| Being
a Farm Bill activist was never so easy—or so important
There’s unprecedented support for public engagement
by sustainable ag groups in shaping the 2007 Farm Bill.
Reframing the comprehensive funding package for the
US Department of Agriculture as a “food bill”
has tapped into new popular interest in food safety,
origin, energy impact and global warming. Opportunities
to learn and act include:
- Accessing “matrix” issue assessment
within proposed legislation at the Farm and Food Project,
with separate grids for conservation, diversity, farm
viability, nutrition and rural provisions. Website
includes recommendations, support for involvement.
Details
- Choosing to “Be a Farm Bill Hero” by
using the set of tools offered by the National Campaign
For Sustainable Agriculture, a broad coalition of
farm and support groups. Their site offers pages on
organic issues, renewable energy, competition and
concentration, sustainable livestock and stewardship
initiatives.
Details
- Getting briefed on trade issues at the Institute
for Agriculture Trade Policy’s Ag Observatory
website. Read A Fair Farm Bill for Competitive Markets
and parallel reports focusing on overall US ag impacts,
renewable energy, the world’s hungry and world
agriculture.
Details
- Learning about Risk Management Accounts, a keystone
of Food and Agriculture Risk Management for the 21st
Century Act (FARM 21). Under this bi-partisan proposal,
the current system of farm subsidies—counter-cyclical,
loan deficiency, income loss and direct payments—would
gradually be transitioned to a more cost-effective
and responsive system of farmer-held income stabilization
accounts. The aim is to move into a new era where
farmers manage their own assets and harvest what makes
sense for them and their land.
Details
Something completely
different: Buy out remaining subsidies to give farmers
fresh start
Agricultural policy in the United States is interventionist,
expensive, inequitable and damaging to American interests
abroad, says the introduction to “Freeing the
Farm: A Farm Bill for All Americans.” The 20-page
position paper was produced by the free-trade oriented
Cato Institute.
It claims that over the last 20 years, the “opportunity
cost” to American consumers and taxpayers of supporting
agricultural producers has totaled more than $1.7 trillion.
As the most politically possible solution, the Institute
advocates that the government buy out the damaging and
expensive support for farmers by paying them a fixed
amount of money, which they would be free to spend as
they wish.
The
paper
Judge stops planting
of GMO-alfalfa; orders test for GMO-contamination
A federal judge has banned further planting of genetically
modified alfalfa seed, ordering that an Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) be completed on the GE crop.
The decision basically re-regulates Roundup Ready alfalfa,
which the USDA deregulated in June 2005.
The judge had earlier ruled the USDA had not adequately
assessed the risk of GE alfalfa contaminating conventional
and organic crops. His ruling requires the seed makers
Monsanto and Forage Genetics Inc. to provide the locations
of all existing Roundup Ready alfalfa plots to the USDA
within 30 days so that growers can test their crops
for possible contamination.
Monsanto says it may appeal the ruling. Pat Trask of
Trask Family Seeds, a South Dakota conventional alfalfa
grower stated: “It’s a great day for God’s
own alfalfa.”
Details
More
details
Bee die-off concern
intensifies: paper outlines pesticide cautions
A detailed summary of pesticide families to avoid in
order to protect honeybees was recently posted at the
Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Education Consortium
(MAAREC) Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) page. It focuses
caution on the use of the neonicotinioid family of insecticides,
such as imidacloprid and colthianidin.
Massive bee die-offs are reported across the US, in
Europe, Canada and Brazil, prompting increasing efforts
to find a cause as potential impact onthe food system
is taken more seriously.
CCD
page references
Food price inflation
could rival global warming in years ahead
Global food prices may double in the next five years,
as demand rises, production evens out and energy demand
competes with human consumption, a financial analyst
predicted recently.
Food input prices are now putting more upward pressure
on producer inflation than at any time since the early
1980s. Between March of 2005 and March 2007, the price
of US wheat rose 34 percent, corn by 47.4 percent, barley
by 59.4 percent and cattle by 41 percent.
Full
story
UK government promotes
seasonal eating to save the planet
A new government website advises shoppers to help
the planet by preferentially purchasing British food
when in season. Information alerts consumers to hothouse
tomatoes and all produce shipments imported by air due
to their energy impact, and says fresh, seasonal and
unprocessed foods can cut energy use and increase what
consumers learn directly from farmers about how their
food is raised and who grew it.
Details
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