AgriPulse has put together a thorough analysis of the pending issues in the House and Senate development of a farm bill. Below is their overview and a look at Title II – Conservation.
The House and Senate Agriculture Committees are still several months away from voting on a new farm bill, but the major issues in each of the 12 titles are coming into focus even as lawmakers continue offering new proposals they’d like to see included.
The bill is setting up to be more evolutionary than revolutionary, reflecting in part farm groups’ satisfaction with the structure of the 2018 farm bill, as well as the tight budget environment and divided Congress.
Plus, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act pumped $17 billion into farm bill conservation programs with additional funding for clean energy and forestry programs that were priorities for President Joe Biden’s climate policy.
The 2018 farm bill was “very effective” ‘and tried and tested under some difficult circumstances,” including the trade war with China and COVID-19 pandemic,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said.
“All of it’s going to get critical analysis to make sure that we don't miss an opportunity for refinement. But … what's the old adage? If it's not broken, don't fix it,” Thompson said.
Still, Thompson and the top Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, John Boozman of Arkansas, have pledged to provide for or some kind of increase in Price Loss Coverage reference prices. There also are an array of issue that while relatively small in the grand scheme of the $1.5 trillion bill are important to key sectors, including producers of fruits, vegetables and other specialty crops who are looking to the farm bill in part to expand their crop insurance options and also help accelerate automation.
Advocates of major farm bill reform "likely believe that this is not the right farm bill to move very far to achieve their ends," said Ferd Hoefner, a farm policy consultant and former policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition.
But Hoefner sees the potential for a fight with long-term implications over bringing IRA funding into the farm bill in order to ensure that it an be used to permanently increase funding levels for conservation programs.. "The ability to turn short term IRA funding into long term farm bill funding could yield an additional $60-plus billion dollars in future farm bill baseline looking out over the horizon of the next five or so farm bills toward agriculture's net zero goal by 2050," he said.
Here is a description of each of the 12 titles as well as a summary of the major issues in play and a listing of notable measures, known as marker bills, that lawmakers have introduced for possible inclusion in the farm bill.
Title II: Conservation
What it does: Authorizes and provides mandatory funding for conservation programs. They include the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays landowners to retire environmentally sensitive acreage; the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which provides cost-share assistance for practices, equipment and structures that address natural resource concerns; and the Conservation Stewardship Program, which provides annual payments to farmers who undertake conservation practices.
The Regional Conservation Partnership Program funds public-private projects. The Agricultural Conservation Easement Program pays landowners for protecting wetlands or preventing development of farmland.
Both EQIP and CSP have been oversubscribed in recent years, despite EQIP receiving a 10-year budget increase of more than $1 billion in the 2018 farm bill.
The conservation programs were projected to cost $59.7 billion over 10 years under the 2018 farm bill. EQIP, CSP, RCPP and ACEP received a total of $17 billion in additional new funding in 2022 through the Inflation Reduction Act for promotion of climate-smart farming practices. Under the budget reconciliation rules used to pass the IRA, the funding must be distributed by the end of fiscal 2031.
What it costs: Not counting the IRA funding, $60 billion, or 4%, of the projected 10-year cost of farm bill programs through 2033.
What's in play: The biggest issue by far is whether to bring the IRA funding into the farm bill. The money could then be reallocated so that it could provide a permanent increase in funding for conservation programs beyond the 2031 cutoff date imposed by the budget reconciliation rules.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) would have to go along with moving the IRA money into the farm bill. She has insisted the funding remain dedicated to increasing adaptation of climate-related practices. The committee’s ranking Republican, John Boozman of Arkansas, has said he respects that “red line.”
The Conservation Reserve Program, which wasn’t touched by the IRA, will likely receive some attention. Some producers would like to see CRP payment rates increased for the southern and western Plains to attract more acreage under CRP’s general signup. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., argues the rates are too low.
On the other hand, Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Booker (D-NJ) have called for reducing the overall acreage cap from 27 million to 24 million acres while increasing payments for more environmentally sensitive tracts that can be enrolled through rules of the Continuous CRP signup. Enrollment in CRP Grasslands and Continuous programs has been steadily increasing in recent years, while general CRP enrollment has declined in recent years, according to U of Illinois economists.
Other things to watch out for include a push by Prairie Pothole Republicans to do away with NRCS’s ability to enter into permanent easement agreements, an effort to increase funding for the conservation Stewardship Program, and a proposal to create a small farm subprogram under EQIP.