1.  FARM BUREAU CRITIC LOSES FARM

Almost exactly one year ago, CBS "Sixty Minutes" featured a story on the American Farm Bureau Federation entitled, "Voice of the Farmer." The expose anchored by Mike Wallace was seen by over 30 million Americans. The report revealed how Farm Bureau leadership has used the farmer image to build an "empire worth billions while tens of thousands of (Farm Bureau) farmers are sinking in debt..." Farm Bureau leaders tried to discount the expose as "mudslinging" by "extremist environmental groups." They never replied to charges that the most damaging interviews didn't come from environmentalists they came from their own farmer members.

Defenders Rural Updates! is very sad to report that Mr. Chris Peterson, one of the farmers who had the courage to speak against the Farm Bureau on behalf of farmers everywhere, is losing his farm. After too many years of bad prices fueled by bad farm policy, he's is getting squeezed out of farming. "After 26 years of digging in the Earth, I won't get to this spring," said Chris in a phone conversation yesterday. "They're taking my life away from me."

If you would like to take a moment and send him a message, I am sure that Chris would welcome your kind words. You can reach Chris at cpetersn@netins.net. He tells Rural Updates! he's doing anything but giving up. "I plan on spending the rest of my life raising hell for everything they have done to the family farmer" Chris, you're an inspiration to us all.

To read or sign on to a call by 22,000 individuals and 250 groups for an investigation into Farm Bureau leadership go to http://www.familyfarmer.org/sections/meet.html

2. IS BIG OIL FARMING FARMERS?

While President Bush's own staff is hard pressed find any real energy shortage, oil prices continue to skyrocket and "Big Oil" is cashing in. According to the Wall Street Journal (4-26-2001) four oil companies "posted soaring first-quarter (2001) profits that exceeded Wall Street estimates." The Journal reports that "Chevron Corp., Amerada Hess Corp., Unocal Corp. and Kerr-McGee Corporations said earnings grew strongly as a result of higher natural-gas prices and strong refining margins. " Meanwhile, prices in rural America continue to creep up as planting time approaches. Coincidentally, this happened last year as well. And farmers, already crippled by high production costs brace for another year of low prices and a government unwilling to increase anti-trust scrutiny on big oil and other agribusiness input manufacturers.

3. FARMER TO FARMER GMO CAMPAIGN

"As a farmer, I've made plenty of tough planting decisions," says the farmer on the cover of the brochure by the "Farmer to Farmer Campaign on Genetically Engineered Food. "This may be the hardest. Fertilizer costs are going up. So is fuel. Prices are down. Now I see GMO's are costing us markets. Seems like conventional seeds are a better bet." An alliance of farmers concerned about the economic effects of untested genetically modified seeds has launched a campaign to educate other farmers about the possible dangers. The campaign is called "Farmer to Farmer" and seeks to get out info on biotech seeds before planting time. To learn more about the effort call 1-800-639-FARM or contact Bill Wenzel at bwenzel@chorus.net

4. FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE SPREADS TO WILD DEER

For the last few months England has been gripped in a slaughter of cows to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease. The illness, which spread like wildfire through the industrial feedlots of England has now leapt into the wild. According Anthony Brown, reporting in "The Observer" the foot and mouth virus has passed into Britain's wild deer population, making the Government's policy of mass slaughter of farmyard livestock futile." Brown further reports that "There have been several cases of vets clinically identifying the disease in wild deer, some of which have died from it. There have also been many reports from Devon, Cumbria and Northumberland of deer limping and exhibiting other unusual behaviour linked to the disease." The full story can be read at http://www.observer.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,476587,00.html