2012 Farm Bill Comments Needed
The House Agriculture Committee has conducted 10 hearings on agricultural policy for the 2012 Farm Bill since April – sessions in Washington, DC, and across the country. In conjunction with the hearings, the committee created a Farm Bill Feedback page on its Web site for comments from the public.
A major point of the Farm Bill discussion has been the overdrawn federal budget. Getting new money, like the $4 billion increase in conservation programs the League helped secure in 2008, is clearly not expected to be possible. Instead, Congressional leaders are warning of reductions in the next Farm Bill budget. This means our work to champion conservation in agriculture is more important than ever.
League members need to make their voices heard from the very outset of what is likely to be a challenging Farm Bill process. We developed sample talking points for the House Agriculture Committee to get you started. There are things that can be done for conservation that don’t require massive new spending. At the same time, any Farm Bill budget cuts must not come at the sole cost of conservation as they often have in the past.
Please take a moment to review the sample talking points below. Then visit the Farm Bill Feedback Web page to ensure the League’s voice is heard. Deadline for your comments: July 28.
SAMPLE
COMMENTS
I want to thank the
U.S. House Committee on Agriculture for
providing this opportunity to submit comments
on agricultural policy for the 2012 Farm
Bill.
Farmers understand that conservation is key to agricultural production, rural economies, and future well-being. To meet the needs of the future, the 2012 Farm Bill must recognize, protect, and enhance the status of conservation policy in federal farm policy.
Research from USDA consistently shows that
conservation practices and programs that
support rural
Success in the 2012 Farm Bill can be achieved without inflated spending, but conservation must be at the center of policy considerations. As you begin the process of re-authorizing our national farm policy, please include the following recommendations in your work:
1. Enact a robust and well-funded Conservation Title to support all conservation programs. Congress and the administration must enact a 2012 Farm Bill that provides the assistance and incentives necessary to ensure stewardship of agricultural lands.
2. Enact a federal Farm Bill
that promotes payments for farming systems and
practices that produce environmental benefits
rather than emphasizing payments for historical
crop production.
3. Re-prioritize the existing conservation compliance regimen. Conservation compliance is a means for ensuring that where public money is invested, the public’s interests are protected by requiring basic levels of protections for soil, water and wetlands. Prioritizing conservation compliance will require no additional Farm Bill investment and, in fact, can result in saving federal dollars by withholding subsidies. Specific actions that should be taken include:
-
Require all crop land to have a conservation plan in order to be eligible for any USDA benefits. This would strongly encourage producers to create and follow that plan.
-
To remove the incentive to convert remaining grasslands to crops, make native sod and all land without a cropping history ineligible for federal crop insurance.
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Require all existing or new crop and revenue insurance or other risk management programs to be subject to conservation compliance provisions. This is absolutely critical, particularly with respect to recent calls for making insurance a major component of the federal farm support system.
Thank you again for the opportunity to submit these comments.