Farm Bill Action Alert:
Call Today—Conservation Security Program in Jeopardy
3/13/08
In mid-February you received an action alert in the mail asking you to contact your Congressman, U.S. House Agriculture Chair Collin Peterson (D-MN), to urge him to include a bigger and better Conservation Security Program (CSP) in the Farm Bill.
Negotiations on the Farm Bill are happening now and we fear CSP is being targeted for cuts. Congressman Peterson needs to hear that CSP is working to improve environmental stewardship on working farmland now, and that it should to be expanded so more farmers can use the program. We need to redouble efforts to win CSP in the Farm Bill.
Indications are that Congress is likely to do a short Farm Bill extension through April 15. Now is the time to contact Peterson and demand an expanded and adequately funded Conservation Security Program. For more on CSP, see LSP’s new Minnesota CSP Fact Sheet at www.landstewardshipproject.org/pdf/CSP_MN_fact_sheet.pdf. Also, below is a good newspaper commentary on the importance of CSP.
Contact Congressman Collin Peterson today at
202-225-2165 or 320-235-1061
The final Farm Bill needs to include a greater investment in the Conservation Security Program. More than ever, Congressman Peterson needs to hear from you. When you call his office, make sure to tell whoever answers the phone you are a constituent from Peterson’s district. If you’ve called before that’s okay, call again.
Basic message:
I want to leave a message for my Congressman. The Conservation Security Program is working. The final Farm Bill needs to include a bigger and better CSP. At a minimum, the program needs an additional $2 billion over the next five years. This will give more farmers the chance to use this program and do good conservation on America’s farmland.
Thank you for being willing to make this call. If you have any questions, call LSP’s Policy Office at 612-722-6377.
Letter to the Editor: Time to strengthen the CSP
West Central Tribune
2/27/2008
By Brian Wojtalewicz, Appleton
Driving across our wintertime prairie provides evidence that our land is suffering. Topsoil-laden snow, caused by excessive wind and water erosion, plagues our countryside. We humans survive on the topsoil, but we’re seeing farming practices and policies that do little to protect our natural resources and land. The pollution of our wells, streams and lakes is growing!
In the last farm bill, Congressman David Minge, who represented this area of Minnesota, teamed up with Iowa Senator Tom Harkin to push for the Conservation Security Program.
CSP, which became law, was a program that provided incentives for farmers who performed good stewardship practices on farmed lands. It’s time to expand and strengthen CSP in the next farm bill and provide farmers more options to conserve.
While set-aside conservation programs are also important, in a time of high crop prices, the pressure on farmers to stop them is huge. Farmers are planting more corn and beans, and acres are in demand. In part this is why CSP, which targets actual farmed lands, is so important. We need conservation incentives on farmed lands.
In the ongoing farm bill debate, the Senate has led on CSP by providing increased funding and greater simplification. In contrast, the House of Representatives farm bill, with Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson, fails to recognize the importance of CSP and provides inadequate funding.
This is even more stunning when you see the House’s Conservation Title dominated by funding for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program at nearly $2 billion a year. EQIP provides cost-share grants for implementing conservation practices, and has been used by family farmers for good conservation efforts. But more recently EQIP has become a boondoggle for the huge factory farm setups, which can amazingly receive up to $450,000 of taxpayer dollars to build huge manure lagoons in the name of conservation!
What our rural communities really need is a common sense, balanced conservation approach. The land, our water and our people need the Conservation Security Program at the Senate levels, better cost-share conservation efforts for family farmers and conservation set-aside options to farmers who want to use them.
