Energy & Industry

Farm Bureau not for farmers

Beth Wohlberg Sept. 11, 2000 From the print edition
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  Washington, D.C.-based Defenders of Wildlife wants to expose the American Farm Bureau Federation. In its 98-page report, Amber Waves of Gain: How the Farm Bureau is reaping profits at the expense of America's family farmers, taxpayers and the environment, Defenders accuses the Farm Bureau of bowing to conglomerates, carrying an anti-wildlife agenda and aligning itself with the extreme right. "The Farm Bureau is perceived as the voice of farmers, when it is actually the voice of agribusiness," says Bob Ferris of Defenders of Wildlife. "It's an organization that is seriously broken in terms of setting its priorities." Ferris explains that only 1.9 million of the Bureau's 5 million members are farmers - the rest are policyholders of one of many Farm Bureau insurance companies or customers of other for-profit ventures. "It's going to take the sheer weight of outcry to move (an investigation) forward," says Ferris, whose organization, along with 210 other groups, has called for a congressional investigation of the Bureau.


The 98-page report is $12 from Wolf Coordinator, Defenders of Wildlife, 1101 14th St. NW, Suite 1400, Washington, DC 20005, or it can be downloaded from www.defenders.org.


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