12/19/03
Thank you for your calls!
Thanks to all
of you who made calls pushing U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman
to stop holding up the implementation of the Conservation Security
Program (CSP), and to immediately issue the draft rules for the CSP
for public comment. The grassroots pressure generated by LSP—many
hundreds of calls to the Secretary's office over a period of two weeks—helped
to force the USDA to issue their proposed rules without further delay.
Currently, LSP’s
Federal Farm Policy Committee is looking over the draft rules. A very
important factor for LSP is that the CSP must both reward existing
stewardship and provide an incentive for further changes in farming
practices and systems toward improved stewardship/sustainable farming.
Properly implemented,
the CSP will make a big difference to family farms and the environment.
The CSP can result in positive changes to America’s agricultural
landscape that result in better care of our environment, while supporting
America's stewardship-minded family farmers and ranchers. It must
not become, as some would have it, another subsidy for the continued
overproduction of a few commodity crops, to the detriment of the environment
and rural communities.
The public comment
period will start in a few days and continue for 60 days until Feb.
20 or so (we’ll let you know the exact dates once the official
comment period has begun). The next step in getting a CSP that works
for family farmers and provides real conservation benefits is having
people like you send in lots of written comments to the proposed rule.
Keep a watch out for upcoming LSP Action Alerts and ways to help get
this innovative new farm program up and running in the way it should.
The Land Stewardship
Project wants more successful farmers raising both crops and livestock
on the land. The Conservation Security Program can help make that
happen.
If you have any
questions call LSP Policy Office 612-722-6377 or check
out our CSP Web page at http://www.landstewardshipproject.org/programs_csp.html.
