Environmental Defense calls Senate Finance Committee tax provisions good first step to Address Conservation Funding Shortfall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 
Contact:
Sean Crowley – 202-572-3331 or scrowley@environmentaldefense.org
Sharyn Stein – 202-572-3396 or sstein@environmentaldefense.org
 
(Washington, DC – October 5) Environmental Defense today called last night’s markup of a tax package by the Senate Finance Committee a good first step in addressing the conservation funding shortfall in the 2007 farm bill. However, the group expressed concern about reports by Senate staff that some Agriculture Committee members are proposing to redirect at least some of the $3 billion in conservation funding to other programs.
 
“The good news is that the Finance Committee is poised to free up significant resources for conservation programs in the 2007 farm bill,” said Sara Hopper, an attorney for Environmental Defense and a former staff member for the Senate Agriculture Committee. “The bad news is that it’s not yet clear that the Agriculture Committee will actually use this money for conservation.”
 
“We need to reward, not reject, farmers who offer to share the cost of providing cleaner air, cleaner water, and wildlife habitat,” said Tim Male, a senior scientist for Environmental Defense. “Meeting farmer-led demand for conservation assistance will require significantly more than $3 billion in new funding in this farm bill. Today, the Finance Committee took an important first step in the right direction, but we are concerned the Agriculture Committee could take a big step backward if they later take this money away from conservation.”
 
The funding increase is necessary because currently 2 out of 3 farmers who apply for assistance through USDA conservation programs are rejected due to insufficient funding. Increasing conservation funding in the 2007 farm bill also would ensure that more states and regions get a fairer share of Farm Bill spending because all farmers can be eligible for conservation funding, regardless of how much they grow or where their farm is located. By contrast, crop subsidies primarily benefit growers of five row crops: corn, cotton, rice, soybean and wheat. As a result, over 50 percent of all Farm Bill spending flows to just seven states. 
 
The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to take up the 2007 farm bill soon after Congress returns from the Columbus Day week recess on October 15.
 
The tax package reported by the Finance Committee last night will include over $5 billion in conservation provisions, including provisions that allow participants in three popular USDA conservation programs to opt for tax credits in lieu of cash payments from USDA. The tax credit option for the three programs — the Conservation Reserve, Wetlands Reserve and Working Grasslands programs — will generate an estimated $3 billion in savings for the Agriculture Committee to use in developing the farm bill. Since these funds are being generated from conservation programs, the Agriculture Committee must reinvest the money in conservation to avoid a reduction in the conservation baseline. 
 
Recent public opinion polls conducted September 18-21 by Zogby International for Environmental Defense in Colorado, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Washington state found that more than three out of four (76% to 85%) of poll respondents in each state agreed that their U.S. senators should support shifting money from farm subsidies to conservation programs. If that reform effort succeeded, more than six out of 10 (62% to 77%) of the poll respondents in each state said they would have a more favorable opinion of Congress.
 

The complete poll results are available at www.environmentaldefense.org/farms.

 

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