1. GROUPS OPPOSE BUSH ADMINISTRATION RAID ON RURAL FUNDING

Environmental and sustainable agriculture groups this week expressed outrage at the Administration's latest proposal regarding technical assistance (last updated in the December 18 Rural Updates). Despite relatively clear language in the farm bill outlining how funding for technical assistance for all the conservation programs should come out of the mandatory funds provided to each program, the Administration has proposed making all program-related technical assistance discretionary and paying for it with transfers from other programs. If this raid on rural funding is successful, casualties will include $30 million form the Value Added Development Grants Program, $25 million from the Women and Infant Children (WIC) 'contingency' funding, $5 million from a new renewable energy loan and grant program, $10 million from grants to rural firefighters and emergency medical personnel, and $8 million from private forest land enhancement grants. The rest of the $332.8 million would come from the conservation programs themselves. Groups are urging appropriators to reject this proposal and reinstate the mandatory technical assistance funding as directed by Congress in the farm bill.

Senator Charles Grassley R-IA) has kicked off the campaign to improve competition in the farm marketplace by introducing bills addressing two of the most hotly debated farm competition issues in last year's farm bill debate. The first, the Packer Ownership Ban, is cosponsored by senators Johnson, Enzi and Harkin. The bill would eliminate packers' ability to control market prices by owning and slaughtering their own livestock. The new bill would apply to any packer that slaughters more than 125,000 cattle or 100,000 pigs. The Campaign for Family Farms and the Environment has called the packer ban "the single most important thing Congress can do this year to help independent livestock producers." Grassley, Feingold, Enzi and Harkin also introduced a bill to ban forced arbitration clauses in livestock and poultry contracts. Mandatory binding arbitration clauses are used by companies to force farmers to give up their rights to settle a dispute in court in the event a dispute rises between the company and the grower, and are frequently a required condition of contracts offered to producers. Both measures were passed by the Senate as part of last year's farm bill, but were removed by the conference committee before final passage.

Concerns about biotech foods grabbed headlines two years ago when banned StarLink corn was found to have entered the US food chain in Taco Bell taco shells. The resulting consumer backlash sparked a massive recall of corn products from grocery store shelves across the country. Since that time GMO manufacturers have launched expensive advertising campaigns attempting to convince consumers GMO foods are safe, while opponents maintain the foods are unfit for humans or the environment. 

Now, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company, even the more conservative pro-biotech consumer organizations are calling for more government regulation of GMO crops. The Center for Science in the Public Safety, a Washington based pro-biotech consumer group says the government is "ill-equipped" to ensure the safety of the more complex biotechnology foods of the future. Read the full story.

The Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade policy has added a new listserve to their impressive collection. This listserve will help disseminate information regarding policy, innovations and news for farmers and rural communities regarding the increasing interest in using crops and crop by products to produce energy. While global warming heats up the debate regarding the sustainability of the carbon economy, visionaries look to other sources of energy for the future. Some people are staunch champions of a hydrogen economy, others favor a solar economy.

This list will keep you updated on what David Morris has called the "Carbohydrate Economy." Sign up now!

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