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Conservation programs spotlighted as lawmakers gear up for next farm bill
By Amanda Peterka, E&E reporter
House lawmakers yesterday voiced bipartisan support for agricultural conservation programs but also hinted at more budget cuts down the line when they craft the next farm bill.
The programs came under the microscope in one of a series of Agriculture Committee audits meant to educate lawmakers on the farm bill before they set about writing the next one in 2012.
Conservation programs were among many agriculture functions cut in the fiscal 2011 federal budget and received, by a wide margin, the largest cuts in mandatory spending in the recent House-passed 2012 agriculture appropriations bill (E&ENews PM, June 16).
Some lawmakers yesterday warned of the difficult budget challenges that lie ahead and asked Agriculture Department officials whether conservation programs can be made more efficient.
"As lawmakers, we have a responsibility to ensure that conservation policy is effective without being duplicative or too costly," said House Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), who stopped by the Conservation, Energy and Forestry Subcommittee hearing.
For the most part, farm-state lawmakers told the leaders of USDA's Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Service that they supported conservation programs.
The two Obama administration officials stressed that conservation programs are succeeding, and neither detailed any fraud or abuse in programs. Moreover, FSA acting Administrator Bruce Nelson and NRCS Chief Dave White said conservation programs were helping farmers comply with regulations.
Farmers and agricultural lawmakers have increasingly criticized U.S. EPA for regulations they say are overly burdensome (Greenwire, June 15).
The Conservation Reserve Program gives farms a means to create buffers that can help comply with EPA regulations, Nelson said. And White called the Environmental Quality Incentives Program a "shield arm between regulatory agencies and producers."
Enrollment in the Conservation Reserve Program, FSA's largest conservation program, is expected to total 29.9 million acres on Oct. 1 of this year, Nelson said. The service issues about $1.7 billion a year in rental payments to farmers to idle cropland for conservation.
The Environmental Quality Incentives Program was at the top of what White called the "Big Eight" -- the large mandatorily funded cost-share programs in the farm bill. Since 2005, EQIP has provided a quarter of a million contracts to help farmers make environmental improvements, White said. In fiscal 2010, EQIP obligations reached almost $840 million.
Also among the programs highlighted was the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Program, meant to help address nutrient pollution in the bay. The Natural Resources Conservation Service approved more than 950 contracts under the program in fiscal 2010, or more than $33.5 million. The Obama administration requested an increase in funding for the program in its budget plan for fiscal 2012.
Nelson cautioned lawmakers on gutting programs in the next farm bill cycle.
"The challenge here is to look at all of these programs and figure out ways, which we absolutely need to do, to both operate them more efficiently and make them more effective for farmers," Nelson said. But, he added, "do that in a way that we don't take alternatives away from farmers and ranchers around the country."
While farm-state lawmakers in general reacted favorably to the assessment from administration officials and stuck to technical questions about specific programs, they also did express some concerns, much of which cycled back to funding.
"I am concerned that recent reductions in conservation program funding will result in USDA having to deny producers the tools they need to combat these [regulatory] burdens effectively due to insufficient funding," said Rep. Tim Holden (D-Pa.), who introduced an amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill that would have restored funding to conservation programs.
Since the House began considering the cuts in the spending bill, conservation groups have stepped up their efforts advocating for farm programs. They recently held a national call-in day to Senate offices, and on Wednesday more than 600 groups wrote a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) supporting conservation.
"I'm not sure there's a whole lot more in conservation to give without impacting the ability of these programs to deliver the benefits that everyone in that committee today said were beneficial," Steven Kline, director of the Center for Agricultural Lands at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said after the hearing.
"When farmers and landowners are looking for a way to deal with regulation, these voluntary programs are the option," Kline added, citing the pollution diet that EPA has set for the Chesapeake Bay area.
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