Support Gillibrand Amendment (#4) to Provide Farmers Locally Adapted Seeds
If you live in one of the states represented by members of the Senate Agriculture Committee, call your senator TODAY and ask him/her to support Senator Gillibrand’s Senate Farm Bill amendment that provides farmers locally adapted seeds. (If you live in New York, call Senator Gillibrand to thank her!)
Farmer access to locally adapted seeds is paramount to fostering the competitiveness of agriculture in all regions of the country. Farmers need access to seeds that are bred specifically for their regions and cropping systems, allowing them to grow crops well suited to their local soil, climate, and pest conditions. But agricultural research trends have shifted toward the national production of seeds for a few major crops, greatly limiting farmers’ seed choice and narrowing the diversity of our agricultural system.
To address this problem, the 2008 Farm Bill required USDA to make conventional plant and animal breeding a priority for funding within the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI). But in the AFRI grant-making process, USDA has imposed hurdles that have prevented the agency from meeting this Congressional mandate.
The Gillibrand amendment would reinforce and build on the mandate from the 2008 Farm Bill by requiring that 5% of annual funding for the AFRI program be used for making sure that farmers have access to locally adapted seeds and breeds by focusing on public cultivar and breed development, and removing the hurdles that have hindered USDA’s progress toward this goal.
CBO has given the Gillibrand amendment a zero score.
U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee
To Call Any Senator: (202) 224-3121
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chair
202-824-4822
Pat Roberts (R-KS), Ranking Member
202-224-4774
John Boozman (R-AR)
202-224-4843
Michael Bennet (D-CO)
202-224-5852
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
202-224-3521
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
202-224-3254
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
202-224-3744
Richard Lugar (R-IN)
202-224-4814
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
202-224-2043
Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
202-224-3244
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
202-224-5054
Max Baucus (D-MT)
202-224-2651
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
202-224-2043
John Hoeven (R-ND)
202-224-2551
Ben Nelson (D-NE)
202-224-6551
Mike Johanns (R-NE)
202-224-5323
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
202-224-4451
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
202-224-2315
Robert Casey (D-PA)
202-224-6324
John Thune (R-SD)
202-224-2321
Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
202-224-4242
