FARM BUREAU INVESTIGATION DEMANDED (fwd)

[Michael Hoover <hoov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

in light of recent thread on family farming, sent to me by friend
without source cited...   Michael Hoover

> "More than 180 organizations" have sent a letter to Congress asking for
> an investigation of the American Farm Bureau, 4/10. The letter
> grew out of a Defenders of Wildlife investigation into the Farm Bureau's
> "relentless attacks on endangered species recovery efforts" and found
> that the Farm Bureau "not only opposed almost every environmental
> measure" but advocated farm policies that "harm rural family farmers."
> According to the report, available at http://www.defenders.org/fb/ , the
> Farm Bureau has opposed the ESA, clean water and air acts, wetlands
> laws, pesticide regulation and "efforts to curb global warming."
>
> From its name, one might suppose that the Farm Bureau exists to serve
> American family farmers. In reality the Farm Bureau is a gigantic
> agribusiness and insurance conglomerate. The majority of its "members"
> are not farmers, but customers of Farm Bureau insurance companies and
> other business ventures. Yet the organization's nonprofit status allows
> it to use the U.S. tax code to help build a financial war chest with
> which it pursues an extreme political agenda, while doing little for --
> and sometimes working against -- America's family farmers.