Groups Ask for $10 Billion in New Conservation Funding

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Sustainable Agriculture Coalition joined with two dozen national and regional organizations in a June 11 letter sent to U.S. House and Senate and agriculture committee leadership calling for a $10 billion investment of new dollars in conservation in the new Farm Bill.

The groups asked that funding offsets come from a combination of farm policy reform and from the reserve fund established by congressional budget resolution.

The letter stated the following:

“On behalf of our millions of members and supporters, we urge you to increase mandatory USDA conservation spending by $10 billion over five years when you renew farm and food policies in the 2007 Farm Bill.
“Renewal of farm and food policies creates a rare opportunity to address some of the nation’s most significant environmental challenges. We urge you to dramatically expand incentives for farm, ranch and forest land management practices that benefit the environment and agriculture. In particular, we urge you to finance new investments in conservation through reforms to farm bill policies and through new funding and offsets from sources outside the farm bill.
“Farmers are eager to share the cost of clean water, clean air, a stable climate and wildlife habitat. Unfortunately, two out of three farmers are turned away by USDA when they offer to provide a healthier environment because of our misplaced spending priorities. As a result, we continue to lose thousands of acres of valuable wetlands, grasslands and private forest lands and our efforts to clean up rivers and bays like the Mississippi and the Chesapeake are falling further behind schedule.
“Congress should reward — not reject — farmers, ranchers and forest landowners when they take steps to help meet our environmental challenges. Boosting conservation spending in the 2007 Farm Bill would also help more farmers and more regions receive a fair share of federal farm spending.”

Beside the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, groups signing the letter included Audubon, Environmental Defense, Defenders of Wildlife, National Environmental Trust, Land Trust Alliance, The Minnesota Project, Environmental Working Group, American Farmland Trust, Southern Environmental Law Center, Union of Concerned Scientists, The Wilderness Society, American Bird Conservancy, Center for Biological Diversity, American Rivers, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, Center for Native Ecosystems, World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, The Society of Historical Archaeology, The American Cultural Resources Association, National Catholic Rural Life Conference and Coevolution Institute.