BUILDING A MORE
JUST FRAMEWORK
Reauthorization of the
Farm Bill presents an
opportunity to reshape
our broken agricultural
policies. Now is the time
to build a more just
framework that better
serves rural communities
and small and moderate-
size family farms in the
U.S., promotes good
stewardship of the land,
overcomes hunger
domestically and abroad,
and helps vulnerable
farmers and their families
in developing countries.
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Fostering Stewardship of the Land
Protecting God’s creation must be a central goal of agricultural policies. Congress should seek to promote soil conservation, improve water quality, protect wildlife, and maintain biodiversity. Government resources should be targeted to farmers and ranchers that use environmentally sound agricultural practices.
We should strengthen and improve programs that provide financial and technical assistance to promote conservation and environmentally sound practices, and that retire environmentally sensitive lands. These include Conservation Security Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Reserve Program.
Cultivating Stewardship
Farmers and ranchers manage more than half of the land in the United States. If not properly managed, agricultural activities on farm and ranchland can impair the nation’s water, air, and soil and disrupt and destroy habitat for endangered and other wildlife species. Farmers and ranchers can produce far more than food, energy, and fiber – they can also produce clean air, clean water, and improved wildlife habitat if the 2007 Farm Bill provides significantly stronger incentives for better stewardship.
Current farm policies create incentives to adopt farming practices that accelerate erosion, consume scarce water resources, convert valuable wildlife habitat, and lead to the inefficient application of chemicals. Current policies demand that farmers squeeze more and more from the soil – putting short-terms gains ahead of the land’s capacity to supply our food into the future. In particular, current policies encourage farming on environmentally sensitive lands or in flood-prone areas, which often increases the costs associated with natural disasters.
A more balanced approach – and one that enjoys broad support from farmers and taxpayers – is to expand farm policies that reward farmers for being good stewards. That’s the idea behind green payments and other USDA conservation programs. These programs enable farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to protect our lakes, rivers and bays, mitigate the severity of climate change, reduce pesticide applications, serve as the frontline against sprawling development, and protect our wildlife heritage.
USDA conservation programs are the first stop for farmers seeking to increase production of these valuable public goods. While these programs are popular with farmers and ranchers across the nation, funding limitations create long waiting lists. Indeed, some three out of four applicants seeking USDA conservation assistance are turned away. This shortfall discourages other producers from seeking conservation assistance and contributes to an overall erosion of the farm community’s ability to conserve the resources fundamental to our future food, fiber, and energy needs.
To meet the demand for conservation programs and address the continuing environmental challenges faced by the nation’s farmers and ranchers, Congress must significantly increase funding for core working land and resource protection programs administered by the USDA. These programs enable farmers and ranchers to implement practices that conserve precious soil and water resources and prevent pollution from farming operations. These programs are essential for the responsible management of our national agricultural productivity, our natural resource base, and our public health. Likewise, policymakers should renew their commitment to restoring and enhancing wildlife habitat through traditional easement programs. In addition, incentives should be increased to help recover rare species and to implement state wildlife action plans. Policymakers should also invest in critical programs designed to conserve prime farm-and ranchland threatened by sprawl.
In addition to these broader policy goals, Congress must act to enhance the effectiveness of USDA conservation programs through reforms that encourage innovation and regional problem-solving, elevate performance and cost-effectiveness, and strengthen compliance with basic environmental standards.
CORE FARM BILL PRIORITIES
Conserving Natural Resources and Protecting the Environment
 Significantly increase funding for working lands conservation programs.
Maintain and reform land retirement programs by placing greater emphasis on long-term protection of environmentally sensitive lands and critical wildlife habitat and by expanding the enrollment of conservation buffers.
Strengthen and improve enforcement of conservation standards linked to commodity and conservation programs, and re-establish conservation standards for crop and revenue insurance programs.
Build the technical assistance infrastructure needed to assist farmers and ranchers with becoming better stewards of the nation’s lands.
KEY FARM BILL INNOVATIONS
Create a New Generation of Agricultural Conservation
Reward stewardship by making the Conservation Security Program annually available to all farmers and ranchers who meet heightened environmental criteria and by streamlining the program’s payment structure.
Develop incentives to reward organic farming systems and establish an initiative to promote wider use of ecologically-based integrated pest management.
Ensure that conservation programs better address the needs of new and beginning farmers and ranchers.
Invest in farm-based renewable energy systems – from biofuels to wind power – that result in measurable, net environmental gains and build rural community assets.
Re-establish quantifiable conservation objectives, and dedicate funds to monitor and assess the environmental benefits of conservation programs.
Promote Local Leadership in Conservation
Encourage locally-led collaborations to solve environmental problems and meet community needs by establishing a Cooperative Conservation Partnerships Initiative.
Create incentives designed to reward innovation and performance by states and localities.
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