Market Farming

[Thamnophis <thamnophis AT gmail.com>]

This is just an FYI for people who are concerned about this issue. It
is not an attempt to generate any political discussions. Please feel
free to ignore!

Joe

==========

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

.

Action Alert
Ask Your Senator to Oppose Unjust Spending Cuts


In the early hours of Saturday, February 19, the House of
Representatives approved a government funding bill that would slash
more than $60 billion from the federal budget for the last half of
fiscal year 2011.  The bill (H.R. 1) unfairly targets programs that
serve sustainable and organic farmers. It makes steep cuts in
agricultural research, extension and farm credit.  It makes deep cuts
to funding provided in the 2008 Farm Bill for conservation and would
terminate programs that serve beginning and minority farmers without
making any cuts to commodity or crop insurance funding.  *The cuts are
reckless and unjust, threatening economic recovery in rural
communities struggling to create jobs, find new markets, and renew
economic life. * Calls to the Senate this week will be critical to the
outcome of the
coming battle over government funding and policy.

* Please call your Senators today.  *

*  * You can read more about H.R. 1 here [
http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/house-approves-budget-cuts/ ]
and here [ http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/house-bill-slashes-funding/
].

*It's easy to call: *

Go to Congress.org [ http://www.congress.org/ ] and type in your zip
code. Click on your Senator's name, and then on the contact tab for
their phone number. You can also call the Capitol Switchboard and ask
to be directly connected to your Senator's office: 202-224-3121.

The message is simple. "I am a constituent of Senator___________ and I
am calling to ask him/her to reject H.R. 1, the Continuing Resolution
to fund the government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011.  H.R. 1
singles out conservation, research, extenstion, and other programs
important to sustainable and organic agriculture. It terminates
programs that serve beginning and minority farmers without making any
cuts to commodity or crop insurance programs. If cuts are to be made
then everything must be on the table. Cuts must be fair, equitable and
based on the merits of each program.

*Report your Call:*

Click here [ 
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5735/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=880
] to tell us how your call went.


Learn More:

H.R. 1, the Continuing Resolution slashes more than $60 billion from
the federal budget for the last half of fiscal year 2011. The House
has unfairly targeted agriculture and rural America for a
disproportional share of the proposed cuts.

None of the cuts in the House bill are directed at the two the largest
federal agricultural spending items -- commodity and crop insurance
subsidies.  In a year of high farm income, the House has focused its
cuts instead upon programs that protect the environment, increase
economic opportunity, serve beginning and minority farmers, and ensure
proper nutrition for low-income families.

The House measure would cut $5.2 billion or 22 percent from the
combined USDA and FDA budgets, compared to 6 percent for the
government overall.   The House proposes deep cuts to mandatory
conservation and renewable energy funding provided by the 2008 Farm
Bill -- a combined $500 million would be cut under the House bill from
the Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP), the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP), Wetland Reserve Program (WRP), and the
Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). With those cuts included, the
total cut to agriculture comes to $5.7 billion or 24.5 percent.

The House has singled out a subset of programs that represent a
fraction of the full agriculture budget and that are of particular
importance to the sustainable agriculture community.  For years we
have struggled to achieve a fair share of federal farm spending and
have made significant strides forward.  H.R. 1 sets back our progress
by decades.

The House bill would make very major cuts in agricultural research and
extension, rural development, and domestic and international feeding
programs.  It would also eliminate funding completely for a number of
small programs of great importance to sustainable, organic, beginning
and minority farmers. The National Sustainable Agriculture Information
Service (ATTRA), Organic Transitions Research Program, Office of
Advocacy and Outreach (to coordinate policy and outreach to beginning,
women, and minority farmers), and the Office of Tribal Relations
program would all be terminated. These are programs that with minimal
resources are charged with serving the most chronically underserved
segments of agriculture. Slating programs of such small means for
termination suggests a motive that has little to do with deficit
reduction.  Terminating these programs is unjust and discriminatory.

At a time of extremely tight credit markets and increased demand for
Farm Services Agency (FSA) farm credit, H.R.1 would cut FSA Direct
Operating loans by 10% or $100 million and Direct Farm Ownership loans
by 27% or $175 million, and would completely eliminate funding for
Conservation Loans. The majority of direct lending is targeted to
beginning and minority farmers and ranchers although in these tough
times many established farmers have had to turn to FSA direct loans to
keep operating. Cuts to such an important source of credit in the
countryside will only further delay economic recovery in rural America
and we urge you to reject them.

H.R. 1 also cuts several USDA agency administrative budgets more
severely than the programs they manage, raising the obvious question
of how they could possibly manage and implement the programs with
staff cuts of that magnitude. The result is that agencies will find it
impossible to do their jobs effectively.

Tell your Senator that if cuts must be made then everything must be on
the table. Cuts must be fair, equitable and made based on the merits
of each program.  Cuts to mandatory funding and the attendant loss of
baseline used to determine future Farm Bill funding should be made by
the Agriculture Committee in the context of the next Farm Bill or, if
need be, in budget reconciliation. Ultimately, these are decisions
that must be made in the context of a broader agreement to find
savings in mandatory programs on a government-wide basis. With just
half a fiscal year remaining, a net freeze at the prior year's level
would be a significant contribution toward a comprehensive deficit
reduction plan.

Click here to change your subscription and email status and to update
your issue preferences.
http://sustainableagriculture.net/take-action/sign-up-for-action-alerts/
You are subscribed to this list as thamnophis AT gmail.com. You can click
here to unsubscribe:
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5735/unsubscribe.jsp?Email=thamnophis AT gmail.com&email_blast_KEY=93834&organization_KEY=5735