Farm Bill conservation programs are critical to restoring the Great Lakes. They help farmers put marginal cropland to work for the health of the Great Lakes. However many more Great Lakes farm families want to participate in the Farm Bill conservation programs than can be accommodated because of insufficient federal funding. Conservation programs are woefully under-funded. Two out of three farmers willing to take actions to help the environment are turned down due to lack of funds.

Now, the United States Senate may cut conservation programs even further as it rewrites a new Farm Bill within the next few weeks.

You can help prevent these damaging cuts by contacting Great Lakes Senators today.  Here’s what to do:

Step 1) Call the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for your Senators’ office.

Step 2) Ask for the staff person working on the farm bill (if they’re not available, talk to whoever answers the phone).

Step 3) Tell them:

• Ensure that at least $5 Billion in additional funding is allocated for Conservation Programs in the Senate Farm Bill! Conservation programs should not take a step back from the last Farm Bill!
• The Farm Bill Conservation Programs are critical towards achieving the goals of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, a group of 95 environmental and conservation organizations and businesses.
• The Great Lakes Regional Collaboration restoration plan, developed by more than 1,500 people, specifically relies on Farm Bill Conservation programs to bring much-needed improvements to water quality, soil loss, and fish and wildlife habitat-all of which contribute to our quality of life.

BACKGROUND: Thousands of farmers are restoring imperiled wildlife habitat and wetlands around our Great Lakes with the assistance of conservation programs authorized by the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, more commonly known as the Farm Bill. The hard work of these local stewards is critical to protecting the Great Lakes, but their success is at risk unless programs are fully funded and expanded under the next Farm Bill.

Our Great Lakes are a gift from the glacial age. Spread across eight states, the Great Lakes are the catch basin for a region nearly the size of Texas. They are the world’s single-largest source of fresh water, quenching the thirst of many U.S. cities and fueling everything from transportation to recreation.

Yet, science shows that the lakes are near a tipping point of ecological collapse. Toxic levels of phosphorus, a pollutant that is killing Lake Erie, are increasing again. Valuable topsoil is being washed into the lakes, clouding shallow shoreline water. Smelly algae and high bacteria levels contaminate the water between the shoreline and up to two miles out—closing beaches and harming fish and wildlife.

Thankfully, farmers are taking an active role in restoring the Great Lakes. As illustrated in this report, Farm Bill conservation programs help farmers return land to nature, farm their land wisely and protect the health and quality of the Great Lakes, while maintaining their family’s way of life.

Farm Bill conservation programs have ensured that once-marginal farmland now provides millions of acres of high-quality wildlife habitat, which supports the local $18-billion hunting, fishing and wildlife watching industry. These farmland conservation programs also serve to filter pesticides, fertilizers and sediment out of water that millions of Great Lakes residents depend upon for drinking, bathing, fishing and swimming. Conservation easements slow urban sprawl and ensure supplies of productive farmland.

Many more families want to participate in the Farm Bill conservation programs than can be accommodated because of insufficient federal funding. Congress must fully fund and expand the Farm Bill conservation programs. The health of our Great Lakes, the local farming families that live around the lakes and our communities cannot afford to have these programs shortchanged.

Farm Bill programs are expiring and need to be renewed.  Congress has been working on a new bill that replaces the old version this year.  The House passed its bill on July 27.  The House bill provided nearly $5 billion more for conservation programs (not including CSP), but did not adequately fund them all.  The Senate Agriculture Committee is still drafting its bill.  Senators are targeting conservation funds for other uses leaving conservation programs at least $2 billion short of the $5 billion in additional funding needed to begin addressing unmet demand.

Cultivating Restoration Report: http://206.130.110.244/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/final_how-reportcultivating-restoration1.pdf

Related posts:

• Great Lakes Restoration and the Farm Bill
• HOW Coalition Issues Farm Bill Statement
• Coalition Applauds Sen. Stabenow for Introducing Key Farm Bill Amendment
• New Report: Strong Farm Bill Key to Great Lakes Restoration
• Money, Money, Money…Money