WASHINGTON (Nov. 10, 2011) – U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced today 67 projects that were selected to be funded under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which was authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill. The projects are focused on helping rural agricultural producers reduce energy consumption and costs; using renewable energy technologies in their operations; and/or conducting feasibility studies for renewable energy projects.

Farm program payments must be tied to conservation

With the 2008 farm bill set to expire in less than a year, discussions have already begun for writing the 2012 farm bill. Since Washington is looking to trim the budget anywhere possible, many farm programs, such as direct payments, are on the chopping block. Other programs, like disaster payments and conservation policies, will likely face cuts as well.

Both Iowa Farmers Union and National Farmers Union have long argued that family farmers and ranchers are the best stewards of the land, and that continues to be true. Taking good care of the land is simply the right thing to do. Farmers and ranchers must be conscientious of preserving our land, water, and other natural resources to pass down to future generations.

Another reason farmers have complied with federal conservation guidelines is because there has always been a financial incentive to do so. Farmers who did not comply with federal conservation standards were not eligible to receive direct payments and thus lost out on a potential source of revenue.

Because direct payments are likely to be cut from the 2012 farm bill, farmers will no longer have a financial incentive to comply with conservation guidelines. That is why it is critical for the next farm bill to provide a link between conservation programs and the farm safety net. Farmers must comply with federal conservation guidelines in order to receive federal assistance on crop insurance and disaster payments.

Fair or not, agriculture’s image has taken a hit because of the proliferation of corporate farms. Linking commodity payments with conservation compliance would show that farmers are interested in preserving natural resources. While it is necessary to turn a profit to survive, farmers also recognize the need to conserve resources for the betterment of society.

Tying farm safety net payments to compliance with federal conservation guidelines is the right thing to do.

— Chris Petersen, Iowa Farmers Union president, Clear Lake

www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20111103/OPINION04/311030025/1038/Farm-program-payments-must-tied-conservation

From the National Center for Appropriate Technology:

Late yesterday the Senate passed its Fiscal Year 2012 agriculture appropriations bill.  It’s far from a perfect bill – one that would build support for sustainable farming, healthy food, and strong rural and urban communities.  But it’s much better than the bill the House passed last summer.

For example, the House bill cut over a billion dollars from conservation programs.  In contrast, while the Senate bill cuts far too deeply, its $726 million cut obviously does less damage.

The House cuts the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program by almost $3 million, while the Senate level-funds it at $19.2 million.  The House cut the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas Program (ATTRA) by $800,000 while the Senate cut is less – $550,000.

Iowa Congressman Tom Latham, Georgia Congressman Jack Kingston, Missouri Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson and Wyoming Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis are the House negotiators for the bargaining meeting between the House and Senate versions.  Negotiations start this morning – Thursday, November 3.

These four legislators need to hear from their constituents – immediately – why the House should yield to the Senate on these crucial provisions.

Please call your or email your Congressman:

The message:  Ask Latham to support the Senate’s higher funding level for the Appropriate Technology for Rural Areas Program (ATTRA) and the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program.

Petition from the Center for Rural Affairs:

Help us get to Capitol Hill — because the 2012 Farm Bill won’t only be affecting farmers. Included in the bill are provisions for rural development and conservation that will alter the future of the nation’s jobs, markets and environment. Without our voices in Congress, corporate interests will call the shots and pocket the cash that could otherwise go to help the hardworking citizens that comprise the majority of the nation.

We need your help to sign and share this petition to influence this crucial legislation. Will you let your friends know about this petition and the impact they can have for the environment and rural development?

What’s at stake?

Small business development and beginning farmer programs have helped launch promising enterprises and create permanent jobs across rural America. But investment in rural development is 28% less now than what it was in 2003! It would be a shame and insult to rural Americans to slash the very programs that are helping revitalize communities throughout the nation.

The Conservation Stewardship Program pays farmers to protect the land and water through safe farming practices. With cuts already initiated through the Appropriations committee, the additional cuts made in the farm bill will essentially cancel out all of the conservation progress made since 2008! Why would Congress want to eliminate a program that is keeping our soil and water non-toxic and preserved for our future generations?

We can only win a farm bill that supports our environment and helps launch new jobs if our voice is big and bold. You can help by sharing this opportunity to make a difference with your friends. We want to send 10,000 voices to Congress. Help us get to Capitol Hill. Will you sign and send this petition to friends, relatives and other passionate neighbors?

Thanks for your leadership,
Jamie Horter
Center for Rural Affairs

From the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

The Senate may begin consideration of the agricultural appropriations bill on the floor today, even while the House and Senate authorizing committee readies their letter, due tomorrow, to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction detailing proposed cuts to farm bill mandatory spending.

According to published reports, the size of the proposed 10-year cut to farm bill programs is in the neighborhood of $23 billion, or about half way in between the higher amount proposed by the President and the lower amount that would result from the “sequestration” process that will kick in if the deficit reduction measure to be voted on by Christmas fails to pass.

The appropriations measure — which may go to the floor today but will not be finished until next week — includes a nearly $200 million reduction below the already very low fiscal year 2011 funding level. On top of that overall cut to discretionary farm, food and rural spending, the bill also cuts 12 percent or nearly $700 million from mandatory farm bill conservation program spending. The companion House-passed measure cuts the farm bill programs by over $1 billion. Appropriators raid farm bill accounts through legislative riders and often rely on this mechanism whenever the allocation given to them to fund the programs under their jurisdiction is shorted.

Conservation Community Weighs In

Yesterday, NSAC joined with 47 other organizations in writing to the Joint Select Committee and Agriculture Committees urging them to recognize the huge cuts already made to farm conservation programs and to leave them out of the mix in any further reductions in the deficit reduction package. Signers of that letter included the Agricultural Retailers Association, Ducks Unlimited, National Farmers Union, Environmental Defense Fund, National Association of Conservation Districts, and National Association of State Foresters.

Two other conservation letters also went up to the Hill this week and NSAC was a signatory to those as well. One signed by 45 organizations concerned about saving grasslands and protecting wildlife habitat urged the Agriculture Committees and the Joint Select Committee to re-establish conservation compliance requirements for all forms of farm production support including crop insurance and to maintain funding for working lands and easement programs that help protect grasslands. It was signed by the National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, and many others.

Another letter came from state water utility groups and also urged support for farm conservation program funding to help improve water quality, pointing to the role of conservation programs in saving state and local funding for far more expensive clean-up efforts that are necessary in the absence of farm pollution prevention measures. Signing that letter include, in addition to NSAC, the American Water Works Association, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, Association of Public Works Agencies, and the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.

NSAC has also been in communications with Congress stressing the need for any budget agreement on the farm bill to include renewed funding for the Wetlands Reserve Program and Grasslands Reserve Program, both of which have been mainstays in the farm conservation farm bill portfolio but both of which run out of money at the end of the current farm bill cycle. We believe these programs should be given permanent farm bill funding on a par with most other mandatory farm bill programs instead of being made subject to funding renewal battles each farm bill cycle. We continue to push for restored, permanent funding as the priority use for any savings from the Conservation Reserve Program, a program whose funding is being reduced by market forces.

Our full farm bill budget proposal includes our positions on rural development and food system funding and farm program reform.

How To Tell If the Proposal to the Joint Committee is a Reform Proposal

It is becoming clear the Agriculture Committee package to the Joint Committee will include either elimination or a big reduction in commodity program direct payments. We applaud this move, but do not believe that moving away from direct payments is by itself an adequate measure of reform. While there are many aspects to reforming farm programs, here are a few essential measures to look for when the letter to the Joint Committee is released:

1. Does the move to revenue-based support include real payment limits or does it continue the current system of unlimited taxpayer support on every last acre regardless of how large a farm grows? The payment limitation reform bill introduced by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Tim Johnson (D-SD) should be included as part of the new farm safety net to ensure that current loopholes allowing for unlimited payments are closed and that the resulting new product is indeed a safety net and not a subsidy to farm consolidation and diminished economic opportunity in agriculture and rural America.

2. Do all forms of production subsidies — commodity payments, shallow loss revenue insurance payments, and crop and revenue insurance premium subsidies — include conservation provisions requiring recipients of taxpayer support to comply with basic soil erosion and wetland protection measure? And are subsidies of all kinds ended for conversion of prime grasslands?

3. Does the new farm program landscape include maximum planting flexibility so that choices of what to grow are left to the farmer and the market place rather than dictated by federal policy? There is growing interest in the production of fresh, local and minimally processed produce and these markets need to be given a chance to thrive and improve local economies.

4. Does the resulting farm bill funding package strengthen and improve the working lands conservation program budget so that critical environmental problems can be addressed and that, over the long term, taxpayer support of agriculture will move toward provision of public benefits and long-term food security?

5. Are the newer wave, small but innovative and job-creating farm bill programs for rural micro-enterprise, value-added enterprise development, beginning farmers, minority farmers, local food, organic farming, specialty crops, and direct marketing continued and expanded?

This morning farmers from Iowa heard a briefing on the 2012 Farm Bill from U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. This briefing marked the beginning of the National Farmers Union Fall Legislative Fly-In. Three delegates from the Iowa Farmers Union are joining with 250 Farmers Union members in Washington, D.C. for the next two days. The series of events and meetings will take grassroots lobbying efforts to the office of every member of Congress in just two and a half days. Participating members will hear from White House officials, USDA leadership and elected officials from across the country.

The Iowa Farmers Union will be represented at the Fall Fly In by three active members. President Chris Petersen (Clear Lake), Education Chair Aaron Heley-Lehman (Polk City), and Lobbyist Kent Hartwig (Des Moines) will be traveling to Washington to speak on behalf of Iowa’s family farmers.

For Aaron Heley-Lehman, it is important to participate in the Fly In because  “members of congress need to hear from ordinary farmers.” The Farmers Union does the work legislative advocacy for family farmers best.  Heley-Lehman wants farm policies prioritized to focus on improved farm safety nets and conservation programs as opposed to direct payments.

U.S. farmers meeting face-to-face with policymakers is one of the most important things to be done to ensure the voices of Farmers Union members and family farmers are heard. As the discussions about the 2012 Farm Bill begin to mount, Farmers Union members and staff will have to continue to drive home the message that we need a strong safety net in order to allow farmers and ranchers to continue in their business of providing an abundant and safe source of food and fuel for the country and world.

IFU members will be advocating for safety nets to protect farmers and ranchers during times of need. When disasters such as flooding strike, we need to ensure that farmers are able to recover quickly so that they can keep producing the safest, most abundant, most affordable food supply in the world.

It is time for you to start thinking about harvest, oncoming snow, and the annual Iowa Farmers Union convention. This year, the convention will be held in Ames, Iowa on Saturday, December 3rd. The focus of the event will be policy – we will be creating the IFU policy platform with your input and experience. Please come join this interactive event. Register by October 31, 2011 for low rates.