--part0_898961201_boundary
Content-ID: <0_898961201@inet_out.mail.aol.com.1>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
--part0_898961201_boundary
Content-ID: <0_898961201@inet_out.mail.aol.com.2>
Content-type: message/rfc822
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Content-disposition: inline
Return-Path: <casawg@igc.org>
Received: from rly-zb04.mx.aol.com (rly-zb04.mail.aol.com [172.31.41.4]) by
air-zb02.mail.aol.com (v45.13) with SMTP; Fri, 26 Jun 1998 20:29:20
-0400
Received: from igcb.igc.org (igcb.igc.apc.org [192.82.108.46])
by rly-zb04.mx.aol.com (8.8.8/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0)
with ESMTP id UAA22117;
Fri, 26 Jun 1998 20:29:18 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from igc3.igc.apc.org (igc3.igc.org [192.82.108.33])
by igcb.igc.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id QAA22209;
Fri, 26 Jun 1998 16:37:47 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from [198.94.10.87] (casawg@pppe-87.igc.org)
by igc3.igc.apc.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id QAA01952;
Fri, 26 Jun 1998 16:31:19 -0700 (PDT)
X-Sender: casawg@pop.igc.apc.org (Unverified)
Message-Id: <v03007800b1b9e0067215@[198.94.10.30]>
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 16:33:53 -0700
To: casawg@igc.org
From: Kai Siedenburg <casawg@igc.org>
Subject: Organic: a few updates--275,000 comments!
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
THE LATEST NUMBERS--IMPRESSIVE!
* USDA has processed about 275,000 comments to date! They
are still opening mail and uploading comments, but this is
close to the final count.
*USDA has received 230 letters from members of Congress
regarding the draft organic rule. This is a very impressive
measure of the level of organizing activity across the country.
* USDA hopes to have all the public comments posted on the
internet by the end of July. They will sort and tally the
comments based on set of key words; this analysis will be
made available to the public.
(This information was confirmed by National Organic Program
Director Keith Jones on Wednesday).
ALERT AND SAMPLE LETTER TO GORE COMING SOON
The National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture and many
other groups are monitoring USDA's work to rewrite the
organic rule and keeping up the pressure for strong, credible
standards. Vice President Gore is seen by many as a key
target, so the Campaign has developed an alert urging people
to write to him. We want to circulate this alert widely and
generate thousands of letters. Please consider how you can
help get it out. I'll forward the e-mail version as soon as I
receive it; let me know if you want a formatted, hard-copy
version.
A LITTLE BIT TO CELEBRATE!
[This update is from the National Campaign for Sustainable
Agriculture.]
For those of you who don't follow the Congressional
Appropriations process, we thought you'd be interested in the
following report language which was passed in the Senate Ag
Appropriations Committee on Wednesday [June 10]. We will be
keeping you posted if action is needed (calls to members) as
the federal budget goes to conference. Report language has no
binding legal effect, but does carry a big stick (should the
Appropriators' language be ignored, they may not take kindly in
future budget years).
Thanks for this language goes in large part to Sam Kaymen for
making the connections, and Liz Henderson and Kathleen
Merrigan for drafting the langauge.
"The Committee expects the Secretary to construct a National
Organic Program that takes into account the needs of small
farmers. The Committee directs the Secretary to establish a
progessive user fee scheme so that small farmers, handlers,
and certification agents are not excessively burdened.
Furthermore, the Committee directs that not less than
$250,000 of the funds available for the National Organic
Program be used to offset the initial costs of accreditation
services, a subsidy necessary due to the lack of Department
expertise in organic accreditation and insufficient data on the
industry. Also, the Committee directs the Secretary to follow
the recommendations of the National Organic Standards Board,
as required by the 1990 farm bill, in issuing final regulations
as to what substances are on the national list."
---------------------
Kai Siedenburg
California Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG)
P.O. Box 1599, Santa Cruz, CA 95061
Phone: (408) 457-2815
Fax: (408) 457-1003
E-mail: casawg@igc.org
--part0_898961201_boundary--
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with "unsubscribe sanet-mg".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".