May 24, 2002

Note: This is the second in a series of four weekly articles from Congressman Lucas on specific areas of the new farm bill, which was signed into law May 13.
May 19 - Wheat and the Commodity Title
May 26 - Conservation Title Gets Proper Funding
June 2 - Critical Changes to the Peanut Program
June 9 - Rural Development Title Invests in Countryside

Washington, D.C.- People outside the farm bill debate sometimes wonder why a large section of the farm bill is dedicated to conservation. They forget that farmers, who owe their livelihood to the land, were the original conservationists. For agriculture producers, every day is Earth Day, and for them it's impossible to separate producing from the land and preserving that land for future generations.

So it is that federal farm policy includes programs to encourage soil, air, and water conservation. The farm bill we passed in Congress this year is no different in that respect. What is different is that in this bill we build on the current voluntary incentive programs that have worked in the past, providing an 80 percent increase in conservation funding.

By far the most popular program in the conservation title of the farm bill has been the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP. Aptly named, this program equips landowners with the planning and resources they need to conduct a myriad of various conservation practices to apply to their land, which help preserve soil and water and enhance wildlife.

EQIP is a cost-share program, which means the government shares part of the cost of the projects with the landowner. Producer dollars are matched with federal funds for land management projects like repairing terraces or planting grass. Landowners confer with their local Natural Resources Conservation Service office, which provides the technical assistance on the dozens of different EQIP practices that help reduce the loss of soil and water.

As Chairman of the agriculture subcommittee with jurisdiction on conservation, our committee set out last year to learn how the conservation title could be improved upon. We heard from experts from across the political spectrum and from various groups affected by the bill - including conservationists, cattlemen, farmers, and wildlife groups. When I asked them their thoughts about the EQIP program, they responded that the program was hugely successful in preserving soil and water. But they stressed that the program was not being adequately funded.

The program under the old farm bill was funded at only $176 million annually, which left many producers sitting on a waiting list because the program ran out of funds every year. They've been willing to foot their end of the bill for projects to prevent soil erosion or protect the water supply, but the government has not been able to ante up because the program would run out of money.

I pushed the Agriculture committee to fully fund EQIP in the new farm bill, and introduced a bill last year to provide adequate funding for the program. I'm happy to report that the new farm bill includes $9 billion to help fully fund EQIP.

Another very popular program from the previous farm bill is the Conservation Reserve Program, or CRP. Enacted in 1985, CRP allows producers to voluntarily retire highly erodible or environmentally sensitive crop land, usually for 10-year periods. This program has saved literally millions of tons of topsoil from being washed away, and created some of our most beautiful natural wildlife habitats, especially grassland habitats in the plains states like Oklahoma.

My conservation bill increased the acres available in the CRP program, and similarly the new farm bill will allow an additional 2.8 million acres to be put into the CRP program.

The conservation section of the farm bill also provides $275 million to fund the repair of the nation's aging watersheds and dams. I've been working for four years to provide funding for the repair of these 10,000 watershed dam structures, 2,000 of which are in Oklahoma. These dams have been silently keeping America's creeks and rivers at bay, protecting our property, livestock, and families, for fifty years. But more and more of these watershed dams are now reaching the end of their 50-year lifespan.

Through the farm bill legislation, we will be able to reinforce and repair these structures, so they can protect us for another 50, or even 100 years. I knew when I authored the original bill to fund this legislation that it would have a great return on our investment - it's impossible to estimate the value of the lives and property that will be saved through this legislation over the years.

Also among the conservation programs in the farm bill is the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, or WHIP, which is like EQIP for wildlife and fish habitats on private lands. It provides cost-share payments to help producers create natural habitats for wildlife. The program was woefully underfunded in the last farm bill, as it ran out of money in the first few years of the 1996 bill. In the new bill, the program gets a much-needed boost with a 10-fold increase in funding, to $700 million.

The Wetlands Reserve Program, which could be described as a combination of EQIP and CRP for wetlands, will increase the available acres that can be enrolled in the program from just over 1 million acres to 2.275 million acres. Like EQIP, it provides voluntary cost-share payments to landowners to restore an area to its original wetland condition.

For more information on the conservation programs in the 2002 farm bill, go to my website at www.house.gov/lucas and click on the link "2002 Farm Bill." Next week, I'll discuss the critical changes we made to the farm bill peanut program to respond to economic trade conditions.