The Farm Bill: Let’s Seize This Conservation Opportunity
by Roy C. Hengerson, Legislative Chairman

Every five or six years Congress enacts major legislation that helps support farmers, generally known as the Farm Bill. The Sierra Club recognized that provisions of the Farm Bill could and would influence how farmlands were managed and taken care of. It has thus been involved in the last several iterations of the Farm Bill cycle.

Most Americans have given up farming as a way to make a living, migrating to cities to pursue the American dream. However, agriculture still plays a vital role in people’s lives, whether they understand this or not. And farming and how it is practiced has a major role in the health of our environment. Private crop, pasture, and rangeland make up 50% of the land area of the lower 48 states, and private forests account for another 20%. Government policy can have a significant influence on how farming is conducted on these lands.

Citizens should be concerned about and involved with Farm Bill issues. For one thing, your tax dollars fund programs to help farmers. Annual payments to farmers have risen sharply to $32 billion in 2000, up from $10 billion in 1990. Most of this money is used for commodity crop price supports. Included in these farm programs are various conservation programs; however, funding for these has not kept pace with either the needs or the overall level of farm support programs. The conservation farm programs have remained at a modest $2 billion level, despite the three-fold increase in total farm support programs.

For another thing, issues of safe food are increasingly coming to the attention of consumers. In additional to the widespread concern about mad cow and hoof & mouth diseases, less publicized but much more common problems of bacterial contamination of food, heavy use of antibiotics in large concentrated animal factories (CAFOs), and overuse of pesticides threaten our food supplies. Federal government programs can help farmers use fewer antibiotics and greatly reduce pesticide use through crop rotations, delayed spraying, and integrated pest management.

Yet despite the needs to increase farm conservation programs, the Bush administration has proposed to cut or even eliminate some of these successful efforts. The Sierra Club is mobilizing to fight proposed funding cuts in the environmental programs under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). These include the Wetlands Reserve Program, the Wildlife Habitat Protection Program, and the Farmland Protection Program. These programs have aided farmers in protecting their valuable wetlands and improving wildlife habitat. A broad coalition of environmental and sustainable agriculture organizations has argued that these programs need more funding, not less, if they are to meet the needs of farmers and improve rural ecosystems.

Farm conservation issues are especially relevant to Missouri, where farming and forestry are major economic sectors. Agriculture accounts for $4.5 billion and forest-related activity accounts for $3 billion yearly.

The last farm bill enacted by Congress, the 1996 Federal Agricultural Investment and Reform Act, is up for renewal in 2002. That 1996 Act included such critical programs as the Conservation Reserve Program, which helps farmers provide conservation benefits on marginal lands; the Wetlands Reserve Program, which helps farmers protect and restore wetlands on their farms; the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, which helps farmers manage land for wildlife benefits; the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which provides assistance to better manage and conserve soil, water, and wildlife resources; and the Forestry Incentive Program, which assists forest landowners with sustainable forest management efforts. It is clearly in the interests of Missourians to enact a good Farm Bill by 2002, one that will protect farmers economic interests while at the same time encourage them to practice the best conservation practices on their lands.

A broad coalition of environmental and sustainable agriculture groups have been discussing what is needed to support the important conservation programs related to agriculture. The Sierra Club has formed a Task Force to actively work for a strong, conservation-minded Farm Bill. We are suggesting that the $2 billion for farm conservation be increased to about $11 billion. We also want a significant increase in funding for wetlands protection and a stronger enforcement program that denies funds to farmers that fail to protect their wetlands. There is great interest in the farming community to strengthen conservation efforts; however, federal assistance is essential to meet the needs and opportunities out there on the land.

There are also environmental justice concerns related to farm policy. Many of the current farm support programs mostly help wealthier farmers, and do little to reward farmers who practice good conservation methods, who are involved in alternative farming practices which protect the environment, or who are starting out in farming. Too little is invested for research, production, and marketing systems that advance sustainable agriculture.

By becoming better informed and participating in the national debate over the Farm Bill, you can help influence the outcome. Your assistance is crucial if a coalition of urban and rural citizens can prevail on our government to enact a strong Farm Bill and adequately fund farm conservation programs.

For more information contact: Roy C. Hengerson, 2201 Weathered Rock Road, Jefferson City, MO 65101 (573) 635-8066 roy.hengerson@sierraclub.org