The New Farm Bill's Emphasis on Conservation

NACD News & Views
August 21, 2007
By Tom Harkin

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There is no higher priority in the new farm bill than to bolster programs that encourage good stewardship of the land, protect streams and rivers, expand wildlife habitat and provide environmental benefits for all Americans. In the Senate Agriculture Committee, we are drafting a robust conservation title that repairs budget damage done to conservation programs in the past, while charting an ambitious course for the future.

The 2002 farm bill included a strong conservation title. Among other things, it created the Conservation Security Program, a major new initiative to encourage sound conservation practices on agricultural lands in production. Unfortunately, over the ensuing five years, more than $2.5 billion was cut from conservation, and longterm budget caps have reduced funding even more. The 2007 farm bill is our opportunity to reverse this damage.

The cornerstone of the new conservation title will be a new program called the Comprehensive Stewardship Incentives Program, which will offer a onestopshopping solution for agricultural producers seeking conservation assistance. This program would integrate and coordinate our primary workinglands programs: the Conservation Security Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program.

A farmer or rancher wanting to participate will submit just one application. Based on the producer's conservation needs and goals, the application can be used to apply for assistance with a single practice, for adopting longterm stewardship practices, or for creating wildlife habitat. Funding for this program will be unitary, so we will end the practice of robbing one program to pay for another.

I am also proposing other significant changes to the conservation title: I aim to boost restoration and protection of wetlands by providing resources to enroll 50,000 acres in the Wetland Reserve Program each year. In addition, I want to eliminate the current overall acreage cap on enrollment in the program.

To better protect America's most erodible land, I want to expand the continuous enrollment component of the Conservation Reserve Program. And I'll emphasize the wildlife value of larger tracts by refocusing general enrollments on wildlife.

I want to keep more land in farming or ranching by consolidating the Farmland Protection Program and the Grassland Protection Program into one larger easement program.

Also, I want to incorporate legislation developed by Senator Dick Durbin (DIL) called Sodsaver, which gets rid of incentives that encourage plowing and planting on virgin prairie and rangeland by withdrawing its eligibility for commodity programs and crop insurance.

I have tremendous respect for NACD members' passionate commitment: to conserving and protecting America's soil, water and other natural resources. As the debate intensifies over shaping the new farm bill and allocating resources in the weeks and months immediately ahead, I will be counting on your active support for a strong, forward-looking conservation title. Working together, we will succeed in this critical effort.

NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for research and educational purposes.

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