By
Agri-Pulse Staff
© Copyright
Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.
WASHINGTON,
Feb. 28 – A letter sent Monday from 154 agriculture, food,
conservation, and rural organizations calls on members of the Senate
Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Agriculture “to
reject H.R. 1, the Continuing Resolution to fund the government for
the remainder of fiscal year 2011, and to support a net freeze in
discretionary spending.” The letter charges that “In its zeal to
cut $60 billion dollars from fiscal year 2010 spending levels during
the last 6 months of this fiscal year, the House has unfairly
targeted agriculture and rural America for a disproportional share of
the proposed cuts, and within agriculture has been particularly
unfair to conservation, agricultural research, rural development, and
beginning and minority farmers. The cuts are reckless and unjust,
threatening economic recovery in rural communities struggling to
create jobs, find new markets, and renew economic life.”
The
full text of the letter follows:
ATT:
Appropriations – Agriculture
February 28, 2011
Dear Senator,
The undersigned
154 organizations urge you to reject H.R. 1, the Continuing
Resolution to fund the government for the remainder of fiscal year
2011, and to support a net freeze in discretionary spending.
In its zeal to cut
$60 billion dollars from fiscal year 2010 spending levels during the
last 6 months of this fiscal year, the House has unfairly targeted
agriculture and rural America for a disproportional share of the
proposed cuts, and within agriculture has been particularly unfair to
conservation, agricultural research, rural development, and beginning
and minority farmers. The cuts are reckless and unjust, threatening
economic recovery in rural communities struggling to create jobs,
find new markets, and renew economic life.
The House measure
would cut a disproportionate $5.2 billion or 22 percent from the
combined USDA and FDA budgets, compared to a 6 percent cut for the
government overall or 14 percent for non-security spending. Even
those numbers mask the size of the actual cut. The House also
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, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Wetland
Reserve Program, and the Biomass Crop Assistance Program. With those
cuts included, the total cut to agriculture comes to $5.7 billion or
24.5 percent.
Despite the
decision to re-open the 2008 Farm Bill and make cuts to mandatory
programs in an appropriations bill, 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 relatively 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.
Our nation’s
response to deficit spending must be evenhanded and equitable. 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 this progress without
any comparative evaluation of these programs based on need or
effectiveness.
In our view, 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
appropriations for USDA and FDA should not be disproportional to
others parts of the government. 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.
The House bill
would not only make very major cuts in agricultural research and
extension, rural development, and domestic and international feeding
programs, but 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. We urge the Senate to stand strong against such
unjust and discriminatory cuts.
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. We ask you to be more responsible in your
efforts to find savings to reduce the deficit.
We urge you to
take a more equitable, responsible and measured approach to deficit
reduction. Agriculture and rural America should not suffer
disproportionally and cuts within agriculture must not unfairly
single out programs that serve sustainable, organic, beginning, and
minority farmers. No cuts to mandatory farm bill spending should be
made unless all mandatory spending is on the table for review and
consideration based on need and effectiveness.
Ultimately, we
need a comprehensive budget agreement that proceeds in a balanced way
to reduce deficits. Until then, we urge you to not agree to a
short-term meat ax approach that focuses on just a particular slice
of government spending and threatens the economic recovery that might
otherwise reduce deficits over the coming years. 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.
Thank you for your
consideration of our views.
Sincerely,
Alabama State
Association of Cooperatives, Forest Grove, OR
American
Federation of Government Employees Local 3354, Salinas, CA
Adelante Mujeres,
Forkland, AL
Agricultural Land
Based Training Association, Salinas, CA
Agricultural
Missions, Inc., New York, NY
Alternative Energy
Resources Organization, Helena, MT
American Grassfed
Association, Denver, CO
Arkansas Land and
Farm Development Corporation, Ashland, OR
Ashland Food
Cooperative, Brinkley, AR
Black Farmers and
Agriculturalists Association, Tillery, NC
Boley Cattlemen
Association, Boley, OK
California Climate
and Agriculture Network, Sebastopol, CA
California Farmers
Union, Turlock, CA
California Food
and Justice Coalition, Oakland, CA
Carolina Farm
Stewardship Association, Pittsboro, NC
CASA del Llano,
Inc., Hereford, TX
Center for
Environmental Health, Oakland, CA
Center for Rural
Affairs, Lyons, NE
Church Women
United of New York, Elmira, NY
Coastal Valley
Growers, Inc., Rickreall, OR
Community Alliance
with Family Farmers, Davis, CA
Community CROPS,
Lincoln, NE
Community Food
Security Coalition, Portland, OR
Community Involved
in Sustaining Agriculture, South Deerfield, MA
Concerned Citizens
of Tillery, Tillery, NC
Cornucopia
Institute, Cornucopia, WI
Cottage House
Inc., Ariton, AL
Cumberland
Farmer's Market, Monteagle, TN
D.C. Farm to
School Network, Washington, DC
Ecological Farming
Association, Soquel, CA
Empire State
Family Farm Alliance, Sharon Springs, NY
Environmental Law
and Policy Center, Madison, WI
Family Farm
Defenders, Madison, WI
Farm Aid,
Cambridge, MA
Farm Fresh Rhode
Island, Providence, RI
Farmers Market
Coalition, Cockeysville, MD
Farmworker
Association of Florida, Apopka, FL
Fay Penn Economic
Development Council, Uniontown, PA
Federation of
Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, Atlanta, GA
Fernandez Ranch,
Centerville, WA
Flats Mentor Farm,
Lancaster, MA
Florida Organic
Growers, Gainesville, FL
Food Animal
Concerns Trust, Chicago, IL
Food Chain Workers
Alliance, Los Angeles, CA
Food Democracy
Now!, Clear Lake, IA
Food First/
Institute for Food and Development Policy, Oakland, CA
Food System
Economic Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI
Friends of Family
Farmers, Molalla, OR
Georgia Organics,
Atlanta, GA
Green Earth
Institute, Naperville, IL
Growing Home,
Inc., Chicago, IL
Harvard Community
Garden, Cambridge, MA
Illinois
Stewardship Alliance, Springfield, IL
Indian Springs
Farmers Cooperative, Petal, MS
Institute for
Agriculture and Trade Policy, Minneapolis, MN
Intertribal
Agriculture Council, Billings, MT
Iowa Farmers
Union, Ames, IA
Izaak Walton
League, St. Paul, MN
Just Food, New
York, NY
Kansas Chapter of
Family Farm Defenders, Mission, KS
Kansas Rural
Center, Whiting, KS
Kiowa Native Farms
LLC & Indian Country Agriculture and Resource Development
Corporation,
Anadarko, OK
Kirschenmann
Family Farms, Inc., Medina, ND
Land Loss
Prevention Project, Durham, NC
Land Stewardship
Project, Minneapolis, MN
League of Rural
Voters, Minneapolis, MN
Leopold Group,
S.E. Iowa chapter of the Iowa Sierra Club, Fairfield, IA
Main Street
Project, Minneapolis, MN
Maine Organic
Farmers and Gardeners Association, Unity, ME
Maine Sustainable
Agriculture Society, Bangor, ME
Malama Kauai,
Kilauea, HI
Michael Fields
Agricultural Institute, Madison, WI
Michigan Farmers
Union, Sparta, MI
Michigan Land Use
Institute, Traverse City, MI
Michigan Organic
Food and Farm Alliance, E. Lansing, MI
Midwest Organic
and Sustainable Education Service, Spring Valley, WI
Minnesota Food
Association, Marine on St. Croix, MN
Mississippi
Association of Cooperatives, Jackson, MS
Missouri Coalition
for the Environment, Saint Louis, MO
Missouri Organic
Association, Bunceton, MO
Montgomery
Countryside Alliance, Boyds, MD
Musconetcong
Mountain Conservancy, NY/NJ
Mvskoke Food
Sovereignty Initiative, Okmulgee, OK
National Catholic
Rural Life Conference, Des Moines, IA
National Center
for Appropriate Technology, Butte, MT
National Family
Farm Coalition, Washington, DC
National Hispanic
Environmental Council, Alexandria, VA
National Immigrant
Farming Initiative, Inc., Washington, DC
National Latino
Farmers and Ranchers Trade Association, Washington, DC
National Organic
Coalition, Pine Bush, NY
National
Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Washington, DC
National Women In
Agriculture Association, Oklahoma City, OK
National Young
Farmers Coalition, Red Hook, NY
Nebraska
Sustainable Agriculture Society, Ceresco, NE
New England
Farmers Union, Shelburne Falls, MA
New England Small
Farm Institute, Belchertown, MA
New Mexico Acequia
Association, Santa Fe, NM
No More Empty
Pots, Omaha, NE
Northeast Organic
Dairy Producers Alliance, Deerfield, MA
Northeast Organic
Farming Association of New Jersey, Hillsborough, NJ
Northeast Organic
Farming Association of New York, Rochester, NY
Northeast Organic
Farming Association of Vermont, Richmond, VT
Northeast Pasture
Consortium, Dublin, NH
Northern Plains
Sustainable Agriculture Society, LaMoure, ND
NW Center for
Alternatives to Pesticides, Eugene, OR
NY Small Scale
Food Processors' Association, New York, NY
Occidental Arts
and Ecology Center, Occidental, CA
Ohio Ecological
Food and Farm Association, Columbus, OH
Ohio Environmental
Stewardship Alliance, Columbus, OH
Oklahoma Black
Historical Research Project, Wewoka, OK
Oregon Tilth,
Corvallis, OR
Organic Consumers
Association, Finland, MI
Organic Farmers'
Agency for Relationship Marketing, Inc., Brussels, WI
Organic Farming
Research Foundation, Washington, DC
Organización en
California de Líderes Campesinas, Inc., Oxnard, CA
Pennsylvania
Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Millheim, PA
Pennypack Farm &
Education Center, Horsham, PA
Pesticide Action
Network North America, San Francisco, CA
Practical Farmers
of Iowa, Ames, IA
Presbyterian
Hunger Program, PCUSA, Louisville, KY
Renewing the
Countryside, St. Paul, MN
Research,
Education, Action and Policy on Food Group, Madison, WI
ResurgInt
EcoLogical Sustainability Consultants, Hackettstown, NJ
Rogue Advocates,
Williams, OR
Rogue Farm Corps,
Ashland, OR
Roots of Change,
San Francisco, CA
Rural Advancement
Foundation International - USA, Pittsboro, NC
Rural Advancement
Fund, Orangeburg, SC
Rural
Coalition/Coalición Rural, Washington, DC
Rural Development
Leadership Network, New York, NY
SEED Wayne, Wayne
State University, Detroit, MI
Sierra Club,
Washington, DC
Slow Food First
Coast, St. Augustine, FL
Slow Food USA, New
York, NY
Southeast Region
Agribusiness and Economic Development Corporation, Inc.,
Fayetteville, NC
Southern
Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Fayetteville, AR
Southside
Community Land Trust, Providence, RI
Support Group for
Food Sovereignty and Environmental and Social Justice, Mission, KS
Sustainable
Highlands NJ, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ
The Greenhorns,
Rhinebeck, NY
THRIVE, Ashland,
OR
Trinity Farms,
Nevada, IA
Union of Concerned
Scientists, Washington, DC
United Farmers
USA, Manning, SC
Upper Raritan
Watershed Association, Bedminster, NJ
Upper Valley Food
Co-op, White River Junction, VT
Vermont Grass
Farmers Association, Randolph, VT
Virginia
Association for Biological Farming, Lexington, VA
Virginia Organic
Producers' and Consumers' Association, Ltd., Middleburg, VA
Washington Tilth,
Greenbank, WA
White River
Natural Resources Conservation District, Berlin, VT
Wild Farm
Alliance, Watsonville, CA
Wisconsin Farmers
Union, Chippewa Falls, WI
Xerces Society for
Invertebrate Conservation, Portland, OR
To return to the News Index page,
click: www.agri-pulse.com
#30