A national program crucial to helping farmers get off the pesticide treadmill and implement sustainable agriculture is on the chopping block. Last week, the Senate passed a budgetary “Continuing Resolution" which would immediately eliminate funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) -- the program that provides technical support on how to farm more sustainably!

Take Action Now! Take a few minutes to CALL your Congressional Representative and your Senators to urge USDA to support sustainable farming and fund ATTRA’s modest $2.5 million program.

Right now Representative Boozman is circulating a sign-on letter in Congress to save ATTRA; he will take this message—with your Representative’s signature— to USDA early the week of February 26. Senators are also sending individual letters to USDA with the same message. Phone calls like yours have protected ATTRA and other sustainable agriculture funding in the past.

Please call today! Help preserve funding for USDA program to support sustainable farming! It's easy to make a big impact.

Call the congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to the office of your representative and your two senators (this means 3 very quick calls). Ask to speak to the staffer handling appropriations. If he or she is unavailable, leave a message with your name, phone number and the quick message below.

Suggested Message

For your representative: Please ask Congressperson _________ to sign onto Congressman Boozman's letter asking USDA to restore full 2007 funding to the ATTRA sustainable agriculture information service. ATTRA is a national valuable source of information to farmers across the US about how to farm using sustainable practices, and it shouldn't be cut.

(Tell your Representative’s staffer that they can contact Maggie Lemmerman at 202-225-4301 in Mr. Boozman's office to sign onto the letter.)

For your senators: Please ask Senator ___________ to send a letter asking USDA to restore full funding to the ATTRA sustainable agriculture information service. ATTRA is a national valuable source of information to farmers across the US about how to farm using sustainable practices, and it shouldn't be cut.

(Tell the staffer for your Senator that John Lewis in Senator Baucus' office (202) 224-2651 can provide information on the wording of the letter that Senator Baucus sent if that's helpful.)

Background

• The Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (ATTRA) program is a highly rated national information service that answers practical questions from farmers and others across the US who call its 1-800 telephone number, print publications from its website, or attend its workshops. Congressman Boozman (R-AR) is circulating a sign-on letter to USDA to fund ATTRA's modest $2.5 million. It's crucial that you call, today if possible, and ask your Senator and House members to sign onto that letter.
• For twenty years, ATTRA has been one of the most reliable sources of information for farmers and others who want fact-based information on a wide variety of agronomic, livestock, marketing, and entrepreneurial questions with reliable information, evaluated and summarized from its extensive database.
• ATTRA is an extraordinarily efficient program. Though its funding has remained far too small, at $2.5 million since FY02, it accomplishes great work for farmers and consumers around the nation! ATTRA's services are in great demand, exceeding 37,000 technical requests last year and drawing over 2.6 million unique visitors to its website, from which there were over 673,000 publication downloads.
• For more about the ATTRA information service, go to http://www.attra.org