Good News of the Week

Organic Advocate Appointed to High Level USDA Position

Ann Wright, a former Sustainable Agriculture Coalition advocate, was named Deputy Undersecretary last week. Among other things, Wright will oversee the Agricultural Marketing Service, which is the branch of the USDA that houses the National Organic Program, and she will be in charge of the Animal Plant Health Inspection Service which monitors genetically engineered crops.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_18252.cfm

Another bit of good news (maybe)...
On Thursday, June 11, the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee met to markup and vote on the agriculture appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010, which they approved with some changes.

One of the changes: NAIS. The bill eliminates funding for the National Animal Identification System, a move that will certainly receive additional debate as the process moves forward.

BTW, did you know you can withdraw from NAIS (so far it's voluntary) even if you were "registered" without your knowledge or consent? http://www.libertyark.net/opt_out.html