The Latest on Farming
The Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) West Coast office has written the California Air Resources Board pointing out deficiencies in its Climate Change Proposed Scoping Plan with respect to agriculture and its role in generating greenhouse gas emissions.
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In times of tight budgets and empty federal coffers, millionaires, large profitable farm operations and wealthy absentee landlords are still receiving federal farm subsidies, despite repeated attempts at reform by fiscal watchdogs, hunger advocates and environmental groups.
Read MoreNitrogen and phosphorus pollution from agriculture sources flowing from the Mississippi River is devastating the northern Gulf of Mexico and impacting human health, killing fish and limiting recreation along the way.
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Today, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released a follow up report to Congress Poised To Cut Conservation Funds That Aided Farm Bill’s Passage that details the proposed conservation program cuts on a state-by-state basis.
Read MoreWhen Congress passed the 2008 farm bill on June 18, 2008, it promised to increase funding for the most important and popular program in farm country to prevent water pollution and tackle other priority conservation problems.
Read MoreBehind the thin green gloss Congressional leaders spread across the subsidy-laden 2008 farm bill, the Democratic Congress is now hacking away at pledges to expand conservation and other environmental programs.
Read MoreBehind the thin green gloss Congressional leaders spread across the subsidy-laden 2008 farm bill, key Democratic lawmakers are hacking away at promises to expand conservation and other environmental programs.
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EWG's Ken Cook is interviewed about farm subsidies.
Read MoreThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released today an action plan that will do little to slow the growth of the oxygen-starved ocean ‘Dead Zone’ in the Gulf of Mexico, says three members of the Mississippi River Water Quality Collaborative. Recent studies place the size of this year’s Dead Zone at a record setting – 22,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles) – an area roughly equivalent to the size of Massachusetts.
Read MoreWASHINGTON, DC - Today a subcommittee for Congress’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform convened a hearing on “Management of Civil Rights at the United States Department of Agriculture”.
Read MoreBy any measure, 2007 was a banner year for farmers of grain, soybeans and cotton, as high prices for their crops earned them record net income, even after they paid skyrocketing costs for fuel, fertilizer and seed.
Read MoreOver the next few weeks, some American couples will get $1,200 of their own money back from Washington. This is the maximum, one-time tax rebate Congress provided last February in their desperate attempt to revive our faltering economy that has since been declared in recession. By contrast, in a few months some other American couples, who operate some of the largest, most profitable farms in the country or merely own huge swaths of farmland, could be receiving 100 times that amount from the government--$120,000.
Read MoreToday the USGS released findings that show agricultural practices in 9 states contribute 75% of the nitrogen and phosphorous pollution to the “Dead Zone” in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Currently, the growing Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico is the size of New Jersey.
Read MoreThank you to our supporters for making 2007 such a great year! See what we're planning for 2008.
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Take a tour of the farms of six major US cities: New York City ($4.2 million in subsidy dollars), Hollywood ($2.9 million), DC ($3.1 million), Atlanta ($7 million), Tampa ($4.3 million), and San Francisco ($7.4 million).
Read MoreDue to lax standards and implementation problems, USDA's conservation compliance program is missing cost-effective opportunities to make further, substantial reductions in cropland soil erosion and agriculture-related toxic run-off. Conservation compliance is critical to mitigating the damage agriculture related pollution does to streams, waterways and the Gulf of Mexico.
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