Today is an important day for supporters of good food to pick up the phone and put the democratic process into action. Votes are expected to take place today on two pieces of legislation, the Senate's Agricultural Appropriations Bill, and the House version of the Food Safety Enhancement Act.

The House is expected to vote on the Food Safety Enhancement Act today. The current version of the bill does not contain sufficient provisions to protect small scale sustainable and organic farmers. Please call your representative and urge him/her to support the provisions in the Kaptur-Farr proposal to HR 2749. Ask your Representative to vote against the bill unless the Kaptur-Farr provisions are included.

More information is available at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's site.

To find your Representative's name, go to http://www.house.gov.

Here is the phone number for the Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121

 The Senate Ag Appropriations Bill currently contains $14 million for the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), a program so fundamentally flawed that we would like nothing better than to see it dropped entirely. That's not an option at this point, but there is an amendment that would cut its funding in half.

Please call your Senators' offices and urge your Senators to support the Tester Amendment to decrease the funding of the NAIS (Animal ID) program in the upcoming appropriations vote. More information can be found here.

To find your senators' contact information, click here: http://www.senate.gov/

 Here, again, is the number for the Capitol switchboard. 202-224-3121

 Together, these calls will take you about seven minutes, and you will feel good afterward. Please pick up the phone soon. Like, now?