4/12/02

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1. Farm Bill ACTION needed! #1
2. Farm Bill ACTION #2
3. Energy Title: Running Out of Steam?
4. Pennsylvania Towns Say NO to Industrial Agriculture

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House and Senate lawmakers are continuing to meet to hash out differences between the two versions of the Farm Bill. Rumor on the Hill has it that they have agreed to a 7-year bill. This time frame could be very bad for several of the conservation programs, because it means stretching the money provided in the Senate bill over a longer period of time. Conferees need to hear that conservation programs are important to rural America! Harkin seems to be championing more conservation money, but Senators Daschle, Leahy and Conrad need support championing the conservation message loud and clear. Please call these three (Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121) and tell them to hold out for full Senate-level funding for the Conservation Security Program, the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, the Water Conservation Program, the Grasslands Reserve Program and the Farmland Protection Program. They should also make sure that the Wetlands Protection Program doesn't get zeroed out in years six and seven.

Tell them that lawmakers can ensure that these programs get the full funding they deserve by not raising the livestock industry giveaway EQIP program above the levels passed in the Senate, and by keeping the Senate EQIP policy provisions in place. 

2. ACTION #2: NCSA ALERT ON FARM BILL ISSUES

In addition to the conservation provisions described in #1, a lot of other important aspects of the Farm Bill now on the table in as conferees debate. This alert from the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture summarizes many of these issues very well.

Please call your Senators and Representative (Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121). Ask your lawmakers to contact farm bill conferees and ask them to support "the Rural Micro enterprise Assistance and Beginning Farmer and Rancher provisions in the Senate Bill; support the competition policy provisions in the Senate Farm Bill including the ban against large meatpacker ownership of livestock, the ban against forced arbitration in agricultural contracts, the right to share agricultural contract information with key advisors, and mandatory country of origin labeling; and support the Senate provisions to reinstate Chapter 12 Bankruptcy that would allow farmers to continue their farming business while they restructure their debt."

The new and widely acclaimed "Energy title" in the new farm bill may be in trouble. According to the Environment and Energy Daily, Senator Harkin has said that Senate Agriculture conferees agreed to provide $200 million in the farm bill over the next 10 years for research and promotion of renewable energy. However, one unidentified industry lobbyist said it might be too soon to tell if true progress has been made and that even the provisions of the energy title that had ostensibly been agreed to are reportedly still in flux. He is quoted as saying Harkin's announcement may have been premature. According to this source, even if the conferees actually have agreed to those provisions, they may still be rescinded if there is no money left at the end of the process. The original Senate Energy title as spearheaded by Senator Harkin had provided $575 million for sustainable energy over the next ten years.

4. PENNSYLVANIA TOWNS SAY NO TO INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE

Ten townships in Pennsylvania have adopted ordinances that ban agribusiness corporations from owning farmland or operating within their boundaries. The ordinances are part of an attempt by residents in north-central and south-central Pennsylvania to stem a tide of new and proposed agribusiness operations in those regions. This emerging trend, also seen in Missouri and Iowa, reveals that local communities are fed up with state governments that have failed to protect workers, public health and the environment from the negative effects of industrial agriculture and livestock. The default of the state-level government is particularly obvious in Pennsylvania, where a State Senator has sponsored a bill to overturn the local ordinances and force communities to accept factory farms. The bill was supported by the State Farm Bureau but has stalled in committee due to an outrcy of opposition from Pennsylvanians. Tom Linzey of the Community Environmental Legal Defense indicated that State Farm Bureau's actions prove that they "no longer represents the interests of family farmers" and warned that, "Just because factory farm corporations now call the shots in the House and Senate Agricultural Committees doesn't mean that local democracies have sold out too."

For more information, please visit http://www.celdf.org.