{"id":50653,"date":"2018-12-13T14:22:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T19:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sustainableagriculture.net\/?p=50653"},"modified":"2019-01-03T17:12:16","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T22:12:16","slug":"2018-farm-bill-drilldown-conservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainableagriculture.net\/blog\/2018-farm-bill-drilldown-conservation\/","title":{"rendered":"2018 Farm Bill Drilldown: Conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Bumble Bee on Prairie Clover. Photo Credit USDA<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This is the fourth post in a multi-part blog series analyzing the final 2018 Farm Bill<\/a>, which was released on December 11, 2018 by the leaders of the Farm Bill Conference Committee. Subsequent posts focus on: research and seed breeding<\/a>, and crop insurance and commodity subsidies<\/a>; previous posts focused on local and regional food<\/a> and beginning\/socially disadvantaged farmers<\/a>, and organic agriculture<\/a>. The bill was passed by the House and Senate this week and sent to the President for his signature.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmers rely on the programs of the farm bill\u2019s Conservation Title programs to help them make their farms more resilient and productive. Programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program<\/a> (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program<\/a> (EQIP) provide the technical and financial resources for farmers to improve the soil health, water quality, and wildlife habitats on and surrounding their operations. The sustainability and risk management benefits of implementing agriculture conservation activities are huge, and  the annual funding level for the conservation title programs approaches $6 billion a year. Not surprisingly, then, the Conservation Title was one of the most challenging and controversial titles of the farm bill to negotiate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major differences between the House<\/a> and Senate<\/a>-passed bills, including a broadly opposed House proposal to eliminate CSP<\/a>, meant that advocates like the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) had to work overtime to protect vital sustainable agriculture programs and practices. NSAC took a strong stand against the House-proposed CSP elimination, cuts to total conservation funding, and anti-environmental riders<\/a>, and also fought for the inclusion of policy provisions to increase the effectiveness of and access to conservation programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, we are pleased that the final farm bill takes the Senate\u2019s structural approach to the Conservation Title. The bill protects against cuts to total conservation funding and retains the full farm bill suite of conservation programs \u2013including leaving CSP as a standalone program. We also applaud farm bill leaders for including key policy provisions to strengthen conservation programs and increase benefits for soil health and water quality. Many of these provisions were included in the SOIL Stewardship Act<\/a> (H.R. 5188\/ S. 2875) and the GROW Act<\/a> (S. 2557). NSAC strongly endorsed both these bills, and thanks the Senators and Representatives who championed these and other conservation priorities in the final bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the new farm bill makes some important strides forward on conservation, we are disappointed that long-term funding for working lands conservation programs will be significantly cut. The bill cuts future funding from CSP, and will result in $5.2 billion less funds available for working lands conservation in the next farm bill. This all but guarantees a tough, uphill battle to restore working lands and comprehensive conservation funding in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, we include a summary of the key takeaways on how the final conferenced bill approaches programs and policies that support conservation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlights<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n