Posted by Debbie Neustadt

The Sierra Club is a member of SAC. Iowa has both of its Senators on the
Senate Ag. Committee and Rep. King on the House Ag. Committee. This
press release mentions both Senators.

How to pay for the technical services that are needed to deliver and
administer the conservation programs in USDA is very controversial.


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: SAC opposes White House proposal on conservation funding
Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 10:08:58 EST
From: [log in to unmask]
To: undisclosed-recipients:;

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE COALTION

For Immediate Release                   Contact: Ferd Hoefner
January 8, 2003                     202-547-5754

WHITE HOUSE PROPOSAL ON CONSERVATION FUNDING OPPOSED

The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition today announced its opposition to
the
new Bush Administration proposal to fund technical assistance for farm
bill
conservation programs by raiding farm bill funding for rural development
and
discretionary funding for Conservation Operations and the Women,
Infants, and
Children (WIC) feeding program.

The new farm bill funds conservation technical assistance for all the
conservation programs from mandatory funds provided to each program from
the
Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), without regard to the limitations of
Section 11 of the CCC Charter Act.  This fact was the subject of
bipartisan
letters last summer from key Senators, including Senators Harkin, Lugar,
Cochran, and Kohl, and was recently confirmed in an opinion from the
General
Accounting Office.  Nonetheless, the Administration shortchanged
technical
assistance funding in 2002 for the Farmland Protection Program and the
Conservation and Wetlands Reserve Programs, and yesterday proposed
making all
program-related technical assistance discretionary and paying for it
with
transfers from unrelated programs.

"The technical assistance funding crisis is of the Administration’s
own
making," said Ferd Hoefner, Washington Representative for the
Coalition.  "To
remedy the self-imposed crisis, they now propose re-opening the farm
bill and
robbing other accounts.  We urge congressional appropriators to reject
this
proposal."

"Particularly egregious is the President’s recommendation to cut
three-fourths of the funding for the Valued Added Development Grants
program," added Hoefner.  "This is precisely the type of innovative,
forward-looking program farmers need to transition to market-based
solutions
to depressed farm income."

The Value Added Development Grants program, originally sponsored by
Senator
Grassley during the 2000 crop insurance bill and expanded in the farm
bill,
provides grants to producers and cooperatives to develop value-added
agricultural businesses to meet consumer demand and increase the farmer
share
of the food dollar.  The value-added grants program offers farmers the
opportunity to assemble collaborative business ventures that process
their
raw grains, meats, milk or other commodities into higher-value products.

The Administration’s new proposal, communicated through a January 7th
letter
to from President Bush to House Speaker Hastert, would make technical
assistance for farm bill conservation programs a matter of discretionary
funding, rather than mandatory funding as the farm bill dictates.  In
order t
o provide the $332.8 million they deem necessary for program-related
technical assistance for FY 03, the proposal, in addition to taking 15%
of
the funding from the Farmland Protection Program, Wildlife Habitat
Incentives
Program, Grasslands Reserve Program and other conservation programs and
17.5%
of funding from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, recommends
cuts
of $30 million from the Value-Added program, $25 million in WIC
‘contingency’ funding, $5 million from a new renewable energy loan
and grant
program, $10 million from grants to rural firefighters and emergency
medical
personnel, and $8 million from private forest land enhancement grants.
The
proposal would cut new farm bill rural development title spending by
10%.

"Conservation financial assistance cannot be delivered without technical
assistance and the new farm bill ensures that program-based technical
and
financial incentives operate in tandem," concluded Hoefner.  "Congress
should
reaffirm the decision made last year and soundly reject a re-opening of
the
farm bill in the manner proposed by the Administration."

The Coalition represents farm, rural, and conservation organizations
that
advocate public policies supporting the long-term economic and
environmental
sustainability of agriculture, natural resources and rural communities.

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