Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Bob Scowcroft 831-426-6606
Or Ron Rosmann at 712-627-4653
Hidden
Organic Gems Included in the 2002 Farm Bill
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (May 17, 2002)
- On May 13, 2002, after much debate, President Bush signed a farm
bill, known as The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of
2002. The bill, which has been highly criticized for placing
the interests of corporate agriculture over interests of family
farmers, nonetheless has some real wins for the organic agricultural
community.
Significant gains won
by the organic agricultural industry include $15 million for research
in organic agriculture, $5 million in organic certification cost-share,
exemptions from federal marketing orders for growers of 100% organic
products, and other initiatives facilitating research and public
reports of organic marketing and production.
"Business is not as usual," says Bob
Scowcroft, Executive Director of the Organic Farming Research Foundation.
"This initiative has created a framework for organic farmers to receive
their fare share of America's agricultural research dollar."
The Organic Research Initiative will
provide $15 million of mandatory funding to be spent at $3 million
a year for 5 years. It expands the organic agriculture research
and extension initiative to include on-farm research and development
for working organic farms, determination of desirable traits for
organic commodities, and identification of marketing and policy
constraints on the expansion of organic agriculture. The $15
million dollars is truly unprecedented for organic agriculture but
pales in comparison to the $180 billion total estimated cost of
the farm bill.
"The $15 million isn't nearly enough money,
but then again, it is more than what we have ever had before." says
Ron Rosmann, an Iowa farmer and president of OFRF's board of directors.
Perhaps the most noteworthy
aspect of the organic research initiative is the report language
of the bill which OFRF and its colleagues helped draft.
The language makes two significant points: that Congress's intent
is that this not be considered the only funding vehicle for organic
research, and that it is their intent that organic be considered
a legitimate priority of all USDA REE programs.
Other important wins are the exemption of the
100% organic farmers from federal marketing orders, an issue that
has long been contentious. The Organic Certification Cost Share
establishes and provides $5 million in funding, starting in 2002 and
available until expended, to assist producers and handlers of agricultural
products in obtaining certification under the National Organic Program
established under the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990.
The bill language allows a maximum federal cost share of 75% of certification
costs up to a maximum of $500.
Other programs which are not directly aimed at organic farmers but
which could benefit them are the Conservation Security Program, which
will give $2 billion in financial incentives for conservation and
increased environmental stewardship on working lands.
Another is Initiative for Future Agricultural and Food Systems (IFAFS),
which will increase in funding from $120 million per year to $200
million by the last year of this farm bill totaling $1.3 billion in
new mandatory funding.
The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act
of 2002 is a six year bill that will spend more than $180 billion
over the next decade. The funding includes an additional
$82.5 billion over the previous farm program budget baseline. Conservation
spending will get $17.1 billion over the next decade (an 80% increase),
and $1.03 billion will go for rural development, including incentives
to expand ethanol production, $1.1444 billion go to trade, $405 million
for energy programs, and $1.3 billion in total for research.
Payment limitations have been capped at $360,000.
For more information on OFRF's
policy program contact: Brise Tencer, Policy Program Assistant, Organic
Farming Research Foundation, PO Box 440, Santa Cruz, CA, 95060.
Phone: (831) 426-6606, brise@ofrf.org.
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