Senate Ag Committee to hold conservation hearing

by | Jun 27, 2017 | 5 Ag Stories, News

Money Matters 6-28-17

Senate Ag Committee members will hear about the importance of conservation programs Thursday. This comes as Senate Ag prepares to determine funding in the 2018 Farm Bill.

Senator Chuck Grassley says conservation has always been an important title in the farm bill since he?s been in office.

?We use conservation dollars to build support for the overall bill and the programs make a real difference for rural America. Not only farmers, but all people living there.?

He says those programs range from the Conservation Reserve Program to EQIP or the Environmental Quality Incentives Program.

?These help farmers manage cropland in sustainable ways. Farmers use federal cost-share dollars for practices that range from traditional terraces and waterways to new practices like cover crops and saturated buffer strips that prevent fertilizer from leaching.?

Grassley says in the last farm bill the CRP acreage cap was lowered.

?That is where it stands today. We lowered the CRP cap for two reasons. First, it saved a large sum of money according to the Congressional Budget Office. Second, during 2012 when we drafted the bill, the corn price was at an all-time high and we needed more acres for production.?

He notes the farm economy is a lot different today.

?We?re going to have to review all the programs to determine where we are going to get the most value with very limited resources.?

Witnesses from USDA, farm organizations, and individual farmers and ranchers will testify Thursday at the Senate Ag Committee hearing on conservation.