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11/14/03
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1. Take the Harkin Challenge
2. Pork Producers Say Arguments for COOL are Flawed
3. GMO’s – No Golden Bullet for Global Hunger
4. Ag Appropriations Ominbus?
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1. TAKE THE HARKIN CHALLENGE
The Midwest Sustainable
Agriculture Working Group is asking people to send an email to
President George W. Bush in support of the Conservation Security
Program (CSP). The White House has been slow to act on the CSP
and some think they may be trying to bury the program.
"It’s time for President
Bush to live up to what he said when he signed the farm
bill," said Iowa Senator Tom Harkin. "My patience is
running out. It looks like the White House is determined to kill
the Conservation Security Program." Harkin’s comments
come in response to months of delay within the Bush
Administration blocking the approval of draft guidance on the
new program.
If you would like to help out
with this campaign you can email
the President. Please be respectful, but don’t hesitate to
point out to the President that the CSP has wide support in same
rural areas that clinched his victory in the last election.
2. PORK PRODUCERS SAY
ARGUMENTS FOR COOL ARE FLAWED
With classic irony the National
Pork Producers Council (NPPC) is making accusations of
"misleading" information being fed to Congress. NPPC,
while usually on the receiving end of such accusations, is also
maintaining that "flawed arguments" resulted in the
passage of a resolution last week in Congress to maintain
Country-of Origin Labeling (COOL) on beef, pork and
mutton.
NPPC’s president, Jon Caspers
told Farming Life that, "The Senate clearly was swayed by
flawed arguments masquerading as concerns for American
consumers. In reality, consumers are being sold a bill of goods
that country-of-origin labeling will somehow provide them with
assurances of safe food."
According to the report NPPC will
continue to influence the outcome of COOL as the issue goes into
conference. Mr. Caspers said NPPC "... will be working with
the conference committee, which is composed of House and Senate
conferees, to resolve differences on this burdensome legislation
and find a solution that doesn't hurt our livelihoods."
While family producers nationwide are fighting in support of
this legislation, one has to wonder whose "livelihood"
Mr. Caspers is referring to. Read
more.
3. GMO’S – NO GOLDEN
BULLET FOR WORLD HUNGER
Earlier this year President Bush
infuriated the European Union (EU) when he said that the EU’s
temporary moratorium on GMO’s was exacerbating world hunger.
Now a new report out by
Action Aid argues that global food security will be achieved
only by alleviating poverty and addressing issues of inequality
in developing nations. "It is not the interests of poor
farmer, "states the report, "but the profits of the
agrochemical industry that have been the driving force behind
the emergence of GM agriculture."
The report is a gold mine of
statistics that illustrate the humanitarian sales-pitches by the
GM crowd are largely smoke-and-mirrors. Claims such as those
which tout GM crops as ecologically more appropriate because
they can eliminate pesticide use. The report sites statistics
that show GM yields are no larger and may actually require more
chemicals.
Further statistical comparisons
reveal strong insights into the corporate global push for GM
crops. For instance, while GM crops covered 58 million hectares
worldwide in 2002, only 1% of GM research is aimed at poor
countries. Moreover, four corporations control most of the GM
seed market and had a combined turnover from agrochemicals and
seeds that exceeded $21.6 billion in 2001 and that 91% of the GM
crops grown worldwide in 2001 are from Monsanto.
3. AG APPROPRIATIONS OMNIBUS
According to the High Country
News, the pending Agriculture Appropriations bill, "...may
become the vehicle for an omnibus appropriations bill that
includes other agencies." Last week the Senate passed a
version of the ag approps bill and from there it went to
conference committee to reconcile differences between it and the
House version. It is unclear what effect this Omnibus process
will have on key agricultural issues. At stake are the levels of
funding to a host of conservation title programs such as the
EQIP, WHIP, WRP and CSP programs. Similarly, the energy bill
remains entangled in negotiations and no one seems clear about
what effect this will have on the disputed Country of Origin
Labeling issue. Learn
more.
Cultivating a vision where
rural and urban communities join together
to ensure abundant family farms, healthy critters, clean water and
a wild Earth.
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Rural Updates!
Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
sjohnson@defenders.org
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