Farm Bill Funds Can Help Water Quality, Sprawl & Wildlife
“Less than ten percent of the money Congress spends now helps farmers help the environment. The remainder actually harms the environment,” said Tim Searchinger, principal author of the report and an Environmental Defense senior attorney. “Only farmers and ranchers can solve many of our country’s biggest environmental problems. Its time for Congress to help them,” said Searchinger.
Farmland occupies half of this country’s land, and many current farming practices help make agriculture the nation’s leading source of water pollution and problems for endangered species. If given the right incentives, however, farmers can use proven techniques to provide clean water and restore imperiled species. Farms can serve as a bulwark against sprawl and can be part of the solution to global warming.
Two thirds of all farmers receive no direct financial farm support, according to the report, and most of the remainder is targeted at the tiny percentage of largest farms. Many major farming states receive almost no support at all. Meanwhile, three quarters of all farmers and ranchers seeking support to help the environment are turned away because of a lack of funds. Traditional programs can cause crop surpluses and low prices that drive out family farms. Programs that reward environmental stewardship would give more help to family farmers than traditional farm programs.
The report also discusses how farm programs can preserve and enhance private forests and address critical public health concerns, including growing problems with antibiotic-resistant diseases, and pesticides.
The upcoming Farm Bill will spend almost three times as much money each year as the last Farm Bill (1996). The House Agriculture Committee will start to mark-up its bill Thursday, which is expected to mirror past Farm Bill spending patterns. However, the Working Lands Stewardship Act (HR 2375), with eighty bi-partisan co-sponsors, devotes roughly one third of its funds to conservation incentives.
Food for Thought was also authored by American Farmland Trust, Center for Science in the Public Interest, Defenders of Wildlife, Environmental Working Group and Trout Unlimited.
One of the world’s leading international nonprofit organizations, Environmental Defense Fund (edf.org) creates transformational solutions to the most serious environmental problems. To do so, EDF links science, economics, law, and innovative private-sector partnerships. With more than 3 million members and offices in the United States, China, Mexico, Indonesia and the European Union, EDF’s scientists, economists, attorneys and policy experts are working in 28 countries to turn our solutions into action. Connect with us on Twitter @EnvDefenseFund
Latest press releases
-
GOP House Appropriators Are on the Wrong Track
July 26, 2024 -
Energy Permitting Reform Must Advance Climate Progress and Community Safeguards
July 26, 2024 -
EDF Heads to Court to Defend EPA Action to Identify Climate Pollution, Including Methane from Landfills
July 24, 2024 -
New DOE Transmission Grants Will Deliver Reliable Power, Lower Costs and Jobs to Communities
July 24, 2024 -
New analysis: If Duke Energy’s gas plant ambitions are approved, the average residential customer could pay nearly $2,100 more on power bills through 2038
July 23, 2024 -
President Biden’s Vital Climate Leadership “Delivered Real, Positive Benefits for Everyone”
July 21, 2024