7/19/04

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1. Healthy People, Healthy Planet
2 USDA Under Scrutiny 
3. New Website Information on Sustainable Agriculture 
4. From DDT to Hot Asphalt: Brown Pelicans Struggling

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1. HEALTHY PEOPLE, HEALTHY PLANET

Consumers usually buy organic food because of the lack of pesticides and chemicals used during production. With this focus, the additional nutritional value to humans and the benefits to planetary ecosystems are often overlooked. In an effort to understand how people and planet benefit from organic food 
production, the European Union is funding a major project to learn more about the benefits of different food production systems. 

The project, which will involve thirty-one research institutions, industrial companies and universities throughout Europe, will encompass the whole food chain from fork to farm for selected crops. It will measure consumer attitudes and expectations, and will develop new technologies to improve nutrition, taste, quality and safety of organic foods. Organic practices and innovations will be assessed for their socio-economic, environmental and sustainability impacts. Reports are scheduled to be released at the 
next Organic Farming, Food Quality and Human Health Congress in January 2005. Read more.

2. USDA UNDER SCRUTINY

Once called the "people's agency" the USDA has, according to a report to be released Friday by the Agribusiness Accountability Project, become the heavy-handed tool of the corporation. In a white paper entitled, "USDA, Inc. How Agribusiness Has Hijacked Regulatory Policy at the U.S. Department of Agriculture," an alliance of family farm, environmental and consumer groups take aim at the unbalanced influence Big Ag wields over farm policy via the USDA. 

Using case studies of USDA policy on factory farming, Mad Cow disease, biotechnology, meat safety, and anti-competitive practices in livestock markets, the paper documents the extent to which the food industry has shaped USDA's decision-making over the last decade. The paper will be released at the Organization for Competitive Markets "Food and Agriculture" conference in Omaha, Nebraska. The theme of the conference is "Agency Capture: Has the People's Agency Become the Lobbyist's Agency?" Read more.

3. NEW WEB SITE FOR INFO ON SUSTAINABLE AG

The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program recently unveiled a new web site designed to help farmers and ranchers increase profitability, protect the environment, and improve rural communities. The site offers cutting-edge sustainable farming and ranching technologies, useful contacts, and funding sources for research and education initiatives. 

Learn how to get a grant, search the SARE projects database, post or browse upcoming events, order books and bulletins or find SARE contacts and regions. You can also browse a variety of subjects including animal and crop production, economics and marketing. The site is sorted by audience, giving farmers and 
ranchers, consumers, researchers and educators each a fast track to the information that's most useful to them.

4. FROM DDT TO HOT ASPHALT - BROWN PELICANS STRUGGLING

In 1970 the Brown Pelican was listed as an endangered species by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The species that once flourished on both coasts and the Gulf of Mexico was rapidly declining due to the collapse of egg shell thickness and other reproductive complications. DDT was identified as the culprit. 

Now the Pelican faces a different problem. With record dryness and dying streambeds along coastal areas in the west the bird struggles to find fish to eat. Sea World Rescue Service is reporting that more than 100 emaciated and hungry birds have been treated over the last two weeks – six times the normal amount. Some Pelicans are taking desperate means and heading inland to Arizona where temperatures are routinely peaking above 110 degrees. 

In the last two weeks wildlife officials in Arizona have reported the injury of dozens of birds who mistook the shimmering heat waves radiating from asphalt highways for water and tried to land. Officials there have set up a hotline to help rescue injured Pelicans. 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