Harkin Proposal Short Changes Farm Conservation Needs

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) farm bill proposal is an improvement over farm legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, but still falls short of meeting conservation goals and achieving regional equity according to Environmental Defense.

“Under the current system, the majority of U.S. farmers are routinely rejected when they seek conservation funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), including 70% of those seeking water quality grants and more than 500,000 farmers who have offered to restore lost wetlands. Unfortunately, the Harkin proposal still falls short of meeting the demand for participation in existing conservation programs,” said Environmental Defense attorney Tim Searchinger.

While the Harkin legislation seeks to fund restoration of 250,000 acres of wetlands and retains current limits of feedlots subsidies, Environmental Defense is calling on Harkin to increase funding for water quality and wildlife habitat incentives as well as expand open space preservation and other conservation programs under the USDA.

“Farmers and ranchers are willing to do their part to help the environment, but we need to provide them with adequate tools and better incentives,” said Environmental Defense water resource specialist Scott Faber. “The last farm bill dedicated 30% of farm spending to conservation programs, but Senator Harkin’s proposal would spend less than 20% of USDA funds to reward farmers who help the environment.”

The Harkin bill will provide $3.5 billion in annual average spending for traditional USDA conservation programs during the years covered by the bill, a figure that is far below the $4.2 billion in funding proposed by Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Richard Lugar (R-IN) or the $5 billion in annual funding to be proposed this week by Senators Pat Leahy (D-VT) and Harry Reid (D-NV).

Environmental Defense is also concerned that Senator Harkin’s income subsidy proposals do not reduce incentives that have led to crop surpluses in the past and contributed to the destruction of environmentally sensitive lands through the production of row crops like corn and soybeans, a concern that is also shared by the Bush administration.