“Conservation needs and the needs of our producers are as diverse as the crops they grow and the land that they grow them on. Our programs must reflect this reality and provide the flexibility our farmers and ranchers need,” Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) said during the hearing.
Boozman noted that Washington prioritizes a “limited set of practices” regarding natural resource protection. Much of it focuses on “climate-smart” agriculture and carbon capture initiatives.
Forestry programs and land conservation efforts under the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) are extensive.
Priority funding goes to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), the flagship project under USDA stewardship. It provides annual payments to producers who dedicate acres to specific conservation practices. This includes improving soil and protecting water quality and wildlife habitat.
Though Boozman maintains these decisions must be left to farmers at the local level, not the federal government.
He added that Washington shouldn’t be pushing specific resource conservation concerns, saying it will have the opposite effect and “undermine” USDA programs’ success.
Some farmers also hesitate to jump on the “climate-smart” bandwagon by joining USDA programs like CRP. Part of this is due to the price of farm acreage in some areas.
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) gave the example of Prowers county in eastern Colorado.
In that arid section of the state, he said the price for farmland per acre is lower than in many places, and producers deal with what he called “dustbowl” conditions.
This results in farmers having to produce whatever they can, however they can. Incentive payments provided by the CRP are based on land value, so the price for converting a farm to specific conservation practices at as little as $13 per acre doesn’t create much incentive.
“Obviously, these low prices discourage anyone from putting their farm into the CRP program,” Bennet said.
Chief of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service division, Terry Cosby, said there’s “not a lot of trust” within farm communities regarding federal programs like CRP. He attributes this to a lack of understanding of how the process works and the available benefits.
“We need to be more flexible [and] we need to also streamline the application process,” Cosby said.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) echoed Boozman’s sentiments during the session.
Ernst said she strongly believes federal conservation programs must remain “voluntary, incentive-based, and flexible” for American farmers.
She added that a “one-size process” does not fit all producers because the United States has diverse landscapes with complex and different challenges depending on the region.
