1. FARM BUREAU PRESIDENT DOWNPLAYS FARM CRISIS At a rural summit held by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in March to study the disappearance of the family farm, Bob Stallman, head of the American Farm Bureau Federation, directed the cause of the farm crisis away from corporate control of markets and policy, and towards consumers. According to a Lexus-Nexus report on the summit by Gregory Tejada (3-26-01) Stallman said corporate farms "produce food more efficiently" and that "Consumer choice is driving these (loss of farms) changes." At the meeting which drew together major farm organization leaders Stallman apparently downplayed the urgency of the situation for family farmers, claiming incomes were better than in the past due to off farm income. "We have a better lifestyle now," he said. The very small farmers are doing better." Meanwhile, critics have long maintained the leadership of the American Farm Bureau Federation is pushing the industrialization of agriculture by exploiting the image of the family farmer to advance the interest of corporate agriculture. 2. NORTH DAKOTA AG COMMISSIONER BLASTS MONSANTO BIOTECH CASE North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture Roger Johnson has publicly criticized Monsanto for its lawsuit against the Nelson family, whom the biotech giant alleges violated their contract for Roundup Ready soybeans (see Rural Updates, June 6, 2001). In a June 11 letter to the Grand Forks Herald, Johnson questions Monsanto's motives, in light of the company's cancellation of their scheduled appearance before the North Dakota Seed Arbitration Board to state their case. Mr. Johnson's letter comes as a response to a Monsanto letter stating that the company "would prefer to resolve disputes of this sort without going to court..." If that was really the case, states Johnson, why did Monsanto decide against arbitration, which might have kept the case out of court? All this "raises strong suspicion that the company wants this lawsuit very much," writes Johnson. "It is unfortunate that Monsanto chose not to present its case at a legislatively created forum in North Dakota, instead opting for a potentially lengthy and expensive resolution in federal court. It would have demonstrated that the company wants to deal with its customers in a forthright manner." Commissioner Johnson's editorial is available at http://web.northscape.com/content/gfherald/2001/06/11/editorial/JOHNSON611.html 3. STUDY FINDS FACTORY FARMS HASTENING ANTIBIOTIC OBSOLESCENCE Without antibiotics to kill disease and bacteria, raising livestock in animal confinements (factory farming) would be impossible. Now, according to a new report by scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign there is new evidence "that feeding antibiotics to farm animals is helping to spawn antibiotic-resistant bugs." As reported in the The Tulsa World (June 10) "The scientists detected antibiotic-resistant genes in groundwater as far as 800 feet downstream from two swine facilities that use antibiotics to aid the growth of their pigs." The article reported comments by Rustam Aminov, a visiting professor of animal sciences at the University of Illinois who said "The use of tetracycline on farms is pushing the evolution of these genes, we found tetracycline-resistant genes in soil and groundwater bacteria." This report confirms long held suspicions that antibiotic use ultimately necessary in highly restricted confined animal feeding operations is speeding the obsolescence of drugs people depend on to cure a wide range of infections. 4. GROUPS DECRY "ZERO FUNDING" FOR AG CONSERVATION Last week nearly forty groups signed, overnight, a letter to the House appropriations committee decrying "Zero Funding" for important ag conservation programs. These groups, representing a strong alliance of farm, conservation, church and sustainable agriculture, sent a loud message to the House that they want these popular ag programs continued next year. Currently, the House appropriations leadership is threatening to cap these three important and popular incentive programs that protect hundreds of thousands of acres of land and countless threatened species and waterways: the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) and the Farmland Protections Program (FPP) to sign on to a letter calling for Congress to continue these programs go to: http://www.familyfarmer.org If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this list,
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6/18/01