Providing key information on recent developments in rural America, including updates on the Farm Bureau, and salient issues converging around water quality, farm sustainablility and the protection of biodiversity.

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In the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd, the hog lagoons of North Carolina's corporate pork-barrel are spewing feces into adjacent rivers. Newspapers across the country report the travesty, while the Pork Producers Council side-steps responsibility. In an open email, Rick Dove, a North Carolina "River Keeper" and pilot reported the following after a 2 ½ hour fly over. "It is terrible. I saw between 20 and 30 lagoons (on the Neuse river) which have discharged their feces to adjacent waters. The situation is crucial... I can see from the air that there are dead animals trapped inside the barns... Someone needs to fly Cape Fear before the waters recede.... All of us must do what we can NOW to document this mess. NO COVER UPS THIS TIME!"

The recent Cornell University findings demonstrating the deadliness of bio-engineered Bt seeds to Monarch butterflies may only be the tip of the ice berg, researchers say. The Institute of Science in Society reports that Bt toxins engineered into a wide range of plants harm bees and lacewings up the food chain. They also report bio-engineered DNA may spread via dust and pollen from farms and during processing. Sustainable farmers fear the Bt crops because it uses BT (Bacillus Thurigus) indiscriminately and will inevitably cause insect resistance in the field. If this tragedy occurs it will eliminate a very useful organic control. The Institute is calling for a moratorium on the environmental release of biotech crops, food and animal-feed products . Their efforts have received the support of 110 scientists from 23 countries.

Amid a scandal alleging improper declassification of wetlands, American News outdoor writer Toni McCormick reports Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservationists Dean Fischer may soon be fired. This is viewed by many as a weak attempt by high-level NRCS officials to cover up agency wrong doing.

According to television personality Tony Dean, "We have never believed this decision (declassification) was made by Fisher and suggest he's a sacrificial lamb, for it's far more likely the decision was made in the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the NRCS."

Dean reports that even though Fischer is to be fired, the declassification will remain. Allegations of influence peddling at the NRCS by the Farm Bureau and the National Corn Growers Association have stimulated a call for investigations. Dean reports the story on his webpage at: http://www.tonydean.com/98/990713issues.html.

These allegations have serious implications for factory feedlot activists. Under current draft regulations on feedlots, the NRCS will be responsible for much of the regulatory process regarding feedlots. Activists fear NRCS will buckle again, and again, to corporate agri-business interests.

Critics have long maintained the American Farm Bureau Federation works closely with right-wing "wise-use" groups through affiliated organizations and various funding mechanisms. One example is the Farm Bureau's affiliation with the National Legal Center in the Public Interest (NLCPI). NLCPI, is an innocent sounding name for what is perhaps the most powerful legal right-wing think-tank in existence. NLCPI does extensive legal research and files amicus briefs for numerous wise-use groups, including the Farm Bureau.

Dean Kleckner, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, presides as vice-chairman for the NLCPI. This "think-tank" has a number of colorful board members and legal advisors, including board member Joseph Coors, Dick Cheney, Rocco Martino, and a legal advisor by the name of the Honorable Kenneth Starr. You can view their remarkably benign looking website at www.nlcpi.org.

While there is much talk today about concentration and market control in the food processing industry, no one is discussing market control in the crop insurance industry. Of the 14 companies approved by the USDA to provide crop insurance, Farm Bureau owns and controls about one-third. With current crop insurance expansion, taxpayer subsidies to the insurance industry could exceed $4 billion. Of this, 24.5 percent goes directly to the insurance industry in administrative fees. It is estimated that federally subsidized crop insurance programs will generate a $7 billion cash flow for involved insurance companies including the Farm Bureau.