With Congress back in session, the Senate could take up the Farm Bill as early as February 4th or 11th. With pressure mounting to pass a bill in time to help farmers making planting decisions, the risk now is that Senate leaders might compromise away the victories won thus far by an unprecedented coalition of farm advocates, environmentalists, sportsmen and rural activists. These victories include the Conservation Security Program, the packer ownership ban, and greater investment in local marketing, rural development and renewable energy. 

PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS and tell them to move forward with passage of the bill, but not to deal away the aspects that help family farmers, the environment and rural economies. There are also several good amendments that need to be protected, including the Wellstone EQIP amendment, the Durbin amendment discouraging new row crop acres, and the Dorgan-Grassley payment limitation amendment. The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121.

For more information on the victories we have had to date, and the amendment we are still pushing for see SENATE UPDATES at: www.familyfarmer.org

With the White House and the petroleum-backed Interior and Energy Departments bent on continuing vulnerable, centralized fossil fuel energy production, two pieces of legislation, both in the Senate, offer a brighter path towards safe, sustainable energy. Ag Chairman Tom Harkin has made history by creating, in the farm bill, an energy title that would allocate $500 million to help U.S. farmers and ranchers explore the economic benefits of increasing the efficiency of their operations and developing alternative energy production. Pending energy legislation by Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle would also invest significantly in the research and development of alternative sources such as hydrogen, wind and biofuels. These bills will soon be up for debate in the Senate and Rural Updates will keep you informed and armed with key actions you can use to help America transition to a safe energy future.  Read an article on double-cropping corn and wind. Read Defenders of Wildlife's renewable energy principles.

3. IS DEMOCRACY INTERFERING WITH CORPORATE PROFITS?

On Tuesday February 5th, Bill Moyers will present a documentary on PBS television entitled: "Trading Democracy." According to advance promo on the presentation, "Trading Democracy" is a one-hour documentary that covers, in understandable terms, the legal and technical aspects of NAFTA's "investor rules," also known as Chapter 11 rules. These rules allow corporations to sue countries and may allow them to overturn legitimate public interest laws and regulations when they believe corporate profits have been undermined. Incredibly, as the show will report, these suits are decided in secret by unelected bureaucrats given the power to determine whether laws ranging from zoning ordinances such as those against factory hog farms, to environmental protections constitute an interference with corporate profits. This is one you don't want to miss. The show is set to run at 10 PM EST and you can find your local PBS station on the web at http://www.pbs.org/.

4. BARRED SCIENTIST SPEAKS UP ABOUT FACTORY FARMS

Meat companies Murphy-Brown and Goldsboro Milling recently barred public health expert Dr. Melva Fager Okun from touring their turkey and hog CAFOs in North Carolina. 

Dr. Okun had signed up for a tour of the facilities as part of a National Academy of Sciences meeting on air emissions from animal feeding operations, attended by public health and environmental scientists from around the country. The companies could give no compelling reason for singling out Dr. Okun. 

Upon her protest, the NAS cancelled the entire tour on the grounds that selectively barring participation in the tour violated open meeting laws. Dr. Okun, who has written and spoken extensively on the effects of hog farms on public health, stated in her remarks to the NAS the following day, "The industry's efforts yesterday were an attempt to publicly embarrass and humiliate me. If they would do so, in such a public manner, before an august group like yourselves, you can imagine what they do behind the scenes. The industry has mounted tremendous pressure against community people, state and local elected officials, local health board members, and university faculty and staff who have commented on the public health impacts of their industry. People are afraid to speak up. People have had their jobs threatened -- including people sitting in this room. People have lost their jobs. People have had their lives threatened."

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