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Sustainable Ag Meets Capital Hill:
The Sunny side of the Farm Bill

Todd Kimm and Robert Karp

The new farm bill was greeted by plenty of catcalls when it was signed into law this spring. Its expansion of commodity subsidies and failure to ban packer ownership of livestock were two of the more glaring deficiencies. But as the debate continues over whether the legislation does more overall damage than good, we’d like to focus on the positive: the creation of the Conservation Security Program (CSP) and funding increases for the Community Food Projects, value-added programs and programs that benefit organic growers, to just begin. These are specific opportunities that PFI members will be in a position to take advantage of in the coming months and years.

The following roundup will be the first in a continuing effort by PFI to act as a resource for information on how to make the features of the new farm bill work for you, whether you’re looking for cash to help finance a riparian buffer or need assistance in obtaining organic certification.

Conservation Security Program

The Conservation Security Program (CSP) is the biggest new program in the farm bill and marks the first time that the U.S. government will provide environmental stewardship incentives beyond cost sharing for farmers to implement conservation plans on their working lands. Although the farm bill expands commodity subsidies that encourage crop surpluses, bigger farms and environmental degradation, the CSP sets at least one foot of Uncle Sam down a new path: using tax money to reward proactive efforts by farmers to improve their land. (Currently, for example, 85 percent of federal conservation funds go to idle land from production.) The efforts of Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agricultural Committee and chief author of the proposal, were key in making this program a reality. (Senator Harkin spoke on his plans for the legislation at the 2001 PFI Winter Meeting.)

PFI plans to work closely with both the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and the USDA-NRCS to educate our farmers about the opportunities CSP creates.

For many PFI members, the CSP could add a little financial security to your operations because it rewards those who have been doing what’s right all along (while helping them get even further toward their conservation goals). PFI plans to work closely with the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group to monitor the implementation of this program and with the USDA-NRCS to educate our farmers about the opportunities it creates.

If you practice or want to improve your practices in any of the following areas, you’ll want to start watching the program as the details unfold:

nutrient, pest, soil conservation and residue management
irrigation water conservation and water quality management
plant and animal germplasm conservation
grazing, pasture, and rangeland management
rotational grazing
resource-conserving crop rotations
filter strips, riparian buffers, windbreaks, and contour buffer strips
on-farm research and demonstration, and many other practices.

The program requires voluntary, flexible, site-specific conservation plans. Farmers are not required to retire land from production, and may choose a level of involvement based on the specific resources identified for their farms and their own stewardship goals.

The program has entitlement status, putting it on a par with commodity programs in terms of funding status. All eligible participants with approved plans can enroll without budget caps, waiting lists, and backlogs common to other programs. CSP is open to all producers and all types of agricultural lands.

The Conservation Security Program will provide annual payments to farmers based on the number of conservation practices included. The greatest financial incentives are to producers who implement whole farm planning.

The devil is in the details, of course, which are being worked our right now in Washington D.C. Crucial decisions will also be made in the Natural Resources Conservation Services’ State Technical Committees. Starting this August, PFI Executive Director Robert Karp is a member of the State Technical Committee here in Iowa.

The best place for more information on the Conservation Security Program is currently the Minnesota Project’s website: www.mnproject.org. Or contact Teresa Opheim at the Midwest Sustainable Agriculture Working Group: msawg@aol.com or 515-270-2634. You can also contact Robert Karp at PFI at 515-232-5661 or robert@practicalfarmers.org

Value-Added Grants and Food Systems

PFI members should be interested in some other items of good news tucked away in the farm bill.

The Value-Added Agricultural Market Development Grants program provides $40 million a year for grants to assist producer-owned, valued-added businesses in gaining a greater share of food system profit. Individual producers and farmer cooperatives are both eligible to apply for these funds. For more information contact Jeff Jobe at USDA Rural Development, Room 873, 210 Walnut Street, Des Moines, IA 50309 (515) 284-5192.

Benefits to Organic Growers

PFI’s organic growers will be happy to know that the Farm Bill provides numerous opportunities and avenues of assistance. These include:

• $5 million for a National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program to assist producers and handlers of agricultural products in obtaining organic certification. Producers may receive up to $500 through cost-share payments for 75 percent of the costs related to certification.

• $3 million a year from 2003 to 2007 for the Organic Research and Extension Initiative. It provides for innovative research targeted to meet the needs of organic food producers and processors.

• An exemption from paying an assessment for commodity promotion check-off programs for growers who produce and market solely organic products.

• A study on the availability of organic feed to help identify barriers to the production of organic products. This grew out of the fact that many producers were having difficulty obtaining adequate amounts of organic feed, endangering future integrity of the organic label for meat and poultry.

• Organic producers will benefit from many of the conservation programs in the farm bill, but most particularly, the CSP, in which organic farmers will be well-positioned to receive the highest level of payments.

Funding was increased for the Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems (IFAFS). This is of particular interest to PFI members because IFAFS is the one federal agricultural research program that funds research related to small and moderate-sized farms and ranches and their profitability.

In the area of food security and nutrition, funding for Community Food Projects was doubled. This program assists low-income people in acquiring fresher and more nutritious food, and helps communities become more able to provide for their own food needs. A new mini-grants component will help fund smaller, single-focus projects such as community kitchens or garden projects. New funds were also provided to help low-income seniors, women and children buy fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets. Iowa is one of four states participating in a pilot program to make free fresh and dried fruits and fresh vegetables available to a select number of schools. Purchase of local foods by schools is encouraged overall and includes the creation of start-up grants to be awarded to 200 institutions.