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12/04/03
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1. Omnibus Appropriations Cuts Ag
Programs by $487 Million
2. Action Updates: CSP and COOL
3. The Answer is Blowing in the Wind
4. GMO "Superweed" Report
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1. OMNIBUS APPROPRIATIONS CUTS
AG PROGRAMS BY $487 MILLION
The Sustainable Agriculture
Coalition (SAC) this week released an analysis of the fiscal
year 2004 omnibus appropriations House-Senate conference report
pending before Congress. They found that the bill cuts
previously approved mandatory farm bill spending by $487
million. Taking the biggest hit are conservation programs, cut
by $242 million (or 15%), rural development, cut by $155 million
(91%), and agricultural research, cut by $87 million (73%). The
commodity subsidies, which account for three-quarters of total
farm bill mandatory funding, were left virtually unscathed by
the appropriators’ cuts.
"The Coalition opposes
re-opening the farm bill, but if it is going to be re-opened,
all programs should be on the table," said the SAC’s Ferd
Hoefner. "Slashing programs that stimulate rural business
and community development and improve agriculture’s
environmental performance while giving a free pass to six and
seven figure payments to the nation’s largest farms is bad
policy and out of keeping with strongly-held public
preferences."
2. ACTION UPDATES: CSP AND
COOL
There is action to report this
week on two major priorities for family farm activists: the Conservation
Security Program (CSP) and Country of Origin Labeling
(COOL). Earlier this week, Rural Updates sent out an action
alert urging readers to call USDA and the White House to urge
them to release the rule implementing the program. There were
reportedly so many calls to Agriculture Secretary Veneman’s
office that they began transferring folks to a lower-level
staffer at the NRCS. So, your calls are getting their
attention!
If you haven’t called yet,
please do so, and tell them that you don’t want to be
transferred to the NRCS, but prefer to leave a message for the
Secretary. The number is 202-720-3631.
In COOL news, the National Farmer’s
Union reports that a coalition
of 165 agriculture and consumer groups sent a letter to
President Bush this week stating that a two- year delay of the
mandatory country-of-origin labeling law is not supported by the
overwhelming majority of agriculture producers or consumers and
urging the President to oppose Congressional efforts to delay
country-of- origin labeling.
3. THE ANSWER IS BLOWING IN
THE WIND
Wind farming pays. That is the
message the American Corn Growers Association is attempting to
get out to the public. In a press release yesterday by the
progressive agricultural commodity group, they list the many benefits
of wind energy: increased farm incomes, increased jobs,
rural development and increased rural tax base.
"Wind energy is
"homegrown" energy," said the ACGA release,
"that can extend non-renewable energy sources, helping to
secure our energy future, reduce energy costs, and reduce our
dependence on foreign energy. Wind power produces no air or
water emissions, which improves the health of our
environment." With the Union of Concerned Scientists
estimating that typical farmers or ranchers with good wind
resources could increase the economic yield of their land by 30
percent to 100 percent, wind farming may be the salvation for
many hard pressed family farmers.
4. GMO SUPERWEED REPORT
A recent report from the
Northwest Science and Environmental Policy Center confirms what
many critics of genetically modified crops have been saying for
years: widespread use of crops genetically engineered to
tolerate broad spectrum herbicides like Monsanto's Roundup leads
to herbicide resistance and increased use of the
herbicide.
The report found that,
"herbicide tolerant crops have increased pesticide use an
estimated 70 million pounds over the last eight years," and
warns, "The efficacy of herbicide tolerant technology is
now seriously threatened by weed shifts and resistance.
Herbicide use and costs are bound to rise for the foreseeable
future." The report, titled, "Impacts of Genetically
Engineered Crops on Pesticide Use in the United States: The
First Eight Years," draws on official U.S. Department of
Agriculture data on pesticide use by crop and state.
It is the first comprehensive
study of the impacts of all major commercial GE crops on
pesticide use in the United States over the first eight years of
commercial use from 1996-2003. It is the sixth in a series of
"Technical
Papers" prepared for Ag
BioTech InfoNet and is available only on the web.
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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