2012 Farm Bill Events: Stewardship, Prosperity and Fairness

The League is sponsoring a series of collaborative outreach events – bringing League members and staff together with colleagues from agriculture and conservation groups – to discuss the needs and opportunities for the next Farm Bill. The goal is to elevate awareness among the public and educate key regional representatives on the effective role of the Farm Bill in supporting an agricultural  system that achieves stewardship, prosperity, and fairness.

That means farm policies should support agricultural practices that are good for farmers, good for the environment, and good for America. The untapped potential and unique role of Conservation Compliance – a system of baseline conservation requirements for recipients of USDA-provided benefits – is a critical factor in achieving these goals. Conservation Compliance can help ensure that where public money is invested, the public’s interests are protected by requiring basic levels of protections for soil, water, and wetlands. Compliance actions require no additional Farm Bill investment – in fact, they can result in saving federal dollars!

With cuts to conservation funding threatening proven voluntary stewardship programs, the cost-saving aspect of conservation compliance is critical. That’s why the League is working to reestablish compliance requirements for recipients of federal crop insurance benefits – the single largest form of subsidy in federal farm policy today. Other League priorities include applying the compliance mechanism to land enrolled in any federal farm program, not just land rated “highly erodible,” and enacting a nationwide “Sodsaver” provision to prohibit federal farm program and crop insurance subsidies on parcels converted to production from the nation’s remaining native land without a prior cropping history. These and other components of an invigorated conservation compliance program can achieve benefits for soil, water, and habitat regardless of potential budget cuts.

You can find out more about the League's Farm Bill conservation priorities by reading our report, "The 2012 Farm Bill: Stewardship, Prosperity, and Fairness," or by viewing a brief video, "Insuring Healthy Soil and Water."

Past events:

• Fall Creek, WI: April 14, 2011  
• Missouri: April 28-May 4, 2011
• Springfield, IL: June 2, 2011
• Des Moines, IA: June 22, 2011
• West St. Paul, MN: August 22, 2011
  
• Des Moines, IA: February 23, 2012
• Rockford, MI: March 27, 2012
• Sioux Falls, SD: May 2, 2012
• Dubuque, IA: June 6, 2012
• Logan, IA: June 27, 2012

Information on our 2007 Farm Bill report and forums is available on our 2007 Farm Bill page.