1. CONSERVATION SECURITY PROGRAM ASSAULTED BY HOUSE The House Subcommittee on Agriculture Appropriations decreed Tuesday that the Conservation Security Program shall receive absolutely no funding in Fiscal Year 2004. The subcommittee prohibited the expenditure of funds for a number of other programs, including those that promote renewable energy and rural firefighting. The subcommittee went on to slash $56 million from the Wetlands Reserve Program, $25 million from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and also reduced funding for the Women, Infant, and Children nutrition program for low income families. The Farm Bill's Title I commodity crop payments went untouched, without the subcommittee even attempting to set reasonable payment limitations. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to review the agriculture appropriation subcommittee's actions next week, possibly on Tuesday. Constituents of any member of the House Appropriations Committee are encouraged to call their Representative, asking that CSP and other conservation, energy, rural development, and research programs receive the FY 2004 level of funding set out in the 2002 Farm Bill. Get contact information for House Appropriations Committee members, and see a list of caucus members. 2. BIG AG CRAFTS CONSERVATION "FRAMEWORK" The USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service, after consulting with a small number of hand-picked livestock operators representing primarily large corporate operations, has drafted a National Animal Agriculture Conservation Framework. The Framework focuses on environmental issues related to livestock operations and supports federal, state, and local efforts to aid producers in complying with environmental regulations. NRCS Director of Animal Husbandry and Clean Water Programs Tom Christensen says he expects the Framework to be published in the Federal Register during the week of June 23rd. The public will then have 45 days to comment on the Framework. The NRCS hopes to have the final National Animal Agriculture Conservation Framework completed sometime in September. Stay tuned to Rural Updates! for more information when the NRCS releases the Framework for public comment. 3. U.S. VIOLATES W.H.O. MAD COW GUIDELINES The discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow disease") in a Canadian cow last month has prompted many to wonder if it could happen in the U.S. While mad cow has never been found in the U.S., the World Health Organization last week reported that the U.S. is violating four major guidelines to prevent the spread and human infection of the disease. The WHO's #1 recommendations was that animals showing signs of infection should not be fed to any other animals, but the U.S. allows deer and elk with signs of chronic wasting disease to be fed to pigs and chickens. The WHO also recommends that all nonambulatory ("downer") livestock be tested for BSE, but the U.S. tests fewer than 2% and sends many of the rest to slaughter for human consumption. The WHO's third recommendation -- that no humans or livestock should consume the tissues that are most prone to containing the prions that cause BSE -- is also routinely violated within the U.S. Finally, the U.S. also fails to abide by WHO's recommendation that calves being weaned should not be fed milk replacements that contain beef tallow and blood protein. Dr. Stanley Prusiner, the Nobel Laureate who discovered that prion proteins cause spongiform encephalopathies, calls U.S. efforts to protect its livestock and human populations from BSE "terrible." Read the full article. 4.GRASSLANDS RESERVE PROGRAM FUNDED The Natural Resoures Conservation Service announced last week the availability of $49.5 million in funds for the Grasslands Reserve Program. The agency's plan for the program has improved since the preliminary announcement (See Rural Updates, May 22, 2003): most notably, the program is now available to grasslands nationwide and has better habitat criteria. The program is, however, still moving forward without a rule to direct state conservationists about important program elements such as selection criteria, priority areas and ecosystems, and acceptable management practices. Furthermore, the program is only distributing 50% of the 49.5 million initially, and leaving the other half in a "national reserve" to be allocated later -- with no safeguards to make sure it is allocated where it will provide the most grassland conservation benefit. Read the Notice of Funding Availability, with instructions and deadlines for applying for GRP. Cultivating a vision where
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6/19/03