It might seem like any old Bill running around Washington, but the Farm Bill affects your life, our farmers, and needs your help! From the Food & Water Watch newsletter:

The Farm Bill took a break over the holidays, but is back now and ready for action! After months of legislative gridlock, the Senate passed a Farm Bill just before they left in December that made several important improvements over the House bill. Senate and House negotiators are hammering out the differences between the two Farm Bills, and we need to make sure they adopt the key improvements that were included in the Senate bill, especially the livestock reforms and food safety measures. Can you make a quick call, or send an email to your Representative and Senators?

We had some good victories in the Senate Farm Bill, which included reaffirming the House country of origin labeling (COOL) rules, a key priority of Food & Water Watch. In September 2008, for the first time consumers will be able to know where our meat and vegetables come from. The bill also allows for the interstate shipment of state-inspected meat by correcting glaring food safety loopholes in the House version of the bill.

The Senate bill included groundbreaking livestock reforms that put independent livestock producers on a more even footing with the giant meat packers and processors that dominate the industry. However, Senators and Representatives are getting ready to reconcile the differences between their two Farm Bills, which could leave some of our priorities on the cutting room floor if we don’t take action. Making a quick call your your Representatives will go a long way in making sure that our victories stay in the final bill: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1185/t/741/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=22903

In addition to strong food safety provisions, the Senate bill also contained important measures to promote sustainable agricultural production. The Senate increased support for organic production and transition from conventional to organic farming, expanded conservation programs, and strengthened local food projects. The Farm Bill process is in it’s final stages, so this could be the last chance to affect change on this food and farm policy for the next five years. Help us see this process through to the end by contacting your Representative and Senators today to keep the Farm Bill strong.

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1185/t/741/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=22903

Thanks for taking action,

Sarah Alexander
Food and Water Watch
food(at)fwwatch.org

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 10:41 pm and is filed under Food Policy and Action, Local Business/ Community News, Organizations of Interest. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.