Money Shifts in Farm Bill Conservation Title
The House and Senate Ag Committee Chairs disagree over Conservation Security Program funds.
Sam Anderson
Published: May 21, 2007
House Agriculture Committee Chair Collin Peterson, D-Minn., says he is planning to release an early, bipartisan draft of the 2007 Farm Bill's conservation title. The Senate Ag Committee Chair, Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, isn't entirely pleased with the content of that title.
That's because the draft includes $1.1 billion in cuts to the Conservation Security Program - which Harkin created in the 2002 Farm Bill.
Expanding acres under conservation programs including CSP "is more necessary than ever given the demands placed on conservation by the record planting this season and the need to produce more biofuels for national energy security," Harkin says.
"The House bill perpetuates the damage to conservation and the environment caused by the previous two Congresses and the Bush administration. Farmers need more conservation funding on agricultural land, yet the House bill doesn't provide it."
The funds taken from CSP would likely go towards other conservation programs, Peterson says. For instance, the money might go towards adding 1.5 million acres to the Wetlands Reserve Program.
The House Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research Subcommittee will mark up the draft on Tuesday.
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Tagged: farm, farm bill, CSP, biofuels, Conservation Security Program
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