8/10/04

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1. Lawsuit Seeks Organic Certification Records 
2. USDA Announces CRP Expansion 
3. Mad Cow Testing Prompts Criticism 
4. Clarification on Trade and Subsidies

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1. LAWSUIT SEEKS ORGANIC CERTIFICATION RECORDS 

The Center for Food Safety announced last week that it is filing a lawsuit asking that the USDA release "documents detailing the qualifications and background of the organic food certifiers that it allows to participate in the national organic food program." 

According to the Center, the number of organic food certifiers has more than doubled since 2000, raising "troubling questions about possible 'sham' certifiers and the USDA's ability to properly assess the qualifications of the large volume of new certifiers seeking accreditation." 

The filing of the lawsuit follows two years of unsuccessful attempts by the Center to acquire this information under the Freedom of Information Act. "Consumers and organic producers want to ensure that use of the organic label adheres to a high standard," said the Center's legal director, Joseph Mendelson.

2. USDA ANNOUNCES CRP EXPANSION 

The USDA announced last week that it will offer a general sign-up for the Conservation Reserve Program from August 20 to September 24, 2004. It will also begin offering early re-enrollments and extensions for CRP contracts that begin expiring in 2007. 

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman also announced two new initiatives: a Bobwhite Quail Habitat Initiative, which will create 250,000 acres of habitat for the native quail species that historically ranged in 35 states; and the Wetlands Restoration Initiative, which will allow landowners to enroll large wetland complexes and playa lakes located outside the 100-year floodplain. The latter initiative is expected to restore 250,000 acres of habitat for species such as upland ducks, pheasants and sandhill cranes. 

Pheasants Forever and Ducks Unlimited lauded the measure as a boon to the species that depend on those habitats. Others, such as Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, said the proposal "falls short" of solving funding problems in other important conservation programs, such as the Conservation Security Program, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. 

3. DEPREDATION ORDER YIELDS GRIM HARVEST 

Reports are trickling in on the effect of a depredation order, issued last year, that greatly expands lethal control of double-crested cormorants.

In July, 200 adult and baby cormorants were killed at a single lake in Arkansas. According to the Arkansas Times, "The irony that a bird native to Arkansas is being shot for nesting at a man-made lake stocked with a Florida strain of bass has not been lost on many biologists, who have found the report appalling - and ridiculous." 

Cormorants have been vilified by the sport fishing and aquaculture industries because they eat fish, although no studies have concluded that the birds significantly impact either industry. Even worse, conservationists fear that the cormorant depredation order is the first step in a wider campaign to kill fish-eating birds. In fact, members of Arkansas' congressional delegation have introduced legislation (H.R. 3320) that would exclude the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from the permitting process and give sole authority to the USDA potentially leading to the unlimited slaughter of herons, egrets, pelicans and gulls. 

4. CLARIFICATION ON TRADE AND SUBSIDIES 

In last week's Rural Updates, we reported that the United States had agreed in trade negotiations in Geneva to cut subsidies to corn, wheat, rice and soybeans and to end illegal commodity dumping practices. The actual agreement is a bit more complicated than was indicated last week. 

The U.S. agreed to a Framework that calls for a cap on all trade distorting domestic agricultural support at a level not to exceed 80% of current commodity subsidies. In return for this agreement, the U.S. was permitted to shift subsidies into "blue box" and "green box" allowable categories, in order to keep its trade-distorting subsidies below the 80% cap without actually lowering them. Regarding food aid, the U.S. agreed to enter into negotiations but did not make commitments to end dumping at this time. 

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