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6/30/04
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1. EQIP Funds Keep Water In River For Fish
2.
Health Benefits of Sustainably Grown Meat
3. Global
Warming Effects Rice Production
4. Happy Fourth of July
From Rural Updates!
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1. EQIP FUNDS KEEP WATER IN RIVER FOR FISH
The NRCS this week
announced that it will spend $775,000 to preserve habitat for
the imperiled fluvial arctic grayling in Montana's Big Hole
River. The Big Hole population is the last native river-dwelling
grayling population in the lower 48 states and is currently
listed as a candidate species under the Endangered Species Act.
NRCS is using the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP)
to help 15 area landowners stop irrigating nearly 16,000 acres,
which will decrease the amount of water diverted from the
drought-stricken river. EQIP will also fund twelve off-site
watering facilities, including spring development or well, pump,
pipeline, and tank, and will provide an alternative water source
to the Big Hole River for livestock. "This has been a
positive experience that brought together people with the same
goal – helping the fluvial arctic grayling to survive a
drought that has impacted both agriculture and wildlife
statewide," said Dave White, NRCS state conservationist.
According to Frank Casey of Defenders of Wildlife, "This is
a good, proactive use of farm bill conservation funds to
maintain functional habitats for at- risk species, rather than
having to use those same funds to fix problems. Both the
grayling and the ranchers win."
2. HEALTH BENEFITS OF SUSTAINABLE MEAT
More and more health benefits
are being found with sustainably raised meat. According to
New York Times bestselling author Jo Robinson, grass-fed beef
has two to six times more omega-3's than factory farmed,
grain-fed meat.
Omega-3 is a "good" fat that
helps our cardiovascular system, our brain function and may help
prevent cancer. The importance of omega-3 fats to brain
function is leading some researchers to conclude that a diet
rich in meats raised on factory farms may actually slow brain
function.
According to scientists gathering in Britain
this week, "Hundreds of thousands of people in Britain are
at risk of developing mental disease over the next few decades
because their food lacks a key range of chemicals."
As reported in the Guardian, the meat from factory fed animals
not only lacks the important omega-3 fats, it also contains
heavy loads of omega-6 fats which actually slow down brain
function.
3. GLOBAL WARMING REDUCES RICE PRODUCTION
According to
a new study just released by the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) and the University of Nebraska, Global warming
has the potential to dramatically reduce rice
yields, the staple
for half the planet. According to the study, an average
daily temperature increase of 1 degree Celsius results in a 10
percent reduction in the yield of a rice crop.
The results
are based on 15 years of data gathered at the IRRI complex in
the Philippines, in conditions that approximate the way about 40
percent of the world's total rice supplies is produced.
Scientists are working to determine the cause of the reduction,
but speculate it is because hotter nights make the plants work
harder just to maintain themselves, diverting energy from
growth.
RRI said experts predict that temperatures would
rise globally by between 1.5 and 4.5 degrees Celsius in the
coming century, or three to nine times more than in the past 100
years.
"Global warming thus threatens to erase the
hard-won productivity gains that have kept the rice harvest in
step with population growth." IRRI said the cereal is
the staple food of more than half of humanity -- mainly in Asia
where 90 percent of the crop is grown and consumed.
4. HAPPY JULY FOURTH FROM RURAL UPDATES!
The
Rural Outreach Team would like to wish all of our readers a safe
and sustainable Fourth of July. As you celebrate the 228th
anniversary of the birth of our great nation, we hope you will
honor those who are working to ensure that our family farms and
our natural heritage will continue to thrive for many years to
come. You can do that by making sustainable food choices for
your holiday picnic and every day. Suggestions, recipes and
resources are available at www.sustainabletable.org
and www.eatwellguide.org. And just a reminder, signups for the
Conservation Security Program begin on Tuesday, July 6! Visit http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/csp/
to find out if you are eligible.
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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