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News :: Agriculture |
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AG Corporados In House Attempt To Gut Farm Bill - Small Farms Under Seige |
Current rating: 0 |
by Farmer Brown
(No verified email address) |
21 Jun 2003
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Corporate cronies for Big AG in the U.S. House of Representatives are attempting to gut the 2002 Farm Bill in favor of corporate agriculture. Small farms and the health of the environment are under seige by neo-con greedheads. If your House rep isn't trying to protect family farms perhaps family farmers and their supporters should pay that rep a visit. |
HOUSE RE-OPENS FARM BILL
Deep Cuts in Rural Development, Ag Research, Conservation, and Renewable Energy
The fiscal year 2004 agricultural appropriations bill approved by the House subcommittee June 17 and headed to a vote in full committee on June 25 re-opens the 2002 farm bill. According to an analysis by the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, based on Congressional Budget Office figures, the appropriations bill proposes to slash funding for key family farm, rural development, conservation, and research farm bill programs by $445 million. The bill would reduce rural development farm bill funding by 99%, agricultural research by 98%, renewable energy by 31%, and conservation by at least 17%. The bill also prohibits funding for implementation of country-of-origin labeling for meat. The subcommittee's revamping of farm bill funding levels leaves commodity programs, which account for nearly three-quarters of total farm bill spending, untouched.
"The backdoor effort to eliminate funding for the Conservation Security Program, Value-Added Producer Grant Program, and other innovative initiatives to support family farms and the environment is unwise," said Ferd Hoefner, Washington Representative for the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. "The agricultural appropriations funding problem - an allocation $393 million below this year's levels - is real, but raiding the farm bill and taking away conservation and rural development funding is not the answer. If the very compromises that enabled the farm bill to pass are scuttled by the House bill in this manner, then we are likely headed for a re-run of the entire farm bill debate later this summer."
The House bill proposes to eliminate the Conservation Security Program, Value-Added Producer Grants program, On-Farm Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency grants, Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems, and Broadband Access for Rural Areas, among others. Significant cuts are also made to the Wetlands Reserve Program and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. The cuts are:
Conservation Security Program - $53 million
Value-Added Producer Grants - $40 million
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Grants - $23 million
Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems - $120 million
Broadband Access for Rural Areas - $20 million
Wetlands Reserve Program - $56 million
Environmental Quality Incentive Program - $25 million
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Please contact your representatives <http://www.house.gov/writerep/> and forward this to everyone you know who may be concerned with these issues. Get it out to the press also. They're intending to gut everything!
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SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE COALTION
For info Contact: Ferd Hoefner
202-547-5754
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See also:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
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Farmers Keep Taking It In The Teeth (Agricorporations Win Again!) |
by Corn Grower Testimony
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 3
22 Jun 2003
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News From The American Corn Growers Association
For Immediate Release
Contact: Larry Mitchell (202) 835-0330
www.acga.org
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ACGA Testifies Before Congressional Progressive Caucus on Trade Agreements
Urges Serious and Thorough Review of Historic Implications of Past Trade Agreements
WASHINGTON - June 12, 2003-The American Corn Growers Association (ACGA) President, Keith Dittrich, a corn farmer from Tilden, Neb., testified today in the Rayburn House Office Building of the nation's capital before the Progressive Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the impact of free trade agreements on corn farmers.
"Early in the process of negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), ACGA assessed the dramatic effects on U.S. agriculture if reductions in domestic farm programs were made under the auspices of trade liberalization," stated Dittrich. "First of all, we knew that exports of basic commodities were relatively inelastic, and secondly, that reductions and the elimination of price support mechanisms, such as grain reserves and supply management programs, would have devastating effects on family farmers here and abroad. I would like the record to show that we sounded the alarms far and wide of what would happen if such a course were followed, but apparently this fell on deaf ears."
"To this day, the U.S. government has continued to demand liberalized trade around the globe and radically adjust farm programs, which has led to the devastation of Rural America. In my home community, radical changes have taken place as family farm operations have either had to expand to survive or seek off-farm jobs to make ends meet," reported Dittrich. "Currently, our rural communities in Nebraska are facing severe education budget shortfalls that threaten to close many schools down. The infrastructure has either degraded or stagnated since these trade agreements have passed."
More than a dozen members of Congress were part of the briefing, including Co-chairs Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio and Barbara Lee, D-Calif. as well as Representatives John Conyers, D-Mich, Bob Filner, D-Calif., Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, Major Owens, D-N.Y., Ed Pastor, D-Ariz. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Donald Payne, D-N.J., and Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.
"Since trade liberalization's effects were so damaging to U.S. producers, one would think that the winners were farmers from other nations who supposedly have better access to markets through trade liberalization," said Dittrich. "To the contrary, farmers around the world have suffered along with U.S. farmers as commodity prices fell globally. Many have suffered even more seriously than US. producers due to the lack of any income assistance, and even consumers have failed to benefit from reduced commodity prices. Data show that retail consumer food prices have increased by nearly 250 percent over a twenty-five year period, while prices paid to corn farmers have decreased 67 percent. In reality, the only winners are the multinational food and grain processing and exporting companies."
"ACGA urges a very serious and thorough review of the historic implications of past trade agreements before drafting, negotiating and ratifying any future trade agreements," concluded Dittrich. "We cannot afford the mistakes that have been made in the past."
The American Corn Growers Association represents 14,000 members in 35 states. See www.acga.org .
Click the following link to review the testimony:
http://www.acga.org/news/2003/061203b.htm
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