1. ORGANIC RICE: MORE PRODUCTIVE THAN HIGH TECH ?

Last week Nature magazine reported surprising results to one of the biggest agricultural experiments ever conducted in China.

According to George Monbiot, (Guardian 8-24) a team of Chinese scientists tested modern rice-growing techniques against traditional techniques. The high-tech model planted a single, high-tech variety across hundreds of hectares using modern chemically intensive technique. The traditional approach planted several breeds of rice (poly-crop) in one field and let them grow naturally. The results? Remarkably the farmers using more traditional, organic methods of "poly-cropping" produced a whopping 18 per cent more rice per acre compared to conventional methods. The economic benefits of this increase were greatly enhanced as the Farmers paid nothing in pesticide and herbicide costs. Further, Monbiot reported, "The ‘poly-cropping’ organic method actually reduced common diseases like "Rice Blast" (rice fungus) by 94 percent."

2. FARM BUREAU PRESIDENT MOANS FOR THE RICH

Last week, when President Clinton vetoed a Senate-backed Estate Tax break, Farm Bureau president Bob Stallman took the issue to the press. In an AFBF release (8-31-00) Stallman claimed, "This (veto of the Death Tax) is a blow to America’s hard working farmers and ranchers." While most farmers face foreclosures and could care less about estate tax repeals, progressive farm leaders are much more direct about who really benefits from this Farm Bureau backed tax cut.

As ag journalist Alan Guebert pointed out (e-file June 20, 2000) the Senate "Death Tax" repeal was never about farmers, it’s about the rich getting richer. "Even more shameful", says Guebert, "is American farmers--the vast majority who will never, ever pay estate taxes--permitting these Congressional con men to use "family farmers" as the stalking horse to ride off with a $50 billion tax break for the richest 2% of the republic's aristocracy."

3. PANHANDLE PORK & FARM BUREAU OPPOSE SHINER

Feedstuffs magazine reported (8-28) that "Panhandle pork producers have joined with agricultural and industrial groups opposed to federal designation of "critical habitat" for the threatened Arkansas shiner. "Big Pork contends that reclassification of this threatened species might require farmers within 300 ft.of approximately 1,200 miles of the Arkansas, Canadian, Cimarron and Beaver rivers who receive federal subsidies or permits to face scrutiny by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) under the Endangered Species Act." While Feedstuffs did not mention the devastating threat to "farmers" in the area caused by record low prices from massive factory-farm animal surplus, they did mention the organizations involved. They are American Farm Bureau, ProAg, Oklahoma Pork Council, Texas Cattle Feeders Assn., Kansas Livestock Assn., National Cattlemens Beef Assn. and the Independent Oil Producers.

4. CLONING THE COW

According to Duncan Mansfield (AP Wire 8-29) "University of Tennessee researchers announced Monday the birth of a cloned Jersey dairy cow using a quicker method than that used to clone Dolly the sheep." They named the calf Millie - short for Millennium. Genetic researchers are studying the possibility of cloning high milk-producing cows as a way to increase yields.

Ed. NOTE: With Dairy farmers across America now "dumping" supplies of milk to counter massive surplus and low prices, one has to wonder what genetic researchers are thinking. Perhaps it would be more useful to isolate genes for "common sense." Judging from research priorities, it does not appear to be all that common.