LSP UPDATE and ACTION ALERT
Federal Farm Bill
December 18, 2001

1. VICTORY IN THE U.S. SENATE!
In a stunning victory for family farms and the environment, the U.S. Senate passed on December 13th an amendment to the Senate Farm Bill that bans large corporate meatpackers from owning livestock and will make them divest all of the livestock they currently own. Currently, corporate meatpackers such as Smithfield, Tyson, and Cargill run huge factory farms in which they breed nearly 1,000,000 sows that they own (combined total). Their attempt to absolutely control hog farming means environmental devastation wherever they set up across our country, and results in the economic impoverishment of rural communities and family farmers. The amendment was introduced by Senators Tim Johnson (D-SD) and Paul Wellstone (D-MN), and co-sponsored by Senators Thomas (R-WY), Harkin (D-IA), Grassley (R-IA), and Dorgan (D-ND). The measure passed 51-46, with bipartisan support.

LSP and the Campaign for Family Farms worked very hard to get this amendment passed. We took a grassroots organizing approach, mobilizing members and volunteers to call hog farmers literally across the country (from New York to Nebraska and Ohio to California) to push their Senators to vote for the Wellstone/Johnson amendment. Seventeen LSP members volunteered to call hog farmers in 15 targeted states, providing the people power we needed. Members of our allies in the Campaign for Family Farms did the same. LSP also stayed in steady contact with Senator Wellstone, who agreed to push our issues by bringing the amendment to a vote before the Senate Agriculture Committee in November, and joined with Senator Johnson in leading the charge on the Senate Floor.

This is an historic action by the Senate. Responding to the will of the people, the U.S. Senate has finally told Big Agribusiness that they cannot control all of agriculture. THANK YOU and CONGRATULATIONS to all who contacted their Senators or made calls to urge others to contact their Senators, or who helped on the mailings we sent out on this.

2. ACTION NEEDED NOW: CALL YOUR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE!
We have built momentum and won a key victory with the Senate vote. However, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Farm Bill in October, which contains absolutely no measures to address corporate concentration and anti-competitive practices in the agriculture and food industry. Despite the multitude of voices pointing out the extent of the problem and the need for action, the U.S. House did NOTHING.

In order for the ban on packer ownership of livestock to become law, the U.S. House must first accept the Senate language about the ban on packer ownership, and agree to include it in the final Congressional Farm Bill that will be sent to the President for his signature. That means right now we need calls to every member of the U.S. House to get them to tell House Ag Committee Chairman Larry Combest (R-TX) and House Ag Committee ranking member Charles Stenholm (D-TX) that the big meatpackers must be banned from owning livestock. If you live in Congressman Collin Peterson's district (northwest Minnesota), calls are especially important, as Congressman Peterson is likely to serve on the joint House-Senate conference committee that negotiates the final bill that will be sent to the President. It is also key to call any member of the House Agriculture Committee. These lawmakers will be making their priorities known to the House members on the conference committee. In Minnesota, that means Representatives Gil Gutknecht (southeast Minnesota) and Mark Kennedy (southwest Minnesota), in addition to Representative Peterson.

Here are the numbers to call:

Minnesota
Rep. Gil Gutknecht (1st District/SE Minnesota) 202-225-2472
Rep. Mark Kennedy (2nd District/SW Minnesota) 202-225-2331
Rep. Jim Ramstad (3rd District/south suburbs) 202-225-2871
Rep. Betty McCollum (4th District/St. Paul) 202-225-6631
Rep. Martin Sabo (5th District/Minneapolis) 202-225-4755
Rep. Bill Luther (6th District/north and east suburbs) 202-225-2271
Rep. Collin Peterson (7th District/NW Minnesota) 202-225-2165
Rep. Jim Oberstar (8th District/NE Minnesota) 202-225-6211

For all other states (these calls are equally important! We just can't list all U.S. Reps because of space considerations):

Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-225-3121 to get the phone number of your U.S. Representative in Washington.

For more information: Call or email Mark Schultz, LSP's Policy Program Director, at 612-722-6377; marks@landstewardshipproject.org. We are very interested in what Congressional offices are saying about their positions on this. After telling them you want them to support the ban on packer ownership passed in the Senate, ask them to tell you what the Representative's position is. Let us know what they say. THANKS!

• What we can't do alone, We can do together •