Ranchers: Why Farm and Food Policy Matters

Reform can expand support for ranchers

Wyoming rancher Ogden Driskell works to protect water quality, wildlife and open space by participating in conservation programs. (Photo by Povy Kendal Atchison)

Rangelands account for more than half of the nation's agricultural lands, and can provide a wide variety of benefits to the environment and rural communities.

But USDA programs provide little support for ranchers. Ranchers are not eligible for traditional income subsidies that consume more than half of all farm spending. Many conservation assistance programs are designed to help croplands, not rangelands. What's more, millions of acres of rangeland are being lost to land conversion and development. In fact, more than 30 million acres of rangeland were lost between 1992 and 2002.

Renewal of federal farm and food policies creates a chance to expand and reform conservation programs that protect rangeland from conversion, such as the Grasslands Reserve Program, to expand programs that provide incentives for good stewardship of rangelands.

Reforming our farm safety net could help ranchers in two ways: by providing them with new risk management and savings tools, and by paving the way for treaties that open overseas markets to livestock exports.

Posted: 26-Jan-2006; Updated: 26-Jan-2006