1. GAO BACKS SENATE IN SQUABBLE WITH BUSH ADMINISTRATION

Previously we reported that Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin was furious with the Bush Administration's holdup of technical assistance funds for conservation program funds (Rural Updates, September 19, 2002). The Government Accounting Office last week sided with the Senate and determined that the Office of Management and Budget lacked justification for its decision to release less than 20% of the funds from the 2002 Farm Bill made available to provide technical assistance for the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), and the Farmland Protection Program (FPP).

"The GAO has confirmed that the White House denial of funding for conservation technical assistance is unjustified," said Harkin, who called on the White House to release more than $30 million in funds that were still held up. http://agriculture.senate.gov/Press/2002_Press/100902pr.htm

When American consumers heard that traces of genetically engineered corn intended for animals had found its way into taco shells there was wide public outrage. The biotechnology industry has long claimed that genetic engineering is predictable: that the genes end up where they are put, and that their presence in the environment can be controlled. According to a chilling report by Mark Schapiro in the latest edition of "The Nation" magazine, field reports offer a very different picture. From the remote Mexican village of Oaxaca, to the heartland of America, Schapiro explores on how, in just six years, biotechnology has found its way into 34 percent of our corn, 75 percent of our soy, 70 percent of our cotton and 15 percent of our canola. Taking names, Schapiro cites how just five companies--Dow, DuPont, Syngenta, Aventis and Monsanto, have ushered in this unpredictable experiment with our food and fiber production. From inferior plants and dangerous foods, to the ongoing trade battles with savvy European consumers, this article sensitively explores how corporate America's mad rush toward biotechnology may be sowing disaster for the future of agriculture. http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021028&s=schapiro

California farmers and ranchers are facing a rising tide of imports while drowning in depressing farm prices. They say these two factors are lowering the quality of food products and harming consumers. To rally this point they are staging a "store protest" and a press conference on Thursday, Oct. 17th in Modesto, California. According to a press advisory, this coalition of eight farm groups led by the California Farmers Union "want the public to realize that despite record low dairy and other farm prices, consumer prices remain high." During the protest there will be an ice cream and cheese giveaway and they are calling on retailers and processors to calculate retail prices based on farm prices while urging lawmakers to fix trade agreements and uphold U.S. food safety laws. For more information contact: Sunny Putnam, CFU Media Director at 209-632-0381, or Lynne McBride, CFU Legislative Director at 925-946-0885

October 16, 2002 marks the observance of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's World Food Day. While the official theme of World Food Day 2002 is the "essential role water plays in ensuring sustainable food resources for a growing world population," activists in many countries are taking the opportunity to protest the impacts of globalization and trade agreements on local farmers and economies. Events in the Phillippines, Indonesia, Thailand and elsewhere will call attention to the Cairns Group Ministerial that will be held later this week. The Cairns group seeks to reduce tariffs on agricultural products, which many farmers in Indonesia and elsewhere feel will "decimate the livelihoods of small farmers in developing countries [and] worsen the already critical rural crisis taking place in many developing countries."

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