3/29/02

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1. Action Alert! Keep the Pressure ON!
2. Commodity Plan Lame - More of the Same
3. Rally for Sustainable Agriculture
4. Antibiotics in Aquaculture: Something Fishy

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Farm Bill conferees from the House and Senate are continuing to hash out the differences between versions of the Farm Bill and it looks increasingly likely that they are going to balance the budget on the backs of wildlife habitat and clean air and water. Lawmakers recently learned that the Senate's commodity title will cost $6 billion more than they had intended (See familyfarmer.org/updates/031302). 

Instead of revising their commodity programs to bring them within their original budget targets, some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem content to leave the bloated crop subsidies in place, and instead take a huge cut from conservation and other important programs. We've asked you to call conferees and to call your Senator -- and we're asking again. This time we are trying to get the message to key Democratic leaders that cutting conservation funding is not acceptable. No matter where you live, if your Senator or representative is a Democrat, please call them at their local offices. Ask your Senator to talk to Sen. Daschle, and/or ask your Representative to contact Rep. Stenholm -- and to remind them that most Democrats have supported conservation funding at or above the levels in the Senate bill, and they should support the funding levels, programs and policy provisions in the Senate bill. To reach your lawmakers at their local offices, visit http://www.vote-smart.org.

Last week the Conference committee met and decided how to split up the Farm Bill budget. With a whopping $73.5 billion in new spending for the next ten years the commodities title took the lion's share with $46 billion - all without any substantive changes in programs. It appears Congress' answer to tumbling prices and rapidly rising commodities bailouts is "more of the same." As just about every family farmer and savvy conservationist understand, current farm programs encourage overproduction, subsidize farm consolidation, foster planting choices dictated by the program rather than market, and reward planting on marginal land and the overuse of agri-chemicals. With all of these downsides, plus the fact that taxpayers underwrite the ineffective, expensive mess, one would imagine Congress wanting to make substantive changes.

This is clearly not the case. Instead, they are advancing business is usual - though you don't hear the words "Freedom to Farm" bantered around Washington, DC much these days. In related news, the Nebraska Farmers Union and the American Corn Growers Association has released an updated index on key indicators in the farm sector and the news is not good. The in depth report finds, among other things that, "Steadily increasing (crop) yields have not offset lower real farm prices. Including very high government payments and higher yields, real gross income per acre is now at record lows, and is approximately 1/3 less than the mid-1980's."

Spring is here, and the time is right... for getting together with other activists to have a good time and show support for a sustainable farm future. There are plenty of events all over the country to gather advocates for sustainable agriculture and alternatives to factory farms.

Jim Hightower's "Rolling Thunder Democracy Tour" kicked off in Austin last week and is headed for Atlanta (May 25) and Chicago (June 15). New York City hosts the Youth Summit on Sustainable Development on March 29-31. The Factory Farm Forum (speakers and workshops) and Rally (march against factory farms) will take place in Trenton, NJ on April 7 and 8. And EarthSave will host "Taste of Health" fairs in Louisville, Vancouver and New York in June, highlighting restaurants, recipes and products for healthier and more sustainable eating. For more information on these and other events, visit http://www.factoryfarm.org/majorstoriesandcurrentevents.html

The aquaculture industry in the U.S. uses between 204,000 and 433,000 pounds of antibiotics annually to treat diseases, control parasites and promote growth in the nation's farmed fish. Since there is no central authority for monitoring and reporting antibiotic use in aquaculture, Dr. Charles Benbrook and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy have compiled the evidence from several different agencies for a new report. About half of these antibiotics are used in catfish production, but nonetheless, catfish farmers suffer up to 60% losses from enteric septicemia. The amount of antibiotic usage in fish farms is small compared to factory beef, poultry and pork production. However, it represents a significant concern because aquaculture facilities offer great opportunity for these drugs to move into the wider environment where they could catalyze the development of resistant bacteria. Since the drugs used in aquaculture are potent ones that are also used to treat human diseases, this antibiotic usage could pose a threat to public health. To read the full report, please visit http://www.iatp.org