Statement Of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy
Introduction Of Farm Conservation Funding Protection Act
October 21, 2003
Mr. President, today
I am pleased to introduce bipartisan legislation with Senators Snowe,
Burns, Jeffords, Lautenberg and Dodd to restore the conservation
funding commitment Congress and the Administration made to farmers
and ranchers in the 2002 Farm Bill.
Despite the historic conservation funding levels in the 2002 Farm Bill,
family farmers and ranchers offering to restore wetlands, or
offering to change the way they farm to improve air and water
quality, continue to be rejected when they seek U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) conservation assistance. Producers are being
turned away due to USDA’s decision earlier this year to divert
$158.7 million from working lands conservation programs to pay for
the cost of administering the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and
the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) despite a clear directive in the
2002 Farm Bill that the USDA use mandatory funds from the Commodity
Credit Corporation (CCC) to pay for CRP and WRP technical
assistance. In particular, USDA diverted $107.9 million from the
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), $27.6 from the
Farmland and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP), $14.6 million from
the Grasslands Reserve Program, and $8.6 million from the Wildlife
Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP) to pay for CRP and WRP technical
assistance.
Although the 2002
Farm Bill clearly intended USDA to use CCC funds to pay for CRP and
WRP technical assistance, USDA continues to ignore Congress’s
intent. The plain language of the statute and the legislative
history, including a relevant colloquy, support this interpretation
of the Farm Bill, and the General Accounting Office (GAO) concurred
in a recent memo. I ask unanimous consent the GAO’s memo be entered
into the Record following my remarks.
Our legislation would override USDA’s decision and prevent funds
from working lands incentive programs like EQIP and WHIP from being
diverted to pay for the technical assistance costs of CRP. The
House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation has already approved
similar legislation, H.R. 1907, requiring each program to pay for
its own technical assistance needs. Our legislation parallels that
effort, by requiring CRP to pay for its own technical assistance
needs. Simply put, our amendment would require the Administration
to honor the 2002 Farm Bill and mandate that technical assistance
for each program is derived from funds provided for that program.
By providing more
than $6.5 billion for working lands programs like EQIP and WHIP in
the 2002 Farm Bill, Congress dramatically increased funds to help
farmers manage working lands to produce food and fiber and
simultaneously enhance water quality and wildlife habitat. For
example, EQIP helps share the cost of a broad range of land
management practices that help the environment, include more
efficient use of fertilizers and pesticides, and innovative
technologies to store and reuse animal waste. In combination, these
working lands programs will provide farmers the tools and incentives
they need to help meet our major environmental challenges.
Full funding for
working lands incentive programs like EQIP and WHIP is vital to
helping farmers and ranchers improve their farm management and
meeting America’s most pressing environmental challenges. Because
70 percent of the American landscape is private land, farming
dramatically affects the health of America’s rivers, lakes and bays
and the fate of America’s rare species. Most rare species depend
upon private lands for their survival, and many will become extinct
without help from private landowners. When farmers and ranchers take
steps to help improve air and water quality or assist rare species,
they can face new costs, new risks, or loss of income. Conservation
programs help share these costs, underwrite these risks, or offset
these losses of income. Unless Congress provides adequate resources
for these programs, there is little reason to hope that our farmers
and ranchers will be able to help to meet these environmental
challenges.
In addition, USDA
conservation programs promote regional equity in farm spending. More
than 90 percent of USDA spending flows to a handful of large farmers
in 15 mid-western and southern states. As a result, many farmers and
ranchers who are not eligible for traditional subsidies – including
dairy farmers, ranchers, and fruit and vegetable farmers -- rely
upon conservation programs to boost farm and ranch income and to
ease the cost of environmental compliance. Unlike commodity
subsidies, conservation payments flow to all farmers and all
regions. But the farmers and ranchers who depend upon these programs
– farmers and ranchers who already receive a disproportionately
small share of USDA funds – have faced a disproportionately large
cut in spending this year.
Mr. President, it is
time for Congress and the Administration to honor the intent of the
2002 Farm Bill, by fully funding working lands conservation
programs. The failure to adequately fund these working lands
conservation programs is having a dramatic impact on both farmers
and the farm economy and could become worse in future years if
Congress does not address this matter. I urge my colleagues to
support this important legislation.
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Related Links:
Leahy Bill
Would Require Full Funding Of Conservation Programs Important To
Vermont And Its Farmers October 22, 2003
