[Pollinator] Farm Bill and Pollinators - from Chip Taylor

[Ladadams at aol.com]

Correction - this was sent to the LISTSERV from Chip  Taylor -  thanks, 
Chip!
 
 
 
In a message dated 2/10/2014 4:55:44 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
jt at pollinator.org writes:

 
Thanks  to Laurie Davies Adams of the Pollinator Partnership for forwarding 
the  below: 
 

 
E&E  News:
 
AGRICULTURE:
 
Bees get short shrift  in farm bill
 
Amanda Peterka,  E&E reporter
 
Published: Wednesday,  February 5, 2014
 
Count bees among the  losers in the long farm bill debate.
 

 
A short provision that  would have compelled the government to address 
declining pollinator  populations is not in the final bill that President Obama 
is expected to sign  into law Friday.
 

 
The proposal from  Democratic Reps. Alcee Hastings of Florida and Marcy 
Kaptur of Ohio would have  improved coordination among federal agencies in 
addressing the decline of both  managed and wild pollinator populations. It also 
would have required the  government to regularly report on the health of 
bees, birds, bats and other  insects.
 

 
Over the last few  months, bee advocates had urged Congress to include the 
provision. Pollinators  contribute between $20 billion and $30 billion a 
year to the nation's  agricultural production by pollinating fruits and 
specialty crops like  almonds, according to the advocates.
 

 
But in recent years,  pollinator populations have fallen dramatically. 
According to the U.S.  Agriculture Department, more than 30 percent of managed 
honeybee colonies, for  example, were lost in the United States during the 
winter of  2012-13.
 

 
"I'm terribly  disappointed that the limited language that I requested was 
stripped from the  bill. And I don't like that," Hastings said. "I don't 
think I was asking for  anything of major consequence, and I was trying to 
dramatize, and will  continue to do so, that this nation -- indeed, this world 
-- has a pollinator  problem."
 

 
The Hastings-Kaptur  proposal easily passed the House in a 273-149 vote 
last summer. Nearly 60  organizations, including the Center for Food Safety, 
the Sierra Club, the  Natural Resources Defense Council, Pesticide Action 
Network North America and  the Xerces Society had supported its inclusion in the 
final farm bill (_E&ENews  PM_ 
(http://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2014/02/05/stories/www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1059989305/) , Oct. 23, 2013).
 

 
During the Senate  floor debate, Senate Environment and Public Works 
Chairwoman Barbara Boxer  (D-Calif.) offered an amendment nearly identical to the 
measure, but it was  not brought up for a vote.
 

 
Advocates blasted its  exclusion from the final bill.
 

 
"Directing our  government to thoroughly assess and monitor pollinator 
declines should have  been an easy decision," the Center for Food Safety said in 
a  statement.
 

 
House and Senate  agriculture leaders have touted the farm bill as a 
compromise but have  acknowledged that not everybody is happy with the final  
product.
 

 
"I think that's an  issue that is a legitimate concern. I think that's an 
issue that has to be  addressed," House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas 
(R-Okla.) said of the  pollinator measure's exclusion. "I believe, with all 
fairness, that it has not  received quite as much attention in some quadrants as 
perhaps the citrus  issues that we do take care of in the bill."
 

 
The final farm bill  does direct USDA to encourage farmers to protect 
pollinator habitat as part of  voluntary conservation plans.
 

 
Hastings, who hails  from farm territory in Florida, said he would continue 
to push for  congressional action to address declining pollinator 
populations and hoped to  have an "ample discussion" with House Agriculture Committee 
 leaders.
 

 
"How I'm fond of  putting it is: If you don't have no bees, we ain't going 
to have no food," he  said.
 

 

 

 
Laurie  Davies Adams
Executive Director
Pollinator Partnership
423 Washington  St. 5th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94111
T: 415.362.1137
F:  415.362.0176

Follow up on _Twitter_ (http://twitter.com/#!/Pollinators)  and _Facebook_ 
(http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Pollinator-Partnership/48680445464) !



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