What’s Up for 3rd week of May
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Organic Transition federal $ passed
THE ORGANIC FARMING RESEARCH FOUNDATION (OFRF)
Organic Farmer's
Action Network
May
24, 2006
Victory!
Rep Holt’s amendment to increase the Organic Transitions
program to $5 Million passed.
Thank you- Your calls made the difference!
Thanks in
great part to the many of you who made calls, the amendment increasing funds
for the USDA Organic Transitions research program from $1.8 million to $5 million
passed. The amendment, offered by Congressman Rush Holt (D-New
Jersey), Rep. DeFazio
(D-Oregon), Rep. Kind (D-Wisconsin), and Rep. Leach (R-Iowa), passed by voice
vote on the floor of the House of Representatives Tuesday
morning.
Because of the tight budget Congress is
working with, this was a tough ask. It passed because so many members of
Congress heard directly from you all (and other constituents) that this program
is extremely important. You made the difference.
Next, the Senate will do their version of the 2007
Agriculture Appropriations bill. The best way we can
make sure this increase is part of the final law is for the Senate to
include the same $5 Million in their version of the bill. Then, the
Senate and House will negotiate the differences in their two versions to come
up with a final bill.
Next Steps: Ask your Senator to support
the same increase (to $5 Million) that the House of
Representatives appropriated to this program. The Senate is expected to do
the first iteration of their bill sometime after Memorial Day. If you
haven't yet called both of your Senators, its time to do so.
If you don’t
already know who your senators are, click here to find out.
What you can do:
Call your senators. They both need to hear that
their constituents are interested in this issue.
- $5 million for the USDA “Organic Transitions”
research grants and
- $10 million for USDA Agricultural Research Service
“Strategic Regional Programming for Organic Agricultural Research”
5. Ask
if they would call Senator Robert Bennett (Chairman of the Agriculture
Appropriations Subcommittee) (UT) to ask him to support increases to these
two important organic research programs.
Please send an email to [log in to unmask] letting us know
you called. Simply put “I called” in the subject line and send.
Or, include a note telling us how the call went!
If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for the Organic Farmer’s Action Network (OFAN) by
visiting our website. http://www.ofrf.org/ |
Organic Farmers Action Network (OFAN)
Brise Tencer
"April's
extreme drop in temperature was devastating for our fruit and vegetable farmers
in lower Michigan," said Granholm. "On their behalf, I am requesting
federal disaster assistance to free up available resources and help reduce the
economic impact of this severe weather."
The
affected counties included in Granholm's request are:
Allegan,
Antrim, Barry, Benzie, Berrien, Cass, Charlevoix, Eaton, Emmet, Grand Traverse,
Hillsdale, Ionia, Kalamazoo, Kent, Leelanau, Macomb, Manistee, Mason, Muskegon,
Newaygo, Oceana, Otsego, Ottawa, St. Clair, St. Joseph, VanBuren, Washtenaw,
Wayne
Granholm
acknowledged the work of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and its federal
partners in assessing crop loss and expediting the process as much as possible.
In
order for federal disaster status to be granted, original crop loss estimates
must be verified from harvest yield data. If losses of 30 percent or more are
confirmed and the request is granted, eligible producers will have access to
low-interest federal emergency loans for up to 100 percent of their
weather-related production losses
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Vicki Morrone
Organic Vegetable and Crop Outreach
Specialist
C.S. Mott Sustainable Food Systems
303 Natural Resrouces Bldg.
517-353-3542
517-282-3557 (cell)
517-353-3834 (fax)
[log in to unmask]"
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