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5/10/04
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1.
Action Needed on Conservation Security Program
2. Canadian Farmers Demand End to US Trade Harassment
3. Texas Slaughterhouse Shirks BSE Testing
4.
Western Drought May Be the Norm
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1.
ACTION
NEEDED ON CONSERVATION
SECURITY PROGRAM
The
USDA announced on May 4 that it intends to proceed with a
Conservation Security Program that will operate continually on
a limited, water-shed based system. The plan will allow any
given producer to apply for the program only once every eight
years and NRCS will determine eligible watersheds in 2004
using a complex formula. This
system first ranks watersheds, then prioritizes them, then
subjects them to “management overlays to factor in
“administrative efficiencies.”
At the time of the Notice, NRCS refused to speculate on
how many watersheds would be selected in 2004. They
insisted that these formulas are necessary because they can
only fund 3,000 to 5,000 contracts in 2004.
They estimate about 1.8 million farmers will apply.
We
urge all those interested in CSP to ask their congressional
representatives to take two actions: 1) fight for full funding
of the program, and 2) write to
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, urging her to honor
the18,000 public comments USDA received about the CSP
program, which overwhelmingly urged a fully funded, nationwide
program that rewards stewardship with meaningful incentives.
Read
the full notice.
2. CANADIAN
FARMERS DEMAND END TO US HARRASSMENT
The
United States is suffering setback after setback on the global
trade front. Two
weeks ago, in a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that could
threaten US subsidies of all commodities, the Brazilian
government prevailed in a complaint against the US charging that
US cotton subsidies were unfair to Brazilian farmers.
Then, last week the Canadian National Farmers Union
demanded that the US put an end to "trade harassment of the
Canadian Wheat Board."
In a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin who was
visiting President Bush last week, the NFU said "the US
Administration appears intent on continuing a series of
unsuccessful legal challenges against the CWB that began in
1989.” Even though
a total of eleven challenges have all gone against the US and in
favor of the CWB, the US has persisted with complaints. NFU
maintains the harassment is continuing and that a full two
months after the WTO ruled that the CWB operates in a “fair,
transparent” way, US Trade Representative Richard Zoellick
announced the US would appeal the decision. Read
more.
3.
TEXAS SLAUGHTERHOUSE SHIRKS BSE TESTING
According to a
May 4 article by United Press International, a Texas beef
processor last week breached USDA protocols for bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
Though the animal was showing signs of BSE, contrary
to protocol, the animal was sent to a rendering facility before
a sample of brain tissue could be taken. While the cow did not
enter the food supply, further investigations revealed that the
plant, Lone Star Processing, has an alarmingly poor history of
testing for BSE -- even though it is the nation’s 18th
largest slaughterhouse.
Furthermore,
the plant’s primary product is a boneless beef product, which
“generally consists of meat from culled cows -- those removed
from dairy herds because they are injured, sick or have stopped
producing milk.”
A
former USDA veterinarian interviewed for the story contended
that Lone Star’s use of culled dairy cows makes Lone Star
“one of the highest-risk plants in the country for receiving a
mad cow” and charged that "the USDA doesn't want to find
the disease." To date, only one case of mad cow
disease has been confirmed in the U.S.
4.
WESTERN DROUGHT MAY BE THE NORM
When you hear talk these days about the six year dry spell throughout the
West, everyone views it as unusual.
However, continuing
research into drought cycles suggests that the relatively wet
weather across much of the West during the 20th century may have
a fluke.
According
to a recent
New York Times article, research involving tree ring
analysis and ocean temperatures over the last 800 years suggest
that long periods of dryness historically persisted. One such
period extended from about 900 to 1300. During this time
precipitation rarely reached the relatively high levels of the
20th century. This
possibility has western politicians and planners fretting.
Lulled by wet weather over the last twenty years, some
begin to wonder if the modern urbanized West - one of the
biggest growth spurts in the nation's history - may have been
based on a “colossal miscalculation.”
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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