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1. Unfunded Promises
2. Americans Support Conservation Security Program
3. A New Breed of Cow Town?
4. U.S. Files Biotech Complaint Against E.U.
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1. UNFUNDED PROMISES
Rural Americans, farmers, ranchers and conservationists
who care about rural habitats are getting the short end of the budget
stick. While the White House is urging a huge tax break for the richest
Americans, Congress, backed by the White House, has sliced 10- year
spending on farm bill conservation programs by $5 billion. The 2003
omnibus appropriations bill imposed a spending cap on the newly enacted
Conservation Security Program, and took money from the Farm and
Ranchland Protection Program, Grasslands Reserve Program, Wildlife
Habitat Incentives Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives
Program to pay for technical assistance for other programs. Congress
also cut farm bill appropriations on nutrition, rural development,
research, forestry, and renewable energy. On the first anniversary of
the signing of the 2002 farm bill into law, Defenders and eleven other
groups asked appropriators to restore this money to key rural programs
in 2004. However, if Congress passes huge tax cuts for the wealthiest,
there won't likely be much to go around. If you want to stop these tax
cuts for America's millionaire club, you can do something about it.
Moveon.org is offering a service where you can send a letter to
Congress. Go to the web site listed below to send this fax and don't
forget to edit their sample letter to include a mention of how rural
America farmers and conservation programs are taking it in the shorts
while the rich get richer.
www.stopbudgetdisaster.com/action/index.asp?step=2&item=10279
2. AMERICANS SUPPORT CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM
The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition this week released
its analysis of comments on the NRCS's advance notice of proposed
rulemaking on the Conservation Security Program. The public has spoken
and hands-down it wants this innovative program now," said Ferd Hoefner,
Washington Representative of the Coalition. "Our analysis shows
overwhelming support for the CSP and remarkably unified positions on its
implementation. "With over 700 comments from 45 states, only six were
negative, and an overwhelming majority of respondents supported prompt
delivery of CSP as a nationwide entitlement program open to all
qualified applicants. The respondents also overwhelmingly supported a
CSP system that uses single contract per producer and uses the statutory
base payments, as well as state or local rather than national rental
rates. The analysis, released on the one-year anniversary of the signing
of the 2002 Farm Bill, serve as a reminder that the public is anxious
for the USDA to move forward quickly with the implementing the program
as passed by Congress.
3. A NEW BREED OF COW TOWN?
In a new twist on concentrated animal agriculture, two
developers in California have proposed a complex of dairy farms that
could house up to 90,000 cattle in the middle of the Mojave Desert.
Proponents are billing the project as environmentally friendly, as the
plan includes a 550-acre solar power station and a pair of 400- megawatt
natural gas-fired turbines, fed by methane produced by manure digesters.
The project envisions producing 50 megawatts of electricity, enough to
power the farms and sell leftover power to the state of California. The
1,900-acre project also envisions on-site housing and amenities for the
600 employees of the 30 proposed farms. Skeptics counter that the
billion-dollar project would threaten a fragile desert wetland, entail
huge transportation costs to bring feed to the cows and milk to market,
and raise air pollution concerns and quality of life issues for the
on-site employees. Also not addressed was the impact of 90,000 cows on
the water resources of the Mojave Desert. For more details, visit:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cowtown11may11,1,2803106.story
4. U.S. FILES BIOTECH COMPLAINT AGAINST E.U.
While family farmers around the globe organize against
the proliferation of genetically engineered seed, the United States has
filed a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization over the
European Union's five-year ban on approving new genetically modified
crops. The U.S. Trade Representative claims that Europe's reticence over
biotech foods has cost American farmers hundreds of millions of dollars
in lost exports, and that "European attitudes were spreading unfounded
fears in the developing world, where the need is greatest for the
increased yield of genetically modified crops." European officials
counter that they have approved genetically modified foods in the past
and are currently considering pending applications. The U.S. has also
stated that European consumers should be able to choose between
traditional and G.M. foods; Europe counters that since the U.S. also
opposes moves to label such foods, it has its own agribusiness rather
than consumers' interests in mind. For more information, visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/14/business/worldbusiness/14TRAD.html?
ex=1054023182&ei=1&en=21e5ad261654a932
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5/16/03