5/24/04

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1.  The EPA Beds Down With Big Ag 
2.  Factory Farms Whine For More Manure Money 
3.  Organic Standards Hijacked by Corporate Interests 
4.  Information Sought on CSP Watersheds

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1.  THE EPA BEDS DOWN WITH BIG AG 

According to documents obtained by the Sierra Club through the Freedom of Information Act and leaked to the Chicago Tribune on Sunday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been quietly making sweet heart deals with the factory farm industry.  The documents apparently reveal that the CAFO (Confined Animal Feeding Operation) industry realized it was out of compliance with air standards and was therefore a "sitting duck" open to lawsuits and expensive fines.  

According to allegations, the EPA subsequently advanced a program crafted by industry specialists that would insulate polluting factory farms from clean-air enforcement efforts.  To win immunity from prosecution, factory farms simply volunteered to participate in a two-year monitoring program to measure their air emissions.  Participating factories would be exempt from "out of compliance" lawsuits and fines.  The FOIA documents apparently also show through a string of emails that industry lobbyists went so far as to create many of the power point presentations that were then presented by the EPA to livestock facility owners and workers.  Read more. 

2.  FACTORY FARMS WHINE FOR MORE MANURE MONEY 

Though giant agribusiness triumphed in the 2002 farm bill to get new conservation dollars directed towards factory animal farms, they now want more. During Senate testimony on May 11, David Petty of the Iowa Cattlemen's, speaking on behalf of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association and the National Pork Producers Council said that the current EQIP rules left too little money for factory farms to meet the "manure regulatory mechanisms at hand." 

Though Petty neglected to remind the Senate that independent farmers nationwide are seeking a "check-off" recall explicitly because NPPC and NCBA policy favors factory farming, he did claim to speak for a coalition of livestock and poultry groups who represent "all species of livestock."  Petty's testimony indicated that the new rules created objectives that targeted erosion control or wildlife habitat management and, in the future, they wanted more money sent "to manure management."  Independent producers rail against such corporate use of EQIP funds saying the federal government by doing so, unfairly subsidizes factory farms and drives family farmers out of the market.  Read Petty's testimony. 

3.  NATIONAL ORGANIC STANDARDS HIJACKED BY BIG CORPORATIONS 

The USDA's National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) was created by law to maintain high organic production standards that would ensure public trust in the organic label.  When the NOSB met in Chicago last month, they heard 4 !/2 hours of testimony from family farmers concerned that organic standards are being "hijacked" by large corporate interests -- and that the US Department of Agriculture is helping them do it.  

According to a press release by the Cornucopia Institute, two recent examples illustrate the problem. In one example, USDA staff allegedly reversed a decision made by an accredited organic certifier who had denied certification to a factory farm because the livestock lacked access to the outdoors.  In another, a USDA staff decision allowed large organic dairy farms to purchase conventionally raised heifers with the intention of moving them into their organic operation."   In his testimony, Mark Kastel of the Cornucopia Institute told the NOSB that "many of the (USDA) staff directives make it possible to operate organic 'factory farms' and that they (the USDA) are dumbing down the standards."  

4.   INFORMATION SOUGHT ON CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM WATERSHEDS

 While there are over 2100 watersheds in the United States, the NRCS announced last week that the new Conservation Security Program will be limited to eighteen of them.  To date, the NRCS has not explained to the public what criteria they used to select the chosen watersheds. NRCS does state that the selected watersheds encompass 14 million acres and are home to over 23,700 farms and ranches.  

The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is seeking information on the agriculture systems in those watersheds, in order to be able to help find and assist eligible stewards in these areas.  If you have an agricultural operation in one of the selected watersheds, or have information about the farming and ranching systems there, please contact mnoble@msawg.org. View a map of the selected watersheds. 

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 to ensure abundant family farms, healthy critters, clean water and a wild Earth.  

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Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
sjohnson@defenders.org