This is an update message to the message sent yesterday asking people
to call Senator Grassley about the EQIP/CAFO (concentrated animal feeding
operations) amendment being offered by Senator Wellstone (D-MN).  Senator
Grassley has not decided to co-sponsor the amendment that would prohibit new
factory farms and those built in floodplains from receiving cost-share money
(for installation of animal waste management facilities) under the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) of the Farm Bill.  But we
still need to call Senators Grassley and Harkin, to ask them to vote for this
amendment.
      The Farm Bill is expected to go to the Senate floor today (Wed.), with
voting on amendments starting tomorrow, so please act now!  Listed below is
contact information for the senators, as well as some background information
on the Wellstone amendment.

Senator Tom Harkin   202-224-3254   [log in to unmask]
Senator Chuck Grassley 202-224-3744      [log in to unmask]

Erin Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-277-8868
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]

This is forwarded from Ed Hopkins in the Washington, DC Sierra Club office
BACKGROUND (Brief Description of the Issue/Action)

The Senate will begin debate on the farm bill today (12/05/01) and start
voting on amendments as early as tomorrow (12/06/01). The farm bill will
authorize about $17 billion per year for agricultural subsidies,
conservation programs, rural development, food stamps and more.

The Sierra Club's focus is on a provision in the Environmental Quality
Incentives Program (EQIP) that provides cost-sharing grants to livestock
operators to manage animal waste.  Under current law, grants are available
only to smaller operators.  Large operations, Concentrated Animal Feeding
Operations (CAFOs), are excluded.  Under pressure from giant agribusinesses
eager for federal handouts, however, the farm bill passed by the Senate
Agriculture Committee would make CAFOs eligible for cost-sharing grants.
Not only would this subsidize some of the country's largest corporations,
it would make it more difficult for family farmers to get funding, since
there is not enough funding to meet demand.

The Sierra Club is supporting an amendment sponsored by Senator Paul
Wellstone (D-MN) to restrict the subsidies  CAFOs can spend on constructing
animal waste structures.  Under this amendment, only existing CAFOs could
get grants; to avoid creating an incentive to expand production, new CAFOs
would not be eligible.  CAFOs in floodplains would not be eligible because
we don't want to encourage CAFOs to remain there. It would prohibit
individuals and entities with a financial interest in more than one CAFO
from receiving more than one cost-share grant.  The amendment would mandate
that a CAFO receiving a grant create and implement a nutrient management
plan.  It would also limit grants to no more than $100,000 for a five-year
contract or $60,000 for a three-year contract.