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Environmental Defense today urged leaders of the House
Agriculture Committee to substantially boost funding for voluntary
conservation programs for farmers, and said a Farm Bill proposal
released today fails to reward most farmers and ranchers when they
preserve open space, improve water quality, or restore habitat for
rare species.
Rep. Larry Combest (R-TX), chair of the House Agriculture
Committee, today released a Farm Bill proposal that boosts U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) conservation spending to
approximately $3.5 billion annually. Farmers, ranchers and
foresters, however, may seek as much as $8 billion in annual
payments to help the environment over the next five years.
"Because of a lack of adequate funds, most farmers are rejected
when they seek federal help to meet environmental challenges," said
Environmental Defense attorney Scott Faber. "If the Farm Bill
proposed today is passed, farmers will still be turned away. Green
payments should be a no-brainer. The money provides income to all
farmers, and provides public goods to the taxpayer: clean water,
open space, and wildlife habitat."
Environmental Defense urged Rep. Combest to support legislation
championed by Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI), Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD),
Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) and 59 other bipartisan members of
Congress. The Working Lands Stewardship Act of 2001, H.R. 2375,
substantially increases annual spending for USDA programs that help
protect the environment by acquiring development rights for farmland
threatened by sprawl, providing incentives to reduce polluted
runoff, and rewarding landowners who restore wetlands, grasslands,
and forests.
H.R. 2375 provides: $500 million annually for open space
protection; $2 billion annually for incentives to reduce polluted
runoff, protect food and drinking water from pesticides and
pathogens, and use water more efficiently; $750 million annually for
farm, ranch and forestry practices that help wildlife; and provides
sufficient funds to restore more than 12 million acres of wetlands,
grasslands, and shrublands over the next six years. The bill also
boosts funding to plant trees along urban rivers, establish new
farmer's markets, and to help farmers switch to organic farming.
### Environmental Defense, a leading national
nonprofit organization based in New York, represents more than
300,000 members. Since 1967 we have linked science, economics, and
law to create innovative, equitable, and cost-effective solutions to
the most urgent environmental problems. | 
