7/28/04

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1. Report Documents Corporate Ag Influence at USDA
2 Watch Endangered Wildlife Live on the Internet
3. USDA Drags Heels On Racial Bias Case 
4. Conservation Partnership Initiative Funding Available

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REPORT DOCUMENTS CORPORATE AG INFLUENCE AT USDA

At its annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska last week, the Organization for Competitive Markets unveiled a new report called "USDA Inc.: How Agribusiness has Hijacked Regulatory Policy at the U.S. Department of Agriculture." 

The report shows how USDA appears to be serving the narrow interests of corporate agriculture and displays conspicuous hostility to independent producers as well as consumers and the environment. It illustrates the extent to which the food processing industry has shaped USDA's decision-making over the last decade, examines the industry connections of key USDA officials, as well as the role of a narrow group of trade associations in influencing policy. Policy issues explored includethe agency's handling of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, captive supply in meatpacking, inspection at slaughterhouses, biotech foods, and concentrated animal feeding operations. 

The report also offers remedies to restore accountability to USDA to be more inclusive of farm, ranch, consumer and public interest groups' voice in agriculture policy. The report was commissioned by a working group of the Agribusiness Accountability Initiative, which included OCM, Farm Aid, Defenders of Wildlife, Public Citizen, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the American Corn Growers Association and the Center of Concern. 

WATCH ENDANGERED WILDLIFE LIVE ON THE INTERNET

An innovative educational tool by created SeeMore Wildlife systems allows internet surfers to go online and view streaming footage of endangered wildlife. The system works begins with the installation of remote solar powered still or video cameras in habitat occupied by endangered species. The images are then transmitted via microwave transmitters or portable satellite dishes to a receiver that is wired to a computer which loads the images onto the web. The idea first got a foothold with a bird project initiated by  the Audubon Society. 

Today, there are sites in more than 20 remote locations from Russia to California. Robotic cameras transmit real time video of endangered and threatened species, while still cameras are used for many other species. On an island off San Francisco, a camera records elephant seals. Another along the McNeil River in Alaska captures the world's largest congregation of brown bears fishing for sockeye, silver, and chum salmon. 

"It's a really unique public tool that gives people the natural world that they otherwise wouldn't get," said SeeMore president Daniel Zatz, a former nature photographer for CBS. "They otherwise wouldn't be able to see the increasing number of birds out there."

USDA DRAGS HEELS ON RACIAL BIAS CASE

In 1999, the USDA settled a class-action lawsuit "which sought to redress the Agriculture Department's systematically denying black farmers loans and other assistance available under federal programs" from 1981 to 1996. 

Five years later, according to a new report by the Environmental Working Group and the National Black Farmers Association, the Department has only made restitution to about 10 percent of the African American farmers who were eligible under the terms of the settlement. According to the New York Times, 64,000 claims "were rejected because of a court-acknowledged mistake in which the plaintiffs' lawyers misinformed them of the deadline for filing." Critics also charge that the USDA stonewalled requests for assistance from farmers trying to compile necessary documentation, and spent $12 million contesting farmers' claims. To date, the government has paid out $657 million of the $2.3 billion settlement.

Editorializing on the issue this week, the New York Times concluded "In the past few decades, the U.S.D.A. has paid only lip service to the survival of small farms. It apparently pays only lip service to civil rights as well."

USDA ANNOUNCES CPI REQUESTS FOR PROPOSALS

Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced that USDA will make up to $1 million available for Conservation Partnership Initiative grants for state and local governments, tribes and nongovernmental organizations that have a history of working with agricultural producers. 

CPI is a voluntary program that fosters conservation partnerships and funds projects that focus technical and financial resources on conservation priorities in watersheds of special significance and other geographic areas of environmental sensitivity. The grants will be available for the remainder of fiscal year 2004. 

"This program assists farmers and ranchers in achieving critical conservation goals and the protection of natural resources," said Veneman. "These grants encourage partnerships to devise and implement watershed or regional solutions to pressing natural resource priorities associated with agriculture and rural settings." 

CPI is carried out through two phases. First, applicants must submit proposals for project planning funds to the appropriate NRCS state office. Applicants may request between $100,000 and $200,000 in funding through CPI for the project planning phase and must provide a 1:1 match using non-NRCS funding. Up to 100 percent of the match may come from in-kind contributions. 

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 to ensure abundant family farms, healthy critters, clean water and a wild Earth.  

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Scotty Johnson and Aimee Delach
National Rural Community Outreach Campaign
sjohnson@defenders.org