Leahy Bill Would Require Full Funding
Of Conservation Programs
Important To Vermont And Its Farmers
 

WASHINGTON (Wed., Oct. 22) – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate Tuesday to ensure that Vermont’s farmers have adequate resources to control agricultural runoff and protect the state’s environment.  Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.) is a cosponsor of the initiative, the Farm Conservation Funding Protection Act.

As a senior member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, Leahy helped write the 2002 Farm Bill, which included $6.5 billion to help farmers affordably protect the environment and work their land by promoting use of farmland for agricultural production and habitat protection instead of development and sprawl.  For months Leahy has pointed to the flawed management of these funds by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which has left fewer farmers with adequate conservation resources. 

The USDA’s decision earlier this year to divert $158.7 million from several working lands conservation programs to pay for another conservation program, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), has hobbled programs like the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the Farmland and Ranchland Protection Program (FRPP).  Leahy’s bill would prevent funds from programs like EQIP and FRPP from being used to pay for the delivery of CRP assistance.  For more than a decade, Leahy has led Congress in creating and championing USDA-run programs that help farmers achieve conservation benefits on working farms.

USDA has diverted $107.9 million in EQIP funds to the CRP, leaving less money for Vermont farmers to combat serious problems like agricultural runoff.  These actions have also cost the FRPP -- a program Leahy first chartered as a pilot program in Vermont a decade ago -- $27.6 million this year.  When drafting the 2002 Farm Bill, Congress intended the USDA to pay for the CRP using money from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC), an agricultural subsidy program.

Since 1997, more than 500 farms throughout Vermont have benefited from EQIP funds to help build manure storage facilities, install buffers along waterways and change their farming practices to reduce the amount of phosphorus that runs off of their land into Vermont waters.  This year alone, Vermont has received $4 million in EQIP funds and $7 million overall in agricultural conservation funds.

“Although I was pleased that USDA directed additional funds to Vermont earlier this fall, the total conservation funding clearly falls short of the target we set in the Farm Bill,” said Leahy.  ”USDA’s decision to divert this important conservation funding to the programs that primarily benefit the Midwest is hurting our farmers and our communities.  Full funding for conservation programs is essential to give farmers the tools and incentives they need to help meet our major environmental challenges throughout Vermont.  Our bill restores the commitment made in last year’s Farm Bill.” 

A similar version of the bill was introduced earlier this year in the House of Representatives.  The House Agriculture Subcommittee on Conservation has already approved the bill, H.R. 1907.

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Related Links:

Leahy Bill Would Require Full Funding Of Conservation Programs Important To Vermont And Its Farmers October 22, 2003

Statement Of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy Introduction Of Farm Conservation Funding Protection Act October 21, 2003