National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture

Results of the board and staff’s 2006 planning and recommendations of the Committee Structure and Integration Work Group

Issues and Structure — NCSA board adopted December 12, 2006

Implementation date: January 2007

The National Campaign is a grassroots-led network that serves as a forum in which to forge unified, effective grassroots collaboration in the federal policy arena on sustainable food and farm policy. We reach out to every region of the country, and bring together diverse people and organizations with an interest in these issues, including family farmers, environmental and wildlife advocates, farm workers, indigenous peoples, students, consumer advocates, faith-based institutions, and people who live in, and can present the pressing concerns of, rural and urban communities.

The National Campaign organizes to promote more—and more effective—public participation in the policy process by individual citizens, and by the organizations that unite and represent them. Additionally, we conduct national dialogues on focused sustainable agricultural policy issues which have been a cornerstone of our work. We also organize public advocacy to ensure that sustainable agriculture bills promoted by the public and passed by Congress receive the funding they need in the annual budget appropriations process. We use public education on the values and issues at stake to expand and inform our network of organizations committed to a sustainable agriculture and food system.

Background and Guidelines (for adopted structure and issue work)

Criteria - The Committee Structure and Integration Work Group (CSIWG)* created broad criteria (below) in thinking about how the issue work of the NCSA might be better organized for long term impact.

*Committee Structure and Integration Work Group- Composition and Goal-

The working group consisted of: a member of each issue committee, the core staff for each issue committee, and a representative from both the organic committee and Commodity Policy Dialogue, two NCSA board members, and the NCSA executive director.

The Working Group’s goal/task was to recommend to the National Campaign Board of Directors structural changes and enhancements to facilitate policy integration and synergy among committees and to ensure that critical policy issues can be addressed within our working structure. The working group’s recommendations were to respect existing priorities for five functioning issue committees.

Criteria-

Is there another organization in the lead on the issue?
Can the NCSA add value to the work?
Does the work reflect the mission of the organization?
Is the NCSA in the best position to carry the work forward (ie capacity or political position?)
Themes- (that emerged over the course of the six summer meetings were):
Integration of committee issues needs to be accomplished
Leaders and staff must work in concert
Cross committee participation and collaboration must occur
Clear decision making protocols must be created and to be transparent
Committees need job descriptions and as new participants join they need in depth orientations.

Board Adopted Issue Committee Areas (based on CSIWG recommendations).

The issue areas over seen by standing committees will be:

Competition and Concentration
Sustainable Livestock
Organic
Renewables- energy production and conservation
Stewardship

*Please note that a standing committee on GE’s will no longer exist. It was felt that this committee’s focused advocacy can best be accomplished through the Organic Committee and other partner organizations. Specific GE issues (that are currently part of the organic committee priorities) have emerged in the Organic Committee’s work and platform. Issues outside of the organic work can be done by other issue committees on an as needed basis and will be identified through the Policy Advisory Committee (described below).

Also note that rural development and social justice will not exist as standing issue committees but will provided a basis for integration across all issue committees. *See adopted integrated areas below.

The issue committees will exist much as they do now and will have continued administrative support provided. Leadership and additional resources will continue to be provided by chairs of the committee or partner organizations. Committees will identify two representatives (job description below) to the Policy Advisory Committee*.

Board *Adopted Integration Areas (based on CSIWG recommendations, NCSA September Board Retreat, and subsequent work of a NCSA ad hoc committee).

The campaign’s constituents have identified Rural Development, Social Justice, and Commodity Policy as important overarching areas for the Campaign to integrate into its work. These issues are seen as cutting across multiple issue areas, and that a mechanism was needed to insure that each of these broad areas is integrated into the work of the various issue areas and the general work of the Campaign.

The Integration Areas should include:

Rural Development (RD) much of this work currently centers around appropriations advocacy.
Social Justice (SJ) is fundamental to all work of the NCSA. Currently we have partners working in a focused and organized ways on these issues.
Commodity policy (CP) has implications for every committee. The NCSA will continue, on a project basis to stimulate research to inform the national dialogue on an ongoing basis.
Appropriations- we currently work with the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and will have staff participation.

Board adopted *Policy Advisory Committee (based on CSIWG recommendation, Board Retreat, and NCSA ad hoc committee work):

Job Description of the *Policy Advisory Committee:

The committee will act to implement an integrated approach to policy priorities for the NCSA. It will be informed and guided by the issue committees work and staff expertise and research. It will present to the board of the NCSA, on an ongoing basis, a cross issue perspective of the issues being worked. The committee will be the platform to further test, vet, and integrate through the lens (s) of social justice, rural development, and commodity policy the impact on legislation, implementation, and appropriations.

The output of the committee work will be internal to the NCSA. The committee will provide information to the issue committees and board. Any external action to be undertaken will be done by the board of directors of the NCSA as the organizational decision making body.
The primary responsibility for maintaining these relationships will be that of the Policy Advisory Committee staff and the issue committee leadership representatives on the committee.

Committee Composition:

The members of the Policy Advisory Committees will be representative of each of the five issue committees

Two individuals from each committee will provide input and sit on the Policy Advisory Committee. One will champion the issue focused on at the issue committee level, the other will focus on the integration of issues primarily at the committee level (SJ, RD, CP, and Appropriations, using the *Farm and Food Policy Principals and Criteria). If needed they will participate alternatively on the Policy Advisory Committee.

Attached you will find the principals and criteria created through the Commodity Policy Dialogue. The suggested use for these was to evaluate US Commodity Policy. However, an outcome of the Dialogue was that the process became much broader in context then simply commodity policy. The board adopted (April 2006) CPD Principals and Criteria will be used by each issue committee and by the Policy Advisory Committee to assess whether issue committee work falls within the context of these principals and criteria and in that ensure that the integrated areas of social justice, rural development, and commodity policy are considered by each committee. Henceforth these principals and criteria will be known as the *Farm and Food Policy Principals and Criteria.

A board member of the NCSA will sit on the committee with an alternate available and engaged in the process. The board representative will serve as bridge rather than issue representative.
The NCSA's ED will serve as an ex officio member of the committee.

Board approved Issue Committee (s) and Policy Advisory Committee Staffing-

New Hire- Policy Advisory Coordinator will staff the Policy Advisory Committee and be the liaison to the issue committees, board, and partner organizations.
Existing support- Administrative support would be provided by the NCSA's Administrative Director to support the work of the issue committees and will also provide admin support to the Policy Advisory Committee.
Executive Director- the ED would be an ex officio member of each issue committee and the Policy Advisory Committee.