Please attend this press conference if you are available.

Iowa Organizations Send Message to Congress:
The 2002 Farm Bill Should Include More Money for Conservation

WHO:  Erin Jordahl, Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
  Chris Petersen, Farmers' Union and Global Resource Action Center for the
Environment
  Robert Gronski, Rural Life Policy Coordinator, The National Catholic Rural
Life Conference
  Other speakers to be announced

WHEN: Wednesday, November 28, 2001
  9 AM

WHERE: Iowa State Capitol Building, Room 118

            CONTACT:
                  Erin Jordahl, 515-277-8868

Des Moines, IA- Representatives from several Iowa organizations will send a
message to Senators Harkin and Grassley that the 2002 Farm Bill should
include more money for conservation practices, especially on working lands.
The Senate has a chance to reform the "dirty" Farm Bill, H.R. 2646, passed
by the U.S. House of Representatives in October, by increasing the amount of
money going to current conservation programs like the Conservation Reserve
Program (CRP) and Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP), and by including more
incentives to family farmers to maintain or adopt conservation practices on
land in production.

Senator Harkin has introduced an innovative program into the Senate
Agriculture Committee's version of the Farm Bill.  This voluntary program,
entitled the Conservation Security Program, represents a model of farm
spending that moves away from incentives for overproduction and
environmental degradation to a system that rewards farmers for implementing
conservation practices on working lands.  More money for conservation
programs benefits family farmers, all Iowa residents, and Iowa's
environment, unlike commodity programs which benefit mainly large corporate
farms.

As the 2002 Farm Bill moves to the Senate floor, conservation spending is
likely to come under attack, so Iowa Senators need to hear how important
conservation programs are to Iowa's family farmers, residents, and
environment.  On Wednesday, a variety of groups, including environmental,
farm, and faith-based organizations, will send this message to Congress.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT
to [log in to unmask]