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6/23/04
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1. Farm Bill – Reopened Through the Back Door
2.
CSP Web Assessment and Hotline Available
3. Bishop Blasts
Trade and GMO's
4. Monsanto: Better Living Through
Propaganda
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1. FARM BILL REOPENED THROUGH THE BACK DOOR
The most
widely lauded aspect of the 2002 Farm Bill was its substantial
increases to conservation and rural development programs. Yet
these programs are the first to get the budget axe in the House
of Representatives. The House Agriculture Appropriations
subcommittee's proposal for FY 2005 conservation spending falls
short of the Farm Bill's intent by $520 million - or 24%.
In percentage terms, the largest cuts are to the Wildlife
Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP), Conservation Security Program
(CSP), and the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP). In dollar
terms, the largest cut is $264 million for the Environmental
Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).
Three farm bill
conservation programs were left alone - the Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP), Grasslands Reserve Program (GRP), and Ground and
Surface Water Conservation Program (GSWC). The House proposal
also falls short of Farm Bill funding levels for renewable
energy, rural development and agricultural research.
F.
Hoefner of the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, said,
"Conservation programs are becoming the bank account from
which to make withdrawals to cover increases in discretionary
spending in other areas of the bill." Learn
more.
2. CSP WEB ASSESSMENT AND
HOTLINE AVAILABLE
The Natural Resources Conservation Service
announced last week that its CSP Self-Assessment workbook is now
available through the USDA website. The tool is available as a
printable workbook or an interactive web interface, and is
designed to help producers in the eighteen CSP watersheds
determine if they are eligible for the program and guide them
through the next steps in enrollment.
In addition, the Center
for Rural Affairs has opened a "Hotline" to assist
farmers and ranchers with questions about the self-assessment
and other eligibility and application questions. The Hotline's
number is 402-687-2100 and will be open during the CSP sign-up
period of July 6 through July 30. "We want to ensure that
the farmers and ranchers this program was intended to reward are
able to fully access the program," said the Center's Traci
Bruckner.
3. BISHOP BLASTS TRADE AND GMO's
Around the globe, family
farmers are uniting with environmentalists and rural development
specialists to oppose the common problems accompanying
irresponsible corporate driven trade globalization. The
religious community is increasingly involved in speaking out.
This week in the Philippines, Catholic Bishop Dinualdo
Gutierrez, chair of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the
Philippines' Episcopal Commission on Social Action, Justice and
Peace, called trade liberalization the "biggest stumbling
block" to the growth of the farmers' sector.
Echoing
similar complaints among family farmers around the world,
Gutierrez said that the problems Filipino farmers face are
rooted in the country's "blind ambition to clash with
giants in the field of globalization" which expose farmers
to the "claws of globilization."
A critic of the
controversial Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn, Gutierrez also
slammed the decision of the government allowing the
commercialization of the genetically modified product in the
country. "With the policy in place, government offers
the country as a market to a product that only multinational
companies can produce given their financial and technological
resources," he said. Read
more.
4. MONSANTO BETTER LIVING THROUGH PROPAGANDA
Monsanto
Corporation announced today that it is providing a $50,000 gift
to the Agriculture in the Classroom Consortium (AITC), a USDA
Extension Service program that provides agriculture education
resources for teachers and students in pre- kindergarten through
twelfth grade. The gift will fund a grant program for state AITC
programs "focused on biotechnology, plant sciences, or
agriculture and the environment." Not surprisingly for a
leading promoter of genetically modified seed, "Supporting
AITC allows Monsanto to maintain its commitment to science
education and grassroots efforts that improve the understanding
and acceptance of biotechnology. Read
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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