1.  PRESIDENT BUSH'S AGRICULTURE TRANSITION TEAM

President Elect George Bush's agricultural transition team is loaded with agribusiness lobbyists and spokesmen, according to a list compiled by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). In a report that can be accessed on the web, EWG has listed names and affiliations of all members of the agriculture, interior, energy and EPA transition teams. Included in the agriculture list are Al Tank, (National Pork Producers Council), Clayton Yeuter, Bob Stallman (American Farm Bureau Association), Chandler Keys, (National Cattlemans' Beef Association) and Lee Kline (National Corn Growers Association). Dale Moore, legislative director for the National Cattleman's Beef Ass. also serves on the Environmental Protection Agencies transition team. View the list at http://www.ewg.org/pressreleases/bushcabinet/transitionteam/agriculture.html

2. VENEMAN CONFIRMATION BEGINS TODAY

For those who may be interested, the confirmation hearing for Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. EST on Thursday, January 18, 2001. C-Span will broadcast the hearing on television and via the web. 

Veneman has served as a key member of the Reagan and Senior Bush administration farm teams, as director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture during the gubernatorial administration of agribusiness favorite Pete Wilson, and as an agribusiness lawyer. Veneman is also a staunch free-trade and biotech advocate. She served on the board of Calgene, the corporation that launched the first genetically engineered food in 1994. Last year, Veneman told a forum, "We simply will not be able to feed the world without biotechnology."

3. FARMERS ELIMINATE MANDATORY CHECKOFF

In a stunning victory last week for family farmers, "mandatory checkoff" funding for the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) was eliminated by a grassroots referendum. According to results released by the USDA Thursday, Farmers voted 15,951 to 14,396 to kill the program. Opponents of the checkoff program claimed they were forced to pay into a fund that advanced polluting factory farming over family farm agriculture. The four year grassroots effort was undertaken by the National Family Farm Coalition, the Land Stewardship Project, the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and others. 

According to a news release by the Organization for Competitive Markets, "The effort began after investigative journalist Al Guebert disclosed that NPPC used checkoff funds to investigate groups working for family farm agriculture and against factory-style hog production." 

4. FARM BUREAU PRESIDENT CALLS FOR SUBSIDIES

Last week during their national conference, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Bob Stallman announced that, "Congress should plan on spending $18 billion a year on farm supports -- double the amount now allotted -- to shore up a sector sapped by brutally low grain prices." Historically low prices which are the result of farm policy advocated by Farm Bureau and others have resulted in record taxpayer bailouts last year ($28 Billion in 2000). This included over $2 Billion dollars paid towards crop insurance. Farm Bureau insurance companies own and control about one quarter of the companies approved by the USDA to provide crop insurance.

To join a national GrassRoots call for an investigation into the Farm Bureau visit: http://www.defenders.org/rural3.html

To learn more about the Farm Bureau's policies and financial connections go to http://www.familyfarmer.org/awg.html