3/5/04

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1. Take Action: Ask Your Representative to Join CSP Rule Letter 
2. Committee Restores Conservation to Senate Budget 
3. Mendocino County Bans Biotech Crops 
4. U.S. To Seek Further Exemption from Limits on Ozone- Depleting Pesticide

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1. TAKE ACTION: ASK YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO JOIN CSP RULE LETTER 

The USDA has received a record 10,000 comments on its proposed rule on the Conservation Security Program   but they still need to hear from members of Congress! Please call your representative and ask him or her to sign on to a letter asking Secretary Veneman to issue a revised rule for the Conservation Security Program. The letter asks the Secretary to issue a revised rule that: 1) makes CSP available to all agricultural producers instead of those in a few selected watersheds; 2) assists producers who are addressing soil erosion, water conservation, wildlife habitat, energy conservation, and wetland enhancement, rather than restrict eligibility to those producers who are addressing soil quality and water quality; 3) provides the full base, cost-share and enhanced payments as provided in the 2002 Farm Bill; and 4) allows producers to sign-up for the CSP throughout the year. 

You can contact your representative by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121. Tell your representatives that they can sign on to the letter by contacting the office of Stephen King (R-IA) or Tim Holden (D- PA). 

2. COMMITTEE RESTORES CONSERVATION TO SENATE BUDGET 

Thanks to an amendment posed by Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Conrad (D-ND), the Senate budget committee yesterday approved a $2.36 trillion budget that restores money   left out of the first draft of the budget    for conservation, rural development and child nutrition. 

The bipartisan amendment, which passed 16-6 in the budget committee, provides $1.2 billion to these programs by limiting commodity program payments to $300,000 per farm. The savings allowed the committee to restore funding cut from the Chairman's original budget for the Conservation Security Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, restoring each of them to full funding for FY 2005.  

The rural development funding would similarly allow the Value-Added Producer Grant program to be restored to full funding.  The child nutrition and welfare reform funding would provide for the reauthorizations of each program, both of which are scheduled for action this year. Read more. 

3. MENDOCINO COUNTY BANS BIOTECH CROPS 

Mendocino County voters on Tuesday became the first in the nation to enact a ban on the raising of genetically engineered crops or animals. A grassroots campaign led by the county's organic producers resulted in a 56 to 44 percent approval of Measure H, despite the fact that "a consortium of agribusiness interests" outspent them by a margin of 7-to-1 in an effort to defeat the measure. 

"They had the money, we had the people," said Els Cooperrider, the owner of an organic brewpub who led the local ballot measure. Sonoma and Humboldt counties may see similar initiatives on the ballot in November, but the biotechnology industry may move to challenge the ballot initiative in court. 

4. U.S. TO SEEK FURTHER EXEMPTION FROM LIMITS ON OZONE-DEPLETING PESTICIDE 

Methyl bromide, a fumigant that is acutely toxic to farmworkers and is also a known culprit in depletion of the ozone layer, was scheduled for worldwide phaseout under a landmark 1987 treaty to protect the ozone layer. Last year, the United States reversed that trend by requesting authority to increase its methyl bromide use by 21.9 million pounds in 2005. 

Now, according to the New York Times, the U.S. is seeking further exemptions, adding 1.1 million pounds to its 2005 request. The request would exempt producers of cut flowers, tobacco seedlings and processed meats from complying with the ban. 

"It's the first time any country has proposed to reverse the phaseout and increase the production of a chemical that's supposed to be eliminated," said David Doniger, who directs policy on atmosphere issues at the Natural Resources Defense Council. 

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