12/10/04

**************************************************************************

1. Farm Bureau Testifies For Beef Checkoff
2. GMO Moratorium and the Farmer's Guide to GMO's 
3. Canadian Group Launches Food Tracking System
4. Chronic Stench & Discomfort? How About Brain Damage?

***************************************************************************

1. FARM BUREAU TESTIFIES FOR BEEF CHECKOFF

The Supreme Court this week heard final arguments regarding the 
constitutionality of the beef checkoff. On the stand to testify on 
behalf of the checkoff was Bob Stallman, President of the American 
Farm Bureau Federation. Stallman said the checkoff is "a critical 
program that helps sustain the largest part of American agriculture" 
and that, "the beef checkoff is overwhelmingly supported by 70 
percent of the nation's beef producers." The press statement 
released today by the AFBF did not mention whether Stallman 
addressed allegations by family farmers that the millions of check-
off dollars are being used to promote factory farms and 
industrialized agriculture to the detriment of family and independent 
producers. The Farm Bureau, an organization that advertises itself 
as a "voluntary organization governed by and representing farm and 
ranch families," derives substantial income and membership 
from the sale of insurance in predominantly urban areas. To read 
the AFBF press statement go to: http://www.fb.org/about/thisis/ 
To learn more about the Farm Bureau go to: 
http://www.familyfarmer.org/awg.html 

2. GMO Moratorium and The Farmer's Guide To GMO's 

On the GMO front, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) recently 
passed a motion calling for a moratorium on GMO's. The 
resolution, which passed at the recent IUCN meeting in Bangkok 
with 70% yes votes, called for "a moratorium on the release of 
GMO's until it can be demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt" that 
they were safe to the environment. Bernward Geier from the 
International Federation of Organic Movements expressed his 
excitement about the decision saying, "… this clear positioning and 
mandate of IUCN's membership is a strong signal to governments 
and the genetic engineering multinational corporations that not only 
the concern, but the opposition to this high risk technology 
continues to grow." Elsewhere, the Farmers' Legal Action Group 
and the Rural Advancement Foundation International released a legal 
guide for farmers thinking about planting GM seeds. David R. 
Moeller of FLAG says, "that whether farmers grow GMOs, 
conventional seeds, or are certified organic, the use of GMOs in 
commercial agriculture can affect operations and have costly legal 
ramifications." The "Farmers Guide to GMO's" is designed to 
teach farmers about the potential legal minefield surrounding 
GMO's 

See at: www.flaginc.org and www.rafiusa.org

3. CANADIAN GROUP LAUNCHES FOOD TRACKING 
SYSTEM 

Consumers in Canada can now choose organic products that 
contain a tracking label allowing them to find out how and by 
whom their food was raised. This innovation, called the "fairDeal" 
label, comes from the Saskatchewan-based FarmerDirect 
Cooperative. Each of its products is marked with a lot number that 
can be entered into a web-based tracking system that gives detailed 
information about the farmers and processors plus the packer's 
organic and CFIA certificates. Farmer Direct Co-operative consists 
of 60 organic farmers who produce oilseeds, pulses, cereals, 
specialty products, and grass-fed beef and bison. The fairDeal 
program operates under the three principles of Certification (100% 
certified organic farms and working with fair trade certifiers); 
Transparency (allowing consumers to trace both their food and 
food dollar); and Stewardship (improving environmental 
management and reducing greenhouse gas emissions).
For more information, visit: http://www.farmerdirect.ca/HtmlPages/FairDeal.html 


4. CHRONIC STENCH & DISCOMFORT? HOW ABOUT 
BRAIN DAMAGE? 

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported last week that an influx of 
mega-dairies and hog farms in western Ohio's Paulding County, is 
forcing longtime residents to either flee their homes, or face chronic 
stench, discomfort and even brain damage from the factory farm 
emissions. The county's cows (3,700), hogs (13,000) and turkeys 
(125,000) far outnumber its 20,000 residents. The state's 
Agriculture Department director says that "they're all family farms" 
and claims that they "are beneficial to us… if they operate in a 
manner that doesn't cause environmental problems." However, the 
touted economic benefits seem to be eluding Paulding County. 
According to county engineer Mark Stockman, a large portion of 
the property taxes paid by the megadairies goes to road 
maintenance, rather than the schools -- and yet, "road damage 
associated with dairies far exceeds the ability of the county and 
townships to pay for repairs." Furthermore, the dairies buy only 
about 1% of their pre-mixed feed locally, and dairy jobs pay only 
$7.50 per hour.

http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living/1
10155157262571.xml

Cultivating a vision where rural and urban communities join together

 to ensure abundant family farms, healthy critters, clean water and a wild Earth.  

If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this list, visit our
Rural Updates Subscriber Center. Read previous issues by visiting our Rural Updates Archive.

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