Environmental Defense Fund Slams Faulty Crop Insurance Bill

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) criticized H.R. 2559, the $6 billion “crop insurance” bill passed today by the US House of Representatives.

“The bill will lead to more farm damages by paying higher subsidies to farmers the more frequently a field suffers flood or droughts,” said EDF senior attorney Tim Searchinger. “This is an incentive to produce crops on marginal lands and would result in millions more acres of corn, soybean and cotton fields on land that is now pasture, wetlands and woodlots. It would mean less habitat and vastly greater use of fertilizer and pesticides that run off into streams and bays.”

“The bill would undo 15 years of reforms in agricultural policy by encouraging excess cropping on marginal lands, and by doubling subsidies without any limits on farm size or restrictions on using funds to drain wetlands or plough up even the most erodible lands,” said Searchinger. “The bill would also mean more crop surplus and low prices for farmers everywhere.”

A bill scheduled to be introduced today by Senator Richard Lugar (R-Indiana), Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, would still contain some faulty incentives but would represent a major improvement on the House bill. “Congress can provide the same funds to farmers without creating environmentally disastrous incentives,” said Searchinger.

Twenty-seven environmental or taxpayer groups sent a letter to the Senate and a letter to the House of Representatives opposing the bill.