Come Share Your Thoughts On The Next Farm Bill

The USDA is hosting a series of Farm Bill Forums in a "listening tour" across the country. They will be coming to New York City on September 29th with a program to be hosted by Food Nutrition and Consumer Services Under Secretary Eric Bost from 9:00am to 12:00 PM at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House Auditorium down by Battery Park. They will be discussing the 2007 Farm Bill, which, as many of you know, is loaded with incentives and subsidies for factory farms and supports many unsustainable and unhealthy agricultural practices. Our government's agricultural policy includes programs that contaminate our food supply, drive family farmers off the land, desecrate our rivers and streams, erode our soil, and befoul the very air we breathe.

We invite you to come down to the Custom House and give the USDA Secretary a piece of your mind. The misguided, inhumane, and dangerous farm policies that are reflected in the Farm Bill are of critical concern to urban consumers. We may not live down on the farm, but we should have plenty to say about what kind of programs we want our government to support. See http://www.fns.usda.gov/cga/PressReleases/2005/PR-0342.htm


GIVE THE USDA A PIECE OF YOUR MIND!

For example:

1. Farm subsidies where needed should be directed to traditional family farmers, not to huge, corporate farms.

2. Under no circumstances should Farm Bill funds be used to pay for building or re-building the vast manure pits used by most industrial-style farms.

3. Renewable Energy Investment funds should not be diverted to factory farms to subsidize digesters turning unmanageable amounts of animal manure into energy as a way to perpetuate the industrial system, but should be used to help family farmers develop clean, safe, renewable energy projects that harness the wind and the sun.

Because of your interest in this issue, we're sure there is a lot more to talk about at the meeting and we hope to see you on September 29th. It would be great to turn out a huge crowd of city folk to let our government know that we are all interested in policies which would contribute to a clean, safe, healthy, humane food production system.

PLEASE PASS THIS INFORMATION ALONG TO YOUR FRIENDS AND NETWORKS

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