropriations calendar, beginning with USDA and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the summer before an appropriations season begins and continuing with a grassroots appropriations education and mobilization campaign through the fall or winter of the following year — until that year's appropriation passes.

As the budget and appropriations processes become less predictable in terms of timing, and more predictable in terms of attacks on our programs, this campaign's ability to keep a finger on the Washington pulse, while keeping grassroots advocates informed is indispensable.

A serious and growing trend makes this work more important than ever: Congress increasingly uses the process of appropriations to literally re-write legislation, by reducing, restricting or even eliminating programs that have made it through the legislative process. In recent years we find we must mobilize support to defend funding not only for programs where the Farm bill gives appropropriators discretion regarding funding levels, but also for mandatory and even open-enrollment programs, like the Conservation Security Program, that are meant to be safe from the budgetary chopping block.

Setting Priorities
Early each year, we organize a process for setting priorities for the National Campaign's appropriations agenda for the fiscal year. Every few years, we poll all organizational members of all five Sustainable Agriculture Working Groups (SAWGs) as well as the other organizational members of the National Campaign, regarding programs on which the National Campaign should focus its appropriations efforts. (Note: each of the five regional SAWGs has 30-80 organizational partners in their region). These surveys have yielded very consistent results over several years. Therefore, in non-survey years, we expedite our priority-setting process by having the National Campaign's Appropriations Committee choose priorities based on previous years' results and on any emerging factors that wouldn't have been represented in the previous survey. We notify the full National Campaign Board of Directors of these priorities, which are chosen based on several factors, including what programs have the greatest need or vulnerability, the greatest chance for increases, and the least support from other groups.

Action Alerts and Follow-up
Every year, soon after the President releases his proposed budget in late winter, we determine which appropriators are best-suited to champion each of our priority programs. Then we write action alerts to educate grassroots members in their states and districts about these programs' status, important features they may not know about them, and a timeline and means to voice their support for them. Depending on the pace of congressional schedules, we may send these by bulk-mail, e-mail, fax, or direct mail. Later in the process, as issues arise in the full committees, on the floor, or in conference committee, we send other alerts, usually by e-mail or fax. We often ask other groups to circulate our alerts, assist them in tailoring ours as needed, or write supportive alerts for them to use.

We have learned the importance of following up our alerts with phone calls. This is crucial to the response rate on our alerts. In some states, the regional coordinators, state organizers, or individual groups make these calls. For other states, we have to hire callers to assure sufficient coverage. If you want to help organize phone calls at crucial times to help protect the funding of important sustainable agriculture programs, please email us at

Congressional Meetings We encourage our partners located in all states and districts of key appropriators to schedule meetings with them in their district or in Washington, D.C. We also encourage supporters to schedule farm tours, including the media whenever possible. We teach them how to set up meetings optimally and how to most effectively share their views.

Media
We encourage regional coordinators of Sustainable Agriculture Working Groups and other partners to find media coverage of our issues. We also post sample letters and talking points on our website, and Margaret always stands ready to "ghost write" letters to the editor and op-eds.