9/10/04

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1. Conservation Security Program Action Alert
2 Help Save Native Corn!
3. Crazy? Maybe, But Organic is Paying Off!
4. Small Farms Vanishing; Subsidies supporting the Biggest

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1. CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM ACTION ALERT 

The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture is requesting 
action from folks to help improve the way the new and innovative 
Conservation Security Program (CSP) is conducted over the 
remainder of the life of the 2002 Farm Bill. Most needed are 
organizational and individual comments regarding the Interim Final 
Rule as recently released by the Natural Resources Conservation 
Service. According to the Campaign, this rule places unnecessary 
restrictions on the program and fails to adequately reward proven 
conservation practices being used by farmers that enhance soil and water 
quality, like resource conserving crop rotations, rotational grazing, and 
organic farming. They are asking people to send in comments before 
the September 20 deadline for submissions. To learn more about 
this issue, read talking points and a sample letter, go to 
http://www.sustainableagriculture.net/cspActionSept04.php

2. HELP SAVE NATIVE CORN!

Nestled deep in the rugged terrain of Copper Canyon, the Grand 
Canyon of Mexico, the Tarahumara people have lived for millennia 
in close harmony with the land. These shy and private indigenous 
people who call themselves Rarmuri were first discovered in the 
1500's by the Spanish were they lived in the state of Chihuahua in 
northwest Mexico. Much as the Spanish threatened their life back 
then, the Ramuri culture is now threatened by the advent of GMO 
corn seeds. Their culture is based on corn and over time rare, 
regionally adapted varieties have evolved that fuel the economic 
and spiritual life of their culture. With the advent of GMO varieties 
that can cross pollinate native varieties with a gust of wind or the 
brush of a contaminated feather, that heritage is endangered. You 
can help the Rarmuri maintain sovereignty and maintain their native 
seeds by signing to a letter to the incoming Governor of the State 
of Chihuahua asking him to protect the historic local corn and bean 
varieties by keeping GMO seeds out of the state. This action, 
forwarded by the Rural Coalition is asking people to 1) Declare 
The Sierra Tarahumara a GMO Free Zone, and; 2) Ensure that 
future corn shipments to the Sierra Tarahumara be acquired from 
producers who can guarantee that their seed is GMO free and of 
local origin. The sign-on deadline is September 30. Please forward 
this alert to others.

You can read the letter and sign-on at: 
http://www.kwira.org/pop/cartamaiz2.htm
Or to learn more contact the Rural Coalition at: 202-628-7160 
bouapha@ruralco.org

3. CRAZY? MAYBE, BUT ORGANIC IS PAYING OFF!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded a $571,000 grant 
to the University of California at Santa Cruz to lead a research 
program that aims to prepare the organic food industry for rapid 
growth. Organic agriculture is predicted to mushroom to 10 to 20 
percent of California cropland by 2024. The $571,000 grant will 
help bolster scientific knowledge about organic systems and to 
strengthen the California’s network of organic farmers and 
agricultural researchers. In collaboration with farmers, agro 
ecology researchers at UCSC have pioneered organic production 
methods for strawberries and other important regional crops. This 
project will build on those successes and prepare the organic 
industry for continued expansion. UCSC environmental studies 
professor Stephen Gliessman recalled the skepticism that greeted 
early collaborations. When we started this work 17 years ago with 
Jim Cochran of Swanton Berry Farms, people said, 'You're crazy. 
You aren't going to grow strawberries organically,'" Gliessman said. 
"Now, the USDA is saying, 'This is important. It has to be done." 

http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/press_releases/text.asp?pid=542

4. SMALL FARMS VANISHING; SUBSIDIES GOING TO THE 
BIGGEST

The Agriworld Direct is this week reporting that the most recent 
census on farm and rural statistics shows that "small to medium 
sized traditional family farms are vanishing at an astonishing rate 
and being replaced by larger, mechanized facilities." Using pig 
farms as one example, the report points out that the number of 
operations in the US decreased by 37% in five years --- over 45,000 
farms abandoned. During that same period the national inventory of 
pigs only dropped by one percent. Shockingly, the census found 
that the most profitable three percent of large farms earn 61% of 
all the money paid for agricultural products in the United States. 
Agriworld's analysis of this data further asserts that these large 
industrial farms are collecting an ever-greater share of federal farm 
subsidies. In 1995, they received $3.98 billion, or 55% of all federal 
farm payments. In 2002, their portion increased to $7.8 billion, or 
65% of all federal payments. Currently, almost 30% of agricultural 
subsidies go to the top two percent of farms and over 80% to the 
top 30%. The USDA's 2002 agriculture census provides the data 
used to draw these conclusions.

http://www.ea1.com/CARP/
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/0831-08.htm

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